One piece of unsolicited advice that I would offer anyone - teacher or not - it is to be well organized. The more time you spend early on getting your personal or work space in order the easier your future days will be. This is especially important for teachers at the beginning of the school year when they begin thinking and planning out the vibe and flow they want to have.
Imagine your classroom floor plan.
Where will furniture be placed? How will traffic flow? How will students find their materials? Where will student learning be displayed? Turned in? Handed back out? Will your students have jobs? How will they know the daily schedule?
All of these questions allow you to think about what kind of space you want to create. Our classrooms should be equipped to not only manage the learning, but to give students daily opportunities to be independent and take ownership over what and how they learn.
Today I'm excited to share with you all how I get organized and answer those questions at the beginning of each year!
One: Classroom Jobs
Having classroom jobs, or responsibilities, are such an important component of our classroom culture. Everyone has a stake in their ability to learn so therefore they need to be accountable for ensuring our learning space is a well maintained machine. Discussing Hopes & Dreams at the beginning of the year helps reinforce this all the way to June and lends itself to a discussion about jobs.
Now, classroom jobs will look different depending on the grade level. When I taught 2nd grade I had a number of jobs that were appropriate for that age group. In kindergarten, I may have less jobs or have more students helping with certain jobs.
This resource includes a wide variety of jobs such as:
- Line Leader: The obvious and most coveted of all jobs ;)
- Caboose: Another obvious but necessary job
- Teacher Helper: Need help passing out/collecting papers or materials? The teacher helper is there for you!
- Substitute: Is a helper absent? Get a substitute to fill in for any jobs whose kiddo isn’t in school that day.
- Scrap Collector: By the end of the day it’s always interesting to find all those little scraps that happen to fall on the floor. Get your scrap collector to recycle those papers!
- Safety Monitor: Do you have a safety bag you have to take with you everywhere? Your safety monitor is responsible for remembering that bag during specials, lunch, and drills.
- Lunch Counter: Do you have to report a lunch count to the cafeteria each day? If so, this job requires students to take a tally of each lunch choice and report it to the cafeteria.
- Lunch Monitor: This helper keeps an eye on behavior during lunchtime and reports to the teacher about what happened. My previous school’s lunchroom had a point system for behavior and this job correlates to that system.
- Attendance Runner: Also at my previous school, after taking attendance each morning this student runs it to the office.
- Pencil Sharpener: At the end of the day this person is responsible for sharpening all the pencils and replaces old ones.
- Librarians: Our school had a cart that we would deliver to the library of all returning books that week. The librarians would be responsible for delivering the cart as well as making sure our classroom library was organized.
- Messenger: Need to run something to another classroom or ask another teacher something? Send the messenger!
- Calendar Helper: This student helps out with calendar math every morning and is responsible for preparing the calendar for the following day.
- Door Holder: The obvious third most coveted job.
- Clip Chart Monitor: If you incorporate a clip chart in your room this helper is to put all the clips back to green at the end of the day.
- Trash Collector: Last but not least, this helper keeps the classroom tidy.
I've added a few new jobs to this download so head on over to TpT to check them out!
Two | Writing Process Posters
I found this to be so helpful when I taught 2nd grade because it allowed everyone (including me!) to see what stage they were at in their writing! I used it as a clip chart of sorts by laminating and displaying them with student clips on the sides. As students worked through the different stages they would move their clips.
Three | Literacy Center Rotation Cards
Launching the Daily 5 in any classroom can be overwhelming at first, but the first step is getting prepared and organized. Before the kiddos arrive on the first day it’s important to have your centers established and prepared based on what you’re introducing in each lesson. This download has all the resources you need to get your reading block running and off the ground. Let’s take a peek as to what’s included.
Colorful reading center cards grab your attention and clearly identify each center!
Corresponding posters that you can display around your classroom so students know where each center is located.
These helpful posters are perfect when launching your Daily 5 routines and expectations. They easily accompany your beginning of the year lessons and give wonderful visuals and reminders for students throughout the year.
Everyone knows that anchor charts when beginning the Daily 5 routines are a vital part of each lesson. These posters are perfect for printing or even display and write on them using your smart board!
Last but not least, have students begin charting their stamina as you build up your independent reading time each day! Stamina charts come with both a chart for the whole class or individual student charts!
Four | Labels, labels, labels!
Labeling your classroom effectively is crucial for your students to be more independent and free up your time to do more important things. The better your kiddos know your classroom the better it will function overall. Here are a few of my favorite labels for the classroom.
Daily Schedule Cards
These schedule cards are a MUST because it helps students see what their days are going to be like. I’ve added a bunch of cards that practically cover almost all holidays, subjects, occasions, and fun things that could happen in any classroom. I love using these guys year after year!
Library Labels
I have just recently added these cards to my shop, which offer a number of different ways to organize your classroom library. There is by genre, Lexile, AR, DRA, and F&P. Whichever you choose, make sure your students learn to keep the library space organized too!
Enjoy your back to school and happy organizing!
