Techie Turtle Teacher

I assign numbers to my students.  This is very helpful when checking to see who has turned in work and who has not.  It's also helpful when returning papers to students. In order for my students to learn their numbers, I write them on their name tags.  This way, they see it all the time and have it to reference when completing their work. One way the numbers help me is for their mailboxes.  Last year, I labeled them with stickers with their numbers, but they started peeling off throughout the year and were difficult to read with papers in the mailboxes. I saw this strategy on Pinterest and decided I needed to try it!  I tried peeling off the labels that I used last year, but they were stuck, so I just left them. I got enough binder clips for my mailboxes.  I wrote student numbers on stickers and put those stickers on the binder clips.  Then I put each binder clip on the mailbox slot. My hope is that they will be easier to read throughout the year

I'm super excited to be linking up with other bloggers again this month to share things that you oughta know!  After you read my post, make sure you hop to the other blogs to see their tips. You Oughta Know about setting clear expectations. Students need to learn routines and your expectations.  I've found that the best way to do this is to talk about what things look like and what it doesn't look like in the classroom. For example - DEAR time.  Drop Everything And Read.  You might call it something else, but basically it's independent reading time. The first time my students had to DEAR, I was frustrated with the talking, the not reading, the frequent trips to the classroom library, etc. So I decided to do something about it. We closed our eyes and imagined what DEAR time should look like.  Once we opened our eyes, I asked my students to share their ideas with a partner.  Then we shared as a class and I recorded their thoughts. I started off asking

Who is ready for a management tip? How many times do students ask you questions about things that you just said?  Or how many times do students try to interrupt you during reading groups? I use "Ask 3 Before Me" with my students.  They are told to ask 3 other people before they can ask me.  If 3 people can't answer their question, it usually means I didn't do a good job in explaining directions. Many times when students have a question, it is because they weren't listening in the first place.  They will have to do more work to get the answer to their question and hopefully learn to start listening to directions. I created this poster to display in my room so students are reminded of the 3 Before Me rule.  I printed out the black and white copy and then just colored in the boxes before I laminated it. You can get a copy of these posters for free!  I've included the black and white copy as well as 8 other colors.  Take your pick!