Morning Procedures

It is really important to have daily routines.  For many of my students, I am the only bit of stability in their day. From the moment the kids walk in, they don't have to guess what needs do be done.  The daily routine is well set out on this anchor chart.

You can find it at Teachers Pay Teachers. Morning Procedures

Even though it is April, my students still like to come in and look at the chart.  One of my fellow teachers had it on her bulletin board.  I heard the substitute referring to it just the other day. Since I have started this procedure, the kids don't argue about who does what.  Plus I have all the pencils I need ready to go. 

In case you haven't learned the joys of pre-sharpened pencils in your classroom, Let me share. Kids waste so much time sharpening pencils. The noise causes those who are deep in thought writing to loose focus.  I have a large box of sharpened pencils.  If a student has a dull pencil, he just makes an exchange and puts in the box for pencils that need to be sharpened. 

Accountable Talk- Anchor Charts

I am an anchor chart junkie.  I use them so much that I had to develop a little system. I make one chart in color as a jpeg.  I use this with my Promethean board or my document camera.  I then stretch it out a bit and put it on a legal size page and post it on the wall.  The kids also have a black and white version that they place in their notebooks.  I have a writer's bag of tricks and a social studies journal that I use in my room. If an anchor chart is really important I will print it out as an engineer's print at Staples.

One of the things that I like best about my classroom is the amount of time we spend discussing writing, Texas history or current events.  In order for that to happen, students must be respectful. This anchor chart is fabulous.  The students place it in their Social Studies journals.  For the first few weeks the students keep these open to use to help them find phrases that help them participate in discussions.

You can get this at Teachers Pay Teachers. Accountable Talk