6 New Classroom Systems I Love | The Lettered Classroom

so there's not really much to kind of go based off of this I really just saw some of these things I found different needs that I had inside of my classroom but I was like I have to find a solution for this or else I'm gonna go mad so my first system that I had was to help solve the problem of my afternoon I think I had mentioned this inside of a vlog earlier this week but I found that my afternoons were feeling really really crazy and dismissals were always a time of the day that I really didn't enjoy and so in order to solve this problem of having kids walking around them not they're getting a little bit loud and chaotic they're ready to leave they're ready to go home but I'm waiting for those buses to be called and I'm like aha I cannot wait anymore I implemented something called reflection journals guys now this is a very very simple thing to put into practice and basically it is what is exactly what the name is it's a journal that allows for them to reflect at the end of the day so here is where I end up keeping my students journals I have one of these little crates that I got from Walmart a long long time ago but it works so well and so what we did is I ended up getting some of these very small composition notebooks these are the smart school there are not that many as you can see they're super super thin which would allow me to just kind of refresh it if I need it to refresh it but the kids are doing such a great job with it they will end up using like putting two or three reflections on one page so it ends up saving a ton of space and these are not really bulky and takes up a lot of room in my class I didn't end up putting names on them this year because it was just something simple that I wanted to take pull into practice so here's kind of what I ended up doing I just wrote their numbers because their numbers correspond with the numbers that are on their mailboxes so next to their name I put a number so that way they could remember it and I didn't have to try to tell them what that number was and that corresponds with the number here on this journal and then I took some washi tape where you can see some of the kiddos have like moved theirs but the purpose of these little flags here was to be able to quickly find them so that way when a were getting ready did and their bus was called they were able to put them in order without having to flip and look at all of the sides and see you know what numbers were theirs they can very easily look up here and it's supposed to go in a diagonal this one is a hot mess back here which needs to get fixed but it's real life y'all like this is what it ends up looking like the kids do a good job they write the date they put their reflection on there I don't want to really show you those just because they're personal and then they just redo that every single day so after they pack up they come they grab their journal and then they go and take a seat on one of their stars that's it so the second new system that I put into practice was to help solve something that I was finding that I was struggling with which was my grading so I ended up having a lot of papers I found that my papers that were graded were mixing in with papers that were not graded and then I had certain papers that were not finished that still needed kids to be finished we're getting all jumbled it was just a hot mess of all of these different papers and then making sure that those papers were actually put into our system was also something that I felt like I was really struggling with and the whole paper clip thing was just not working my way so I went out and I got another file system just like the one that I already had no you can totally tell which ones knew which ones old but we're gonna get past that and in this file system it allows for me to be able to break down my grades a little bit further so it is an additional item that's on my desk which is not ideal for me however I think it's going to be something that's really going to end up helping me be able to stay on top of my grades and make sure that any of those papers don't get mixed up and it keeps me accountable okay so here is my new filing system I feel like because I have this in the black over here in the embossed label I really need to switch these out guys I've had these labels on here since I taught kindergarten like that was a long time ago at this point but this is the one that I have always had I've had it for the last eight years that I have been teaching and I love it I love how I have it right now the papers need to get organized because I wasn't here yesterday so I wasn't able to file through them but it just is my inbox it's my waiting requires to file things that I need to put away either in binders or in boxes and then things that I have to have copied or cut but what I was finding is that I would end up putting stuff here like in my inbox for grades and it would get all jumbled up so I ended up getting another one and then here what I did is I just put a needs complaint so if I have a student right now that is taking a test and they weren't able to finish they would put it up here papers that need to be graded are gonna go in here and then once they're graded they need to be entered into the system so I would put it there now sometimes it's like I would have it graded and then some of them I wouldn't go it was just very complicated and so once I have that I have it graded down here and the scores have been entered I can either file them away or I need to hand them back whichever one it is and then anything that needs to go into their portfolio reflection sheets are things that would go there so I like the system I like how simple it does he doesn't look awful like it's not taking up a ton of space I do have a lot of space back here so it looks good it's very simple clean to the point type of file system so I like it overall it's working really really well for me the third system that I put into practice this year are going to be book talks book trailers and book reviews now I've been very happy with how we have been implementing them this year I've always loved having book talks I think it's a really great way to encourage students to be able to discuss books and to share books and to get other kids out of their comfort zone and maybe try something a little bit different and new so book talks book trailers book reviews are all something that really kind of push my kids to try new things so here's what I ended up doing I ended up making some really great easy resources that would allow for my students to be able to when they finish a book just be able to go up to the front of my room pull the sheet that they need in order to complete the book trailer but then they would also sign ah for a particular slot so then that way during our beginning morning meeting for each of my rooms I complete a morning meeting time they had the opportunity to do their book talk now these are really short guys they're not long they last about a minute or two but the kids really really love it and they are so into it and it gets them excited to talk and share about their books so I have loved being able to implement this new system because the kids love it too so up in the front of the room is where I keep my book talk materials I have them stored inside of these magnetic paper file paper holders from lecture guys these are so so good if you do not have them you need to get them because they're great so I have two of them right now I did get a pack of four however I have two here and then I'm gonna make you a little bit dizzy and then I have two over there I hate it that the doors open but I have two more over here on this side one is for to keep track of their reading log and the other one is for like positive affirmations I could get rid of the positive affirmations but I love having that there so whip you right back around so right now I only have two which is not a big deal I'll probably just get another pack and then here I have each one holds a different type so let me back up I'm sorry each one will hold a different type here so in this top one this is for book trailer so if they want to plan a book trailer here's how they're going to end up planning it they have the materials there to be able to plan it if they're going to do a book review which is something that they just type up they'll take a picture of their book and they post it onto the website this is what they're going to use for that piece and then finally if they do a book talk which typically the book talk or the book trailer can be done in class so the kids will sign up for it but um so they have like the book talk here and it gives them an idea of how to give a book talk but then they have their planning sheet here so they can plan out all of their materials and on the second change its where they can write out their actual paragraph there so that's what it ends up looking like once the kids are ready they have it done they will sign up for a day so that they can give their book talk in class but yeah there's a little space it's a little spot in my room and it's absolutely perfect the fourth new system that I put into practice this year is going to be one that I really really love and I want my students to be able to learn how to utilize this tool so we have just recently started creating agendas for ourselves now I don't have fancy agendas that the school gives so we ended up using composition notebooks and with this agenda my kids every Monday will complete their week they will draw out their week almost like a bullet journal style they'll draw out their week and every day at the beginning of each and every single one of my classes I have my kids think about what is their top three what are the three things that they want to try and accomplish during class that day so a lot of the times because I have a very linear process and here's kind of what you're gonna be doing next or here are the next lessons or here's what I'm telling you that you're gonna be completing for the day the kids are really able to build those out so they come in they'll fill out their top three inside of their agendas and as they're working they're gonna cross off their top three items now the beauty is is I teach my students that listen if you're focused and you get your top three done you don't need to take anything home for homework however if you are not so focused and you don't get those top three items done then I encourage you wink-wink to take it home get it completed so you don't end up falling behind and it has done wonders it helps parents be able to hold their children accountable it helps parents know exactly what it is that their kids doing in class and three it really gives me an idea of are you completing the tasks that you say that you are going to complete so I have really loved implementing agendas I don't know if my kids have loved it as much I think the kiddos who are the go-getters absolutely do love this I know my parents love it but I'm gonna totally work on helping out my other kiddos love this as well alright so here is my sample agenda this is what I end up using to help model how to make their agendas at the very very beginning of the year I just created basically like a template to be able to put their house symbols so each of the kids has their own symbol and it's based on their color what house they're in and yeah so I just did it with a little color I also have a little ribbon that's just on the very back of the page taped that in here with just some packing tape and they use it just as a place marker so that's kind of what the kids agendas look like in the beginning they have our school calendar so I'm not going to end up showing you that but they have the school calendar pasted inside of there and then they just start drawing it out so here's a sample week that you guys can be able to see and what we do is we end up having the kids draw the lines and we teach them where to draw the lines how to draw them and map them out and they do so so well with this and they've done a great job so we help model how to write the deets up at the top of what we use down here at the bottom so typically the kids will end up putting the days like what cycle day it is if they have any other events that are happening and then they'll write any test or click checks that they know they're gonna have for that week here so here's the example that I was telling you about about how we're using it to keep track of how what they need to complete so the kids will end up writing their top three that are up here with little bullets they will write down what they want to accomplish for that day so if they have a quick check maybe they write quick check maybe if they have an assessment they'll only write assessment any I Excel practices anything to that extent and as they work to finish it they will just draw a little X over that bullet anything that you don't have finished they would complete it for homework so that is pretty much this little spot in a nutshell the kids do a great job with it there you go so the fifth new a system that I put into practice this year it's probably gonna be one I well let's just be honest y'all I hated this new system at the beginning of the year and I truly did it as a listen you guys don't want to listen to me and you don't want to follow directions and I'm going to do this and I ended up doing it but now I love it and that is putting stars on my carpet now stars is what I had I had a company a very long time ago send me these stars and if I find the packaging which I think is somewhere in my closet if I find the packaging I'll leave them listed down below but they sent me these stars and I pulled them out and I was like fine everybody's gonna sit on a star guys I have loved love love this it really does help make transitioning so much smoother kids know that they have to sit on the star I don't have to say hey guys we're making a weird this isn't an oval like where's our oval at which is I felt I was saying it on a daily and then kids were wanting to bring different flexible seating to groups and it was just causing mass chaos so I ended up putting these stars and now it's something that I feel like I cannot live without I'm gonna keep my stars I love them I love telling them to put their little - she's on the star they think it's like oh mrs. Lachman don't say tushy but it's hilarious so I love them is this something that I'm gonna absolutely keep year after year so here's what the stars look like from a bird's eye view as you can see I just made a very large oval to be able to accommodate on my kids I have 26 in one of my classes so this works out really perfect but what they do is they come in they will take a seat on a start and it's been an absolutely wonderful little spot I did have this little white table that didn't have any legs it's a dry race table that I love and I didn't want to get rid of it why I had these little I can't even explain it I'm gonna get up a little bit closer to show you so a few years ago back when I first started teaching I needed a way for my books that were back in these shelves wouldn't get pushed all the way back so these books back here actually have one of these placed behind them so that it's stuck the books from getting pushed all the way back which I didn't really love that look because I ended up taking out my books so you're gonna see there's like a bunch of stools back here there's some stools over here it took those books out and I ended up moving them I ended up using them as table legs so it's a really really short table but the kids love this table like it is a hot spot in my classroom and maybe it's just because it's a dry-erase table okay so let's get back to the stars because that's what's important not this table so here what the stars look like they are basic like they are so stuck on guys I can't even remove them I can't take it off I really hope at the end of the year I'm gonna be able to remove them but yeah yeah it's not like sticky oh my gosh I can't oh oh oh I got one so as you can see it reminds me of the backing of like velcro not the fluffy side the hard side and what they do is they just stick down they stay in place really really well the kids are able they don't mess with them which is nice I really just kind of set them down and then I just stomped on them to keep them in place the vacuum doesn't mess them up they don't come up at all they've worked absolute wonders for my classroom and my final new system that I put into place this year are these fantastic foldable tables that I've been using for some of my groups now I don't typically use them for all of my groups but for some of my friends who end up needing a little bit more guidance a little bit more hands-on materials or we have a lot of different things that work end up working on that day I have found the perfect tables from Amazon to use the kids love them I love them because I'm able to store them away very neatly and like just off to the side and they're so easy to just open up and have them ready to go for my groups and it helps keep me organized as well my favorite is being able to have those tables open be able to put out the materials on top of those tables and then have those kids come to group ready prepared and groups just go so much quicker versus me feeling like I'm always kind of trying to find the materials that I need to find for that group so I have loved using these tables I'm gonna absolutely continue using them it allows for me to have a small group table without having a small group table if that makes sense so what I was finding is that when I had really really big groups where we were just really kind of having I call it like my campfire discussions on different topics or books or I was really quickly reviewing or having the kids just work on their iPads and I was projecting I felt like having a small group table was just too much they were all huddled they were all trying to squeeze in it was just not a good feeling so I ended up getting rid of it but then I felt like I needed something for those groups where I did need to have things a little bit more guided for them and so this has been an absolute perfect middle of here's kind of the best of both worlds okay so this is the little tray that I'm telling you guys about and I love it it has a little handle up here at the very top and it looks like those briefcases off of that one game Deal or No Deal I think that's the name of it but that's what these end up reminding me up it's nice because they do have the little handles up here at the top they have little secure hooks that you can just use to be able to a knock it when they open up you'll see that they have two legs and I just lay it flat out open one side lock and open the other side lock that in and then I'm able to flip it over and it's a really really easy design um the kids do they love this they love these little trays they love being able to use them they're really stable I don't know I just I like the way they look I think they're really really cute that is it those are my top new six systems that I am absolutely loving this year I am curious if you've tried out something new this year and you are absolutely loving it as well please make sure to put it down in the comments and let's have a discussion and talk about some of those new systems I love learning about new things that people come up with to be able to try it out in my own room so share them I think it's a great way for me to also try new things I feel like we get stuck in a rut if we don't try new things which is why I'm loving these six new systems this year because it's so out of my comfort zone so I love them I would love to know what you are loving this year or which one of these new six systems that you find you wanted to try out for yourself be sure to give this video a thumbs up guys if you are new to my channel hello my name is Bridget Spackman I am a multi age teacher in central Pennsylvania so I teach 4th 5th and 6th grade learners across all content areas I have a love for literacy productivity and also for personalizing the learning of our students so if you love all of those things or you think that you just kind of dive with me go ahead and hit that subscribe button and I will see you guys all next time bye

Channel: The Lettered Classroom

Views: 9,281

Rating: 4.9871793 out of 5

Keywords: teacher tips, The Lettered Classroom, classroom decor, first year teacher, classroom setup, classroom organization, a day in the life of a teacher, elementary teacher, middle school teacher, education, how to be a teacher, how to teach, new teacher, teacher youtuber, teacher vlog, weekly teacher vlog, classroom ideas, classroom inspirations, teacher organization, upper elementary teacher, teacher life

Id: 7QCOBfpJl9U

Length: 21min 16sec (1276 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 24 2019