Primary Chalkboard

Classroom Management Ideas

Aloha friends!  Corinna here from Surfin' Through Second. I hope everyone is ready for a new month and Spring just around the corner!  Spring Break is in two weeks and before I relax and get some surf time in I will be setting up my class for the last quarter.

We all know the last part of school can get a little crazy.  The kids are getting anxious and so are you! Here are a few ideas for classroom management from some of our PC  authors to help keep your class running smooth.


Every year around this time I change up my classroom management.  The students all get a new job, and they get paid in Beach Bucks each week for doing not only their job, but classwork, homework and just being a good citizen.


Using Beach Bucks in my class the last quarter is always so helpful and the kids absolutely love it! Who doesn't love getting paid for their hard work?  To find out more details Click Here for my original post.

Here's a fun idea from My Silly Firsties for  getting your class a bit more quiet.

Check out these amazing activities from The Primary Techie.


This is a fun idea from Teaching and Tapas


Kindergarten Smorgasboard uses journaling to keep his kiddos on track


Do you have tattling troubles?  Vicky has this pack to help.


Susanna from Whimsy Workshop has some great ideas!


Leslie from First Grade and Flip Flops has a fun and simple idea using Hair Bands.


The Schroeder Page has a great post with lots of tips and freebies!


Here's a great idea from Miss DeCarbo.


Mrs. Rios Teaches has some great ideas over at her blog.


How About some Volume Level posters from Growing Firsties?



These Reward Coupons from Peace, Love and First Grade are great incentives!!


Created by Mr. Hughes has this fun Bingo Game for promoting good behavior.


And one last fun item from Chalk One Up For The Teacher.


Hopefully you will find a tip, trick or product to carry you through the end of the year with ease!





COMING SOON! No Worksheet Wednesday Linky Party for March!

We have an EXCITING new weekly linky that will take place throughout the month of March!
It's called No Worksheet Wednesday and we hope you will join us!

All of us at the Primary Chalkboard have vowed not to use a single worksheet or printable every Wednesday during the month of March.  We really, really hope you will join with us in this project!

Why are we doing this?
*We are strong advocates for authentic learning experiences within the classroom.
*We know hands-on, active learning is critical to our students' development.
*We believe that learning activities that promote THINKING are the most powerful activities 
        we can provide for our students.
*We want to showcase and promote these types of activities for our followers! :) 
*We understand there is a time and place for worksheets in the classroom. However, we know worksheets are just one part of our classrooms, so lets put a spotlight on the other parts of our rooms! :) :) :)

To join us, make a vow not to use a single worksheet every Wednesday for the month of March.  (Remember, recording sheets that allow students to record their thinking are not worksheets. Writing paper and journals are a great way to embed authentic writing into your lessons without the need for a "worksheet.")

Each week, take pictures and blog about a couple activities you did for No Worksheet Wednesday. Share those pictures and activities on your blog and then link up with us on the Primary Chalkboard to share with others!  

The first link-up will take place THIS Wednesday right here on the Primary Chalkboard blog!

When you post, please be sure to grab the button at the top of this post and use it in your blog post. Link back to us in your post.  The very first linky for No Worksheet Wednesdsay will open this Wednesday morning at 6:00am EST and will remain open until  11:00pm EST on Tuesday.  Then, the next week's "party" will begin! :)

The link-ups will be held on these dates:
March 4th
March 11th
March 18th
March 25th

We can't WAIT to read all of the amazing hands-on learning activities you come up with! :)
See you this Wednesday!!! In the meantime, get your photos and plans ready! :)

Quick & Easy Indoor Recess Ideas!

Hey y'all! Casey here, from The Original Math Maniac.

Not all of us are blessed with the often frustrating season we call WINTER.  However, here in NC, Elsa has paid us several visits and brought forth an unusual amount of ice and snow. This means an increase in cabin fever and, yes, the dreaded INDOOR RECESS.


 When the weather is rotten and my students are forced to stay inside, I often pull out the same ol' bag of tricks. However, after so many days of being trapped in our homes and with each other in our classroom, ordinarily peaceful students are starting to look more like Komodo Dragons. 

With that in mind, I searched Pinterest high and low for some new ideas to change up Indoor Recess. Please visit my Pinterest page to check out these fun ideas. I will be continously adding to this board to avoid stagnation.

https://www.pinterest.com/MathManiac/indoor-recess/


Also, I whipped this fun little Charades dice game. You can download it for FREE from Google Docs by clicking HERE.    Instructions are included and I guarantee at LEAST 30 minutes of indoor fun. :) 


https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2cwyDqKHOPfYnZaWGVBbFYzRDg/view?usp=sharing

I am ALWAYS looking for new ways to entertain my little green beans during indoor recess, please help a fellow teacher and leave your suggestions in the comments! 



What's New in Our TPT Stores????

Hey there, fellow teacher heroes!

We wanted to make sure that you are all aware that TPT is having a HUGE sale TODAY! (2/25/15)



We also wanted to make sure that you had the scoop on what is new and popular in our stores. :) 































































Happy Shopping, friends! AND, don't FORGET to enter the promo code: HEROES when you check out today!


Why I Love Authentic Performance Tasks

Hey everyone! It's Heather from 2 Brainy Apples, and I am so excited to be blogging on PC today! I wanted to share with you all one of my favorite activities to do in my classroom ---> authentic performance tasks. I think sometimes the idea of performance tasks can get a little cloudy, so I wrote an entire blog post about why I love them, what they are, example ideas, and example photos.

I love using the GRASPS model, and I include a link to a helpful site if you are interested in using it, too. In short, the G is for goal for the student, R is the role of the student, A is the audience of the student, S is the scenario that is real world, P is the product or performance the student will create or product, and S is the scoring rubric you give to students before hand so they know your expectations.

Here are a couple of pics from one of my performance tasks so you can get an idea of how unique the products are, and you can imagine how engaged students were! Same performance task. Totally different outcome. Want to know what their task was? Head on over to my blog post! These are great for allowing students to express their creativity and get away from mindless worksheets ---> "Worksheets don't grow dendrites." -Marcia Tate. One of my favorite sayings!



I hope you will hop on over to my blog and share some of your ideas and thoughts!


Heather
         
I am such a sucker for Valentine's Day stuff. The colors. The candy. The memories of trying to figure out what the choice of Garbage Pail Kids card meant from the boy I was crushing on... In my classroom, I definitely DOWNPLAY the love stuff with the holiday. I try to make it more of a friendship holiday - with pink, red, and hearts of course!

Just in case you are still looking for a quick Valentine's Day math activity, I made a short FREEBIE that includes 8 task cards for one step and two step word problems. It is perfectly aligned to the 2nd grade standards but could easily be used with some 1st graders and as a review for 3rd grade. You can pick it up for FREE by clicking here.



Enjoy!