Routines are so important in making sure your classroom runs as smoothly as possible. There are endless routines you could implement and I'm sure you will find that some are naturally developed as you go through the year.
Some that I have found to be invaluable and are a must for your first few weeks:
Lining up
This cuts down so much time. I have a line order that they always line up in (no squabbles) and they know they need to line up in silence.
Key Commands
Anything you say that they need to do something in return. For example, I use '3, 2, 1 Look this way', by the end of this the children should be in their seats and looking at me as I'm going to talk to the whole class for a little while. 'Freeze' is when I want to say something quick and the children just stay still and look at me. 'Off you go' is used after I am giving an instruction so they know it is the end of the instruction.
Beginning of the day
What do you want them to do as soon as they come into the classroom?
I have done a number of things - at one point the children did their jobs, signed the reading chart, got their reading records out and go on with a spelling task on the board. Later in the year I got rid of the reading chart and jobs at the beginning of the day as too many children were out of their seats and it was feeling chaotic. I've found keeping it as simple as possible works well on a morning. It needs to be calming and set the tone for the day.
Beginning of lesson
Where are the children's books? How are they putting them on the table? Where are any resources? Who is collecting these things? Do you start the lesson with a particular task?
I have boxes for each table that hold their books, in these boxes I also have a clipboard which, at the beginning of the day, I put on any resources they will be needing during that lesson. I have boxes for Maths, Writing, Reading and Project and Science. Each table has a box monitor who collects the box at the beginning of the lesson and returns it at the end of the lesson.
I also usually start the lesson with a particular task - which will be on the board - they 'boards' for these will be in their boxes and they know to get them out as soon as they sit down. All you need to do is teach the different tasks and which boards they need for each, then they sort themselves out.
Resources
The best way I have found to do this is to allocate it as a 'job' (they love to help!). I had two children who would get any glue sticks, scissors, pens and pencil crayons, two children who would give out any paper based resources and two children who were in charge of arts and crafts. It was a lifesaver and saved me from spending too much time giving things out.
End of lesson
Do you want the children in their seats? Behind their seats? Lined up?
I always got the children to tidy their tables away then move into the next lesson if we had two lessons back to back. If it was before break or lunch, I would get them to stand behind their chairs and once they were all ready they lined up.
End of the school day
This was chaos to begin with but I gradually got better at managing this. The children know the end of they day is near and begin to misbehave a little more than usual! I would make sure they were all tidied away and sat in their seats then send them a table at a time. Eventually we had a routine where the tables were in an order and would follow on from the one before them when most of that table were back in their seats. I would read to the children while they were sorting themselves out, which ensured they did it quickly as most of them wanted to get back to hear the story.
Before sending them out I would get the children who walked home on their own to line up and let them out first. The other children had to stay in their seats until their name was called. It was ridiculously loud if they were allowed to do anything else.
I'm sure there are tons of other smaller routines I have but these are the major ones that need a little thought about them. What routines do you use? Are there any other routines you would recommend? x
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