New Year, New Procedures {w/ The Super Sparkly Teacher}

So, we just returned to class this past Monday. After being away from each other for 3 weeks, it was important to review our classroom procedures (including transitions).

I love using music to signal transitions. It's so fun and definitely suits the atmosphere of my classroom. I got the idea from Rick Morris. I've been using this all year, but it's definitely important to review expectations AND change up the music. I have a specific song to signal different subjects and it definitely serves as a cue for many students. I notice them saying, "Oh, it's calendar time." So funny because I often wonder if they pick up on these kinds of things. Routines... gotta love them. #turnitup

My students are expected to stand behind their chairs. Once they hear the song, they may begin moving to the next location (carpet, centers, etc.). They are expected to be seated by the time the music stops and they definitely rush encourage one another to make it before the song ends.

Please excuse my messy classroom.

Since it is a new year, I decided to introduce some new songs! Yippee! My kiddos definitely noticed that the tunes were different. #newyearnewsongs

I have a CD with the television theme songs, but you can play them for free from New Management's website {click here}. There's even a link for MORE SONGS! Isn't that awesome?! You can try it out without any commitment.

Do you use something else to cue students that it's time to transition? I'd love to hear about it. 

An InLinkz Link-up

New Year, New Procedures (With The Kindergarten Smorgasboard)

There is just something so new and fresh and exciting about a new year!   It's about improving and starting new and making changes.  The classroom is no different!  Every January, I make changes in my classroom whether it's something big or just some small tweaks!   

This year I decided to go big!

Go big or go home, right?!

I've always been a believer of homework.  I believe it builds responsibility for our kids.

I have never believed in grading homework or penalizing students for not having or doing their homework.

Then I started reading some recent articles and research about homework.  More and more research is supporting not giving our kids homework because there is no benefit!    This article from Alfie Kohn has some great points!

So....my new procedure is no more homework!

Instead of daily homework, I am encouraging parents to do 3 things:

1.  Ask their child about what we learned at school.  I use the Remind app to communicate with parents.  Each day I sent out a Remind notification and tell parents one or two things we learned or worked on at school.  I then ask the parents to talk to their child about those things!

2.  Read with their child daily.  And have them listen to their child daily.  We send home books weekly so our students have emergent readers they can read.  They can also read their library books!

3.  Practice sight words.

My principal is supportive of my plan and we're going to monitor data for 2 months to see if there is a noticeable effect in the positive or negative!

My other new procedure is more music!

During writer's workshop I play music from Rock A Bye Baby while the kids are writing.  It adds such a relaxing, refreshing atmosphere to my classroom.

So...now we're playing the music anytime we're working!   During centers/workstations, writing and anytime we're working independently the music is on!

I started this last week and found that the kids loved it and it made a difference in our focus and made for a much for comfortable work environment!

You can find Rock A Bye Baby on iTunes and Pandora!

An InLinkz Link-up