Bright Ideas Blog Hop

Hi everyone!  Thanks for stopping by my blog for some quick and easy classroom management tips!  I'm always looking for ways to be more efficient and waste less time!  I am going to keep this post short and sweet because I know you have a lot more blogs to 'hop' to!

Helper of the Day

• This is a system that I started implementing several years ago after being fed up with the space a "helper board" took up.  I also got anxiety every Friday because I'd have to rotate the kids' names around and it was a nightmare to track.  One day I woke up {not really} and realized that I could have just ONE student help me all.day.long. with everything...paper passing, errands, etc.  I bought a pack of cute cutouts and slapped name labels on them.  I hole-punched them and put them on an extra large binder ring.  I keep my helper cards on my front board and each day I flip to a new card. I keep tally marks on the back so I know how many times each child has been a helper.  I have LOVED this idea and know I'll continue to use it for many more years!

Grouping Students

• I like to waste the least amount of instructional time as possible, so when it comes to grouping students for games and activities, I have it done ahead of time.  I am very thrifty and always do the Highlights Magazine thing that they send at the beginning of the year.  It's away to get free stuff for the classroom without doing much!  This year, they had some sweet write-on magnets and I knew I could use them in some way!  I wrote my students' names on them and I use them for grouping.  I can quickly re-arrange them on the board prior to an activity, depending on how I want to pair/group students.

• When I have a little more time on my hands and want to really group students randomly, I use student grouping sticks from Learning Resources.  I love these sticks!  You can group by color, shape, or number.  I give everyone a pencil at random and then call the colors/shapes/numbers to different areas of the classroom.  The kids love the element of surprise!  

  

I hope you found some take-away tips!  Up next, head on over to Mandy Gregory's blog, Mandy's Tips for Teachers.  Alternatively, you may visit the link-up below and choose a topic that interests you. Thanks for visiting!

xo

Megan