FlyLady.net: Teacher Tips!

Teacher Tips!!

FlyLady asked for teachers to send in their tips on FLYing in the classroom. Here are some of the responses!!

Hi!

I've been teaching for 15 years and have always struggled with children's papers. This was a great idea I got from an American teacher on a webring 2 years ago.

I bought a small hanging file crate and filled it with 30 hanging files (the number of children I have in my class. The files are labelled 1-30. On the front of the crate I stuck a blank laminated grid numbered 1-30. When I got my class list I allocated each child a number. At the end of each session or day they file their papers in their own file. (Takes a little bit of training initially). Then as I am going home I can collect a few files and mark the papers which are then returned to the children or stuck in their books.

I find that I don't have loose papers floating around, the classroom looks tidy and (most importantly!) I don't feel overwhelmed with a HUGE pile of papers to mark as I take just a handful each evening!

Ann-Marie in the UK

I'm now a retired teacher but I still substitute. I have seen some really well organized rooms and some even worse than the one in Miss Miller's letter! Here's a simple idea for the papers students have to hand in. No one is allowed to drop any paper of any kind on the teacher's desk! Instead, the teacher has a set of stacking bins labelled "Notes From Parents", Math, Spelling, Social Studies, permission slips, book orders, etc. The children are expected to put their own papers in the correct bins. It cuts down on the amount of sorting the teacher has to do later. Now if there's a teacher out there who can get all the children to write their names on all of their papers, she deserves a medal.

Fly Baby in and out of classrooms in NY

I was a preschool teacher for 14 years and had multiple bulletin boards that needed changing each month for the various themes. Each board had a scalloped paper boarder, or "bordette" that needed changing also. At the beginning of my teaching career, I numbered each bulletin board. Each month as I took down the bordette to roll up and put away, I would attach a piece of paper with the corresponding number to the roll. Eventually, after doing this for a few months, I ended up with a cupboard of nicely organized boarders to pick from. No more guessing which roll fits which board and no more throwing away good bordette each month. Tons of teachers loved my system and started doing it themselves.

Hope this helps someone out there.
-Julie

Dear FlyLady,

Last year my son was in fourth grade and received instruction in the different subjects from both of the fourth grade teachers. Each week on Wednesday evening one of the teachers sent an e-mail to all of the fourth-grade parents with an update relating to what the students were working on and upcoming deadlines for schoolwork (e.g. book reports, projects, tests in different subjects). The e-mail also contained information about upcoming special events and field trips along with reminders to send in permission slips. Whenever the teachers needed extra help in the classroom or special items for an event they also asked if any parents would be willing to help out in those areas. This weekly e-mail conveyed a lot of invaluable information for us parents in a concise format, and seemed like it helped the teachers by giving them a simple and easy way to communicate on a regular basis.

Up-To-Date Mom in Oklahoma!

When I was teaching we spent the last ten minutes of school on Friday "Blessing our desks" (of course you can't call it that in Public schools. After the kiddos cleaned them out the first student done would pass out baby wipes to the rest to wipe down the top of their desks. The students weren't allowed to use disinfectant wipes or other cleaners, but baby wipes can pick up a lot of grime! It was nice to start Monday morning with a nice neat desk and sharpened pencils!

Flybaby Teacher in Ca.

I am a retired teacher, after 32 years in the classroom. I have taught 4-8 grades, with most of my classroom years in Jr. High/Middle School level.

I developed a system for turning in work. They were passed from the back of the row, with each student placing his/her paper on top before passing. This way, they were always in order for returning to the students. When the stack got to them, they took their own from the top, and passed them on back. This saved untold hours in returning papers. (If it saved 5 minutes for each class...and I usually had 5 or 6 classes each day, then that was a minimum of over two hours EACH WEEK! In GA we have 180 school days per year. My system would save 75 hours/year. That is a LOT of lost instruction time!!)

Another hint that saved me MANY times from an irate parent was this. I had a required heading, of 4 items, on each paper: Full name, Subject/class (period number such as Math 4=Math 4th period--if a paper got misplaced...I could easily put it in the proper group without having to first determine what class in which it belonged), Assignment...such as a page number or title-" or "transportation Report", and Date.

If for some reason, a student did not have an assignment to turn in, He/she HAD to turn in a paper with the required heading. The "body" of the paper had to have the reason the assignment was not complete. I recall several parents questioning "lack of work", when I could pull out the paper in their own child's handwriting, with the "excuse". And, yes, I have seen all of them! "Left it on the bus", It's on the TV at home", "My brother tore it up", they typical favorite "The dog ate it", and Yes...."My mother didn't get it finished"!

These helped me, and if they can save you time or stress, use them. I know my last few years I spent more time on documentation than actual teaching. So, teachers need to save time and effort at every opportunity.

I was a elementary librarian for 32 years. The tip I have my teachers loved. At the beginning of the school year I would put all the new books and new curriculum materials on display. I always had plenty of pencils and stickies for the teachers to write on. When the teachers found something that they could use they would write the title, author, and call number on a stickie. When they returned to their room they could file these stickies with the appropriate unit as a reminder of the new library materials.

I also encouraged the teachers to take photocopies of the library material covers and note the call number that they use during a unit.

At the teaching time hand the photocopies to the library and it is so much easier to pull the materials. Notes can be added by the teacher and librarian about the library items to the photocopies for year to year reminders. This saved so many teachers extra stress. It is so easier than trying to remember the name of that little pink book that was like a journal.

If nothing else, my lesson materials were well organized!

Debra
Retired Librarian
Vienna, Va

I am a preschool teacher and I brought the fly system into my classroom about a month ago.(I work with two year olds 9 of them)I broke my classroom into zones. Established a morning routine before nap routine and a closing routine. I set to declutter 15 min a day hot spot and the kids favorite 5 min room rescue. I just shout I am setting the timer and the children get ready. When I have the older children they ask if they can set the timer. My director was actually really impressed and had me introduce the system into the whole school. So now every teacher has a control journal set the way they want. I also have a control journal for all the boards I am on biggest one is the pta. so there is a another idea for you guys to put on your website

I teach students with disabilities.One of the ways we keep our classroom running smoothly is by having a daily planner. Every morning, I write down on the board the lesson for the day for each subject, as well as the accompanying page numbers. When my students come in, one of their tasks for their morning routine (we call them Morning Tasks) is to copy the day's planner in their notebook. Throughout the day, students know what we will be covering and what they can work on if they finish something early. This also cuts down on students constantly asking what page to look for. Many times, I have been called out of the classroom unexpectedly and this has allowed the substitute to keep the students on track because they have a very set routine.

One thing the teachers in my son's class do during clean-up time is have everyone in class pick up 10 items off the floor to put away or throw away. This gets all the stray pencils, erasers, bits of paper, etc. off the floor and makes the classroom much cleaner in very little time.

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