Classroom Makeover: Management

I know I've been showing you sneaks along the way, but our classroom is finally complete so it's time to give you the full tour. You can see our entire room at once in our Classroom Makeover Facebook album. On my blog, I'm going to break the posts apart to show you similar parts of our room, how they're used, and point you to places where I found some of the sources. I'm hoping you'll pick up a few ideas along the way and I'd love to hear any suggestions you have too. I'm starting with classroom management tips.

Our class motto this year will be Dare to dream it, work to achieve it. I tell my students every year that they are very lucky to be in our classroom. I reinforce this throughout the year and encourage them to work hard, respect each other, and live up to our classroom expectations. Third grade is hard work but everyone can do it when we all work together and do our best every day.


This ties in with our classroom expectation to make good choices at all times. I stress that my students are responsible for their own actions. We brainstorm our classroom expectations at the beginning of the year and I post them on this behavior board. I also have my students sign a classroom promise on a big piece of paper and hang it in the hallway outside of our room. Our consequences vary depending on the expectation that wasn't met. Students may miss recess time, have to clean up after others, etc. This is something we decide together on a case-by-case basis. I track student behavior using color-coded sticks. For example, if an assignment isn't turned in, the student must pull a green stick. If it's a respect issue, the student pulls a blue stick. I communicate this behavior to parents through a weekly report.

Fultzopoly is another part of my management system. I wrote about it earlier on my blog. It's my modified version of Homeworkopoly. We play every Friday afternoon, but students are only allowed to roll if they have completed all of their work for the week.You can download your free copy of the board here. There are also free Brain Binders here that go with it.







I'll be back with organizational tips and classroom time savers next. Until then, do you have any management tips to share? Let's talk over on my Facebook page.