Today was a chug the Pepto kind of day. No really. On my planning time I drove to Wal-Mart and bought the large size and chugged. I felt better afterwards.
Now onto something much more fun….a classroom video. And for the first time ever…WE’RE IN HIGH DEFINITION!!!!!!!!!!! Yep. I invested in a new Canon Rebel T3i so I could do better videos…get ready to see Mr. Greg and the ‘staches in high def! (You’ve been warned!)
I get asked a lot about my classroom management and really, a lot of the success I have comes from procedures and routines. And tons of practice!!! BUT I have to admit that I think a huge part of the success is our morning arrival procedures. Why is this key? Because it sets the tone for the day and it’s designed so everyone can be successful and start off on a great note. It’s also designed to be teacher free! The ‘staches know what to do and our trained to do it. It’s exactly the same everyday so I don’t have to take any time to explain anything!
So what’s this awesome, glitter-ific routine: It’s simple really.
1. Greet the teacher with a hug, handshake or high five. I take their folder, check their homework, put in new homework and put the folder away.
2. Move your picture. We use our Promothean to take attendance. We slide our picture from home to school to show that we’re at school.
3. Journals-each student has a morning journal. They write their name, the date and a picture. As the year progresses we add in words and sentences. In order to have a journal a student must earn it be being able to write their name. If they haven’t earned their journal, their morning work is tracing the name and writing their name.
4. Put journal away and read!
You can read a more detailed post on my morning work HERE!
And yes, we rock out in the morning. No classical music for us. I read that classical music in the morning puts kids to sleep so we kick it up with some fun dance music!!!
Check out the video to see how our morning looks! You can view it here or on my YouTube Channel!