Tuesday, October 23, 2012
routines and procedures
Routines and procedures were a bit nebulous and hard to come by at first in our room. Since Diane had these kids last year we never actually went over any routines or procedures. As the year has progressed we have fallen into some routines especially in the mornings as students arrive. They know I will have a morning work assignment on the Promethean BOard for them to complete and that we will do a morning meeting. When one of these doesn't happen they are extra squirrly.
Another routine we have developed on Diane's suggestion helps with the transition from math into reading. Since some students are with us for math but others have to come back from another room it often takes a few minutes to transition. Now the students know that as soon as math is over they are to take out their independent reading book and begin reading. This allows time for bathroom breaks as necessary and for the other kids to come back to the room and put their things away from math. When everyone is reading I know I can begin the mini-lesson. At that point the kids know to simply set thier book down on their desk and join the group up front for the lesson. When it's time for them to go back to their seats everyone already has their book out an ready to go, so that we don't have to spend time with another transition.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I saw this last routine in action when I visited yesterday, so I can confirm that the reading-during-transition expectation is effective at keeping kids on task while the switch between math and reading happens. If I were in your class, I'd need a trick to transition from silent reading to the next activity :-)
ReplyDeleteDo you think you need to develop any new routines to address problem areas popping up in your class? How do you know when a new routine/strategy is neeed?