Stress-Free Classroom Management: Routines and Procedures

Effective classroom management is the cornerstone of a successful teaching experience, and it doesn’t have to be stressful! One way to stay ahead of the curve of classroom management is having consistent routines and procedures for your students. Believe it or not, these little routines can, when used effectively, save you hundreds of valuable minutes of instruction time per week. Read on for examples of routines and procedures that really work, and how to maintain them all year long.

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Building Spanish Phonics Skills for Biliteracy

We are excited to announce 27 new books and 161 new games organized into 41 new lessons designed to support Spanish phonics curriculum!

The brand new Fonética: silabas y palabras and Mis libritos fonéticos in Footsteps2Brilliance Central™ offer highly-effective practice for vocales, consonantes, sílabas directas – CV, and sílabas trabadas – CCV. All of the phonics games are automatically scored so that teachers can easily monitor student’s Spanish phonics proficiency.

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Stress-Free Classroom Management: Strategies for Addressing Behavioral Issues

Classroom management doesn’t need to be stressful, and the best way to save your sanity throughout the year is to set up systems and routines right at the start of the school year. 

But even with the best preventive measures, no school year will pass without its behavioral bumps. Even after you’ve created a welcoming environment and established routines and expectations, you will need to occasionally help students get back on track. Here are a few ways to get the job done as smoothly as possible.

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Allie the Alligator

For this weeks’s Family Friday, we have a fun arts and crafts activity with Allie the Alligator! In Allie the Alligator, children will learn all about alligator facts. Children will then make their own Allie the Alligator and see how strong her jaws can be. Read our step-by-step guide on how to play this interactive activity with your child at home!

What you need:

  • 20 mini marshmallows
  • 2 sheets of green construction paper
  • 1 sheet of red construction paper
  • ½ sheet of white writing paper
  • Glue
  • Scissors
  • Black marker or crayon

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Allie La Caimán

¡Para este #ViernesEnFamilia, tenemos una divertida actividad con Allie La Caimán! En Allie La Caimán, los niños aprenderán sobre todos los hechos de caimanes. Luego, los niños harán su propio Allie the Alligator y verán cuán fuertes pueden ser sus mandíbulas. ¡Lea nuestra guía sobre cómo jugar esta actividad interactiva con su hijo/a en casa!

Los materiales:

  • 20 mini marshmallows
  • 2 hojas de papel verde
  • 1 hoja de papel rojo
  • ½ hoja de papel blanco
  • Pegamento
  • Tijeras
  • Marcador negro o crayón

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Stress-Free Classroom Management: Creating a Welcoming and Inclusive Classroom Culture

Before any learning can get done, students need to feel secure and welcome in their classroom culture. This may seem obvious, but it’s so important that it could make or break your classroom management for the year. If you’ve ever felt like a fish out of water, you know that staying positive and focused in that environment can be difficult. In this article, we’ll talk about ways to set up and maintain a welcoming and inclusive classroom culture for all students. We’ll end with some real life examples to help you visualize what the fruits of this labor will be. 

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Growing Foundational Reading Skills with Decodable Books

We are excited to announce a new book series designed to support your classroom phonics curriculum. The Growing Readers series in Footsteps2Brilliance Level 2 and in Footsteps2Brilliance Central™ offers highly-effective multi-sensory practice with immediate feedback to support students in developing phonics skills. Even better, all of the phonics games are automatically scored so that teachers can easily monitor student growth.

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The Lion and the Mouse

This week, you and your children will put on a puppet show based on the Aesop’s fable The Lion and the Mouse. This fun activity is a great way to practice the skill of speaking out loud while learning social-emotional lessons from the story. Read our step-by-step guide to make the puppet show come to life.

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El león y la ratona

Esta semana, usted y sus niños presentarán un espectáculo de marionetas basado en la fábula de esopo El león y la ratona.  Esta divertida actividad es una gran manera de practicar la expresión lingüística mientras aprenden lecciones socio-emocionales del cuento. Lea nuestra guía con los pasos a seguir para darle vida a su espectáculo de marionetas.

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Stress-Free Classroom Management: Establishing Clear Rules and Expectations

The new school year is starting and you’re feeling ready: your pencils are sharpened, kids’ name tags are printed, the floors are freshly waxed. The only thing left to do is welcome your new students into a classroom where they can thrive academically and socially. And while you may feel pressure to jump right into curriculum, the absolute best thing you can and should do in the first few weeks of school is establish the foundation that will make classroom management a breeze the rest of the year.

In this Teacher Tip Tuesday series, we’ll break down everything you need for year-long, stress-free classroom management. You can subscribe to our blog and follow us on social media to never miss a tip!

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