Routines to Teach in the First Week of School

So it's the start of the year and you're wondering: what on earth am I going to do with all these kids?! I've got your answer: routines, routines, and yup, you guessed it, more routines. Setting up for a successful year takes a lot of work and most of that success is in setting routines and practices that will help the classroom to run smoothly. I spend the first 3 weeks of the year setting up my classroom routines - that's how important they are!

There are so many routines you could teach to your kids at the beginning of the year, but here are my absolute must-haves:

1. Beginning of the Day

Entering the Classroom

If you want your entire day to be calm and focused, then your day needs to start calm and focused. I have students enter the room quietly, put their bags away, pop their water bottles in the designated spot and begin independent reading time. I don't allow students to wander and chat during this time period - that is what recess is for!

Late Arrivals

Anyone who has been teaching for 5 minutes knows the disruptions throughout the day are REAL. minimize the number of disruptions to your morning block by setting up expectations for late arrivals. This will usually be outlined by school policy but once students arrive to class they need to enter quietly and look around to see what everyone else is doing, and hop to it!

Independent Reading

Students need to be taught how to read independently, and how to pick a just right book. They sound pretty simple things to do to us grown-ups but there is actually a lot that goes into this! I teach the expectation of actually reading, not just flicking through your book looking at the pictures, this is where the picking a just right book comes in. Students should check the first sentence of the book they have chosen and if they had trouble reading it, put it back and choose another. This alone removes a lot of the behavior issues and lessens behaviors such as wandering and talking. 

Read my post independent reading time here: Why Your Students Deserve Independent Reading Time

2. During the Day Routines

Lining Up

Students need to know what your expectations are for lining up. Do they have consistent partners? What happens when they don't have a partner? Are you going to choose line leaders? Do they line up in single file or with a partner? Are they to be silent or can they chat quietly? Do they walk or run? Should they be facing the front? Where should their hands be? Who would have thought so much could go into the simple act of lining up?!

Using the Bathroom

Setting the tone for bathroom use is so important. It can be a highly controversial topic among teachers but I personally allow students to use the bathroom whenever needed. Of course there needs to be conversations about how frequently (within reason) students will be allowed, how to move to the bathroom, which partner they take, how long they should take, etc. You may like to have a sign in/out sheet and will need to teach students how to use this.

Call to Attention

All teachers need a fun way to call their students' attention! My personal favorites are:

-  a simple clapping pattern which they clap back (it saves your voice!)

- Teacher: 1-2-3, eyes on me; Students: 1-2, eyes on you!

- Teacher (while gesturing): stop, look, listen, think; Students (while gesturing): stop, look, listen, think

- Teacher: hands up top; Students: everybody stop

- Teacher: zip it, lock it; Students (motion zipping their mouths and putting the key in their pocket): put it in your pocket!

There are sooo many to choose from and you can choose one that suits your classroom theme! Here are some I've heard other teachers use:

- Teacher: hocus pocus!; Students: everybody focus!

- Teacher: macaroni and cheese; Students: everybody freeze

- Teacher: all set?; Students: you bet

- Teacher: ready to rock?; Students: ready to roll

Be sure to set the expectations around what their hands and eyes are doing while they are listening, as some students will learn to say the call and response but carry on their activity!

3. End of Day Routines

Packing Bags

You would not believe how many students even in 1st and 2nd Grade still need to be taught how to pack a bag! I always teach my students that the biggest items always go in first (ie., lunch box, iPad, book folders). Explicitly model this process and make sure you include a think aloud about how you choose which item to go in next so they can understand the decision making process. There are other things to teach in this routine too, including where their packed bag goes, what they do after, and the timeliness of the process.

Cleaning Up

My classroom can certainly look like a bit of a tornado has gone through it by the end of the day... lucky I have 20 little helpers to make it look spiffy again! I like to set the expectation that once bags are packed, students set straight to their clean up duties at the end of the day. You can set your own classroom jobs for end of day cleaning and allow students to 'apply' to their preferred position. I find this creates a sense of ownership and motivation for the jobs. Some jobs I like to include are: floor cleaners, chair checkers, library monitors, locker area checkers, table cleaners. 

Closing Meeting

How will you run the end of your day? I like to do GEM chats (gratitude, empathy, mindfulness) chats at the end of my day and list some things that went well for us that day. I find engaging in these discussions right at the end of the day gives students something positive to share with their grownup upon pickup. I also like to read a novel, give out art works, celebrate birthdays and make time for special show and tells. 

4. Academic Routines

Turn and Talk

Engaging your students through talk is so important! It allows everyone an opportunity to share their thoughts and to feel heard. Talk aloud also helps students to consolidate learning and engage in metacognitive thinking! During turn and talk, I have some basic procedures students must follow: sit knee-to-knee with their partner, use a 'partner' voice (only their partner should be able to hear them), talk to the topic, and everyone gets a turn. 

Partner Reading

For fluency practice, my students engage in partner reading for 10 minutes everyday. This routine includes logging on to their decodable reading app, playing rock-paper-scissors to see who is reading first, looking to the board to see which book they need to read today. Even deeper into the partner reading rabbithole, students need to be explicitly taught how to perform the reader role, and the helper role. Readers need to use a clear voice and sound out words they are unsure of. Helpers need to be pointing to the words read, eyes on the book, and helping sound out.

Whiteboards 

I use whiteboards all the time in my classroom as I feel it takes students from passively listening to actively engaged with material being taught. I'm proud to say I am famous in my school for having an incredibly efficient whiteboard collection routine! I have my whiteboards, erasers, and pens in three separate tubs along the wall of the room. Students stand up from the floor and move single file from the first to last row of the seating pattern to collect their materials. This prevents bottle neck getting materials and moving back to their seating! You also need to teach 'listening boards' so that students are not tempted to draw on their whiteboard while you are teaching. 

Phew! Even just this short list seems like a lot of routines to teach but trust me, with perseverance and care you will be setting yourself up for an entire year of success and learning!

Let me know in the comments below if any of these routines have helped you!

 

10 Indoor Recess Must Have Items

INDOOR RECESS ... 2 words that strike fear into the hearts of teachers everywhere. Luckily, I have 10 activities and games that will keep your classroom from sounding like someone let the monkeys out of the zoo. Use these great activity ideas to keep you sane, your students entertained, and best of all students ready to learn in the next lesson!

1. How to Draw Corner

Totally independent and perfect for encouraging calm vibes in your room, how to draw pages are perfect for indoor recess. Simply print some out and file them in a plastic pocket binder, pop them out on a table with pencils and paper. Website: https://howtodrawforkids.com/ has a great selection of simple drawing instructions that are easy to download and print.

2. Puzzles

There is something wonderful about puzzles that encourages teamwork, collaboration and communication among students. This classic mindful past time will have students learning and relaxing at the same time. Usborne has a wonderful selection of fantastically priced jigsaws available from their website and Amazon. The illustrations are delightfully colorful and I find 100 pieces to be perfect for 1st Grade students. 

3. Coloring Pages

There always the kids who want nothing more than to zen with a coloring page during indoor recess. Luckily, this is one of the easiest activities to set up thanks to some beautiful and FREE coloring sheets available on TPT. There is a huge selection of free resources on TPT so you can even change up the coloring sheets depending on the seasons and holidays. 

4. Fun Books

Want something that will last your students a little longer than just recess? Fun books are a fantastic way to keep students entertained for long periods of time. These fun books available on my TPT store are packed full of literacy and numeracy based activities that are engaging and able to be independently completed. You can purchase them individually or in a great value year long bundle by clicking the picture below:

5. Board Games

You can go wrong with a carefully curated collection of board games. Just be mindful of something I have learned the hard way through years of teaching - think about the noise and excitement level each game is going to produce. If calm vibes are what you're after, think twice about that game of Jenga! Target has a great selection of well priced board games your students will love.

6. Mystery Pictures

It doesn't matter the weather, some students just love to learn and want nothing more than to chill with a worksheet. My mystery pictures are perfect for students who need a little during wet day timetable. I have a selection that covers every season and holiday for the year - a fun way to practice their place value knowledge!

7. Kinetic Sand

Bring the sandpit inside with kinetic sand - this sounds like a terrible idea if you don't have the correct set up! Be sure to provide trays for students to keep their sand in one place (and off the floor). There are a bunch of really fun kits available beyond just sand that will encourage your students' creativity. 

8. Where's Wally?

A throwback to most of our childhoods with Where's Wally books. These books are fun and engaging, and students love to make it a competition who can find Wally first. Where's Wally books are sold in many book stores and online.

 

9. Play-dough

A timeless classic among all students, play-dough is a winner for wet day timetable. Be sure to set out some ground rules for play-dough including not mixing the colors together to avoid multiple tubs of brown dough that loses its appeal pretty quickly! Play-dough is widely available at many stores including Target which also sell cute themed sets. 

10. Go Noodle

We all have those students who need to move during their recess and lunch breaks. Luckily this list has something for absolutely everyone: Go Noodle is a fantastic way to encourage your active students to get the wiggles out of their system. There is a tonne of research that shows kids need to move in order to learn so don't shy away from this fantastic opportunity to harness the energy into some fun dancing!

 

What is Phonological Awareness?

 Hi Everyone!

Seeing as my blog is predominantly written about how to get the best from students using a synthetic phonics approach, I thought it would be most prudent to write a piece explaining the ins and outs of phonological awareness. 

What is it? 

Why should every teacher be equipped with this knowledge?

I will provide the answer to both of these questions in today's post. 

Perhaps we had better wind all the way back to the start and wrap our heads around the what of phonological awareness. 

Phonological awareness refers to your ability to understand and recognize the sound structure of the spoken language. Or put more simply, an awareness that speech is made up of different segments, which are represented by an alphabetic code. It includes a variety of skills including rhyme awareness and production, word awareness, detection of syllables and manipulation of onset and rime. 

Under the 'umbrella' of phonological awareness sits a crucial, distinctly separate skills which consists of sub-skills. This is called phonemic awareness - the ability to recognize and manipulate the smallest units of sound in spoken communication. Let me preface the following: phonemes refer to individual units of sound in speech (i.e., 'cat' is comprised of three phonemes: c-a-t). Phonemic awareness consists of four main sub-skills including phoneme blending, phoneme segmentation, phoneme deletion, and phoneme substitution. 

Here is a handy little graphic I made to help understand how the skills fit in with one-another

You can think of the ability to read as a rope - a single skill that is made of many tiny strands, all equally as important as each other to ensure strength and integrity of the rope. 

We can also consider phonological awareness as a set of steps. Each skill is more difficult than the last, and requires mastery of the previous skill to continue climbing and improving. Below is another handy-dandy little graphic I have made to show the typical progression of phonological awareness in young students. 

It is important to remember that phonological awareness and phonemic awareness are distinct in what they refer to, and the skills they include.

Why should every teacher be equipped with this knowledge?

It's quite simple really - this approach works. Statistically, around 1 in 10 students is coming to school with some form of dyslexia - diagnosed or not. Teaching a synthetic phonics curriculum ensures that every. single. child. will have their learning needs met in your classroom - there will be no one left behind. Aside from being structured and systematic in your approach, the synthetic phonics method of teaching is one that captures the needs of your advanced learners, your middle of the road learners, and your learners who reading does not come naturally to. 

Multiple scientific studies support synthetic phonics as a teaching method that captures all abilities. In 1999, Schneider & colleagues found that explicitly and systematically teaching phonics and phonological awareness skills actually reduced the prevalence of dyslexia among at-risk children. 

I have been told by many reading experts that if students are still behind in reading at Grade 2 level, their chances of catching up are slim to none. It is our job at lower elementary teachers to hit the nail square on the head and to be exceptional, skilled, and knowledgeable in our instruction of literacy. We can achieve this through high quality phonics instruction. 

Comment below if you have been inspired, or are going to try something new in your classroom tomorrow!

References

Schneider, W., Ennemoser, M., Roth, E., & Küspert, P. (1999). Kindergarten prevention of dyslexia: Does training in phonological awareness work for everybody?. Journal of learning disabilities, 32(5), 429-436.

How to Teach New Sounds

 Hi friends!

I have always had the fortune of working with some incredibly talented and knowledgeable colleagues who have taught me much in terms of best practice. Through observations, my own professional development and reading, I have development a specific and effective way of structuring my phonics instruction. 

I have had great success with this method and have honed it over a few years of practice. I have often started the school year with 30% of my class reading below standard, and finished the school year with less than 5% still below level. It works. 

My phonics instruction block is a quick 20-25 minute session that keeps students engaged and learning a bunch. In this post I am going to outline minute-by-minute my method of phonics instruction.

0-3 minutes

Review Phase

Using flashcards, go over previous sounds learned. This is also a great way to watch students individually to see if they are confidently answering or 'going along' with what other students are saying. Frequent and spaced retrieval of information is absolute key to retention. 

3-5 minutes

Introduction Phase

Introduce the sound you are going to teach by writing it on your whiteboard. I like to cover it with my hand and each time I take my hand off, students have to say the sound. We do this around 7-10 times to really make sure students are getting the sound correct. Here is where you give immediate responsive feedback to students about their pronunciation of the sound. I also sometimes like to accompany with cued articulation. I also explicitly tell students the sensations they should feel and where the parts of their mouth should be. For example for 'v', their teeth should touch their bottom lip and they should feel a vibration when they touch their throat. 

5-8 minutes

Multi-Sensory Learning Phase

I distribute whiteboards and a marker among students. There are several ways to do this efficiently such as having 2-3 helpers, having a quick line up system, or having the materials on the floor before starting. Do what suits your classroom best and keeps the pace of the lesson quick. 

Students will write the new phoneme on their whiteboard ten times, saying the matching sound each time. 

This section definitely requires a bit of behavior management. Sometimes the temptation to scribble on the boards can be pretty high! I ask students for 'listening boards', where markers are capped, hands are empty and behind backs, and boards are face down on their laps. 

8-12 minutes

Small Scale Application Phase

Continuing on the work with the whiteboards, I will often use this part of the lesson to do one of two activities - car park sounds, or a spelling PowerPoint. 

Car park sounds - I have a list of words using today's phonics focus that change 1-2 sounds each time. Students write the first word on their whiteboards, I then give them another word but they don't rub out the first word. They must listen to what sound changes and rub out only the changing sounds to replace them

Spelling PowerPoint - I have around 10-15 pictures of words that contain today's phonics focus. Students say the word to match the picture and write it on their whiteboards. 

12-20 minutes

Large Scale Application Phase

I love dictation. There is no better way than dictation for students to practice everything they have just learned in the last 15 or so minutes. Settled at their tables with their notebooks, I have a pre-prepared sentence that includes several instances of our focus phoneme. I say the sentence once to students, then read word by word. Students place their hands on their heads when they have finished writing each word so I don't leave anyone behind. Once we are finished, a volunteer reads the sentence to the class. I tell students how many instances of the phoneme they need in their sentence, and ask them to underline the sound each time individually. Finally, students draw a picture to match their sentence.

While students draw, I visit every student individually and review their work. This is so I can provide responsive, immediate feedback on their work. I will ask them to sound out words they have missed and make corrections where needed. I don't generally focus on any mistakes other than what today's lesson focus was. 

And that's it my friends! I keep this the same every day - I want students to find it predictable and have nothing else to concentrate on except the explicit instruction. I hope you have found this post helpful and have some new ideas to try in your classroom. It only takes 20 minutes a day to really catch and help every single student in your class with their decoding and spelling skills. 

Let me know in the comments below if you have tried this with your class!