Discipline by Design

Here are eleven techniques that you can use in your classroom that will help you achieve effective group management and control. They have been adapted from an article called: "A Primer on Classroom Discipline: Principles Old and New" by Thomas R. McDaniel, Phi Delta Kappan, September 1986. 1. Be sure you have the attention of everyone in your classroom before you start your lesson. Inexperienced teachers sometimes think that by beginning their lesson, the class will settle down. The focusing technique means that you will demand their attention before you begin. A soft spoken teacher often has a calmer, quieter classroom than one with a stronger voice. 2. An effective way to marry this technique with the first one is to include time at the end of the period for students to do activities of their choosing. The teacher is more willing to wait for class attention when he knows there is extra time to meet his goals and objectives. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. Make ample use of praise.

Kindergarten Interest Areas Each day I work with children in small groups during our language arts block. During this time, the other children are engaged in activities that I've set-up in various interest areas in our classroom. I'm calling them interest areas because they are flexible and ever-changing in terms of purpose. For example, one day children may be engaged in an art project at an interest area, while the next day the activity is more math focused in the same area. Here are some examples of the activities that have been putting out at each interest area over the past several weeks. Spring Flowers Using bingo dabbers and circle stickers the children created flowers and other pictures. Weaving I've wanted to introduce weaving into a classroom for quite some time and just never really got around to it. Word Puzzles at the "Writing" Center Eggs in a Basket Lakeshore sells a game called "Strawberries in a Basket Counting Game" for $24.95. Marble Mazes Another idea off of Pinterest. Discovery Area Cleaning Money

A Springtime Activity for Sorting Consonant Digraphs | Make, Take & Teach I’ve been feeling like I’ve been neglecting my first and second grade teaching friends lately by posting bunches of early reading activities. When I purchased those cute little flower boxes at Walmart for the Springtime Vowel Sorting, I couldn’t help but pick up a few of those adorable frogs. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with them at the time. Click HERE to download the free consonant digraphs pictures. Click the following link to download directions for differentiating this activity. I also have other consonant blends and digraphs activities available. Mrs. Wills Kindergarten: Word Attack Strategy Posters FREEBIE You guys have been so kind! I have been reading through some of the nice things you have said about my little old blog... It simply warms my heart~Do I sound like I am 80 years old? My district set out to create a common language for word attack strategies that would move up the grade levels.. I adapted these posters from several resources. Since I made them... You can use the bookmarks to mark off the strategies you have taught (and they demonstrated). I hope you find this helpful!

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