Classroom Strategies

In my experiences with the small group, double dosing, 5th grade classroom some of the classroom strategies that I have observed are when the teacher reads with the students he has them follow along with a pencil or their finger to make sure they are following what he is reading. He will also have them read the same passages together. Within this small group situation both of these ideas work really well. When working with math the teacher has the students use individual whiteboards which keeps them all working on the same problem individually, but then they come together to show the problem on the classroom board to see if they answered the problem correctly. With working through it this way the children can see how the teacher solves the problem and then see if they worked through it correctly and ended up with the correct answer. His incentive/reward for his students is a "Sugar Shaker". He gives treats out of a giant jar that looks like a salt shaker.

The "Sugar Shaker"

The students love this jar and he is a long time veteran teacher who has used this for years and years.

For my Kindergarten observations I have really enjoyed watching the teacher use multiple classroom strategies. One idea that has been really effective is starting the students with 10 pennies at the beginning of each week. Instead of dealing with actually pennies the teacher made a laminated poster board with all of their names on it. Each name has space for ten pennies drawn on with a dry erase marker. Throughout the week if the children don't follow procedures, routines, or proper behaviors they have to get up and erase a penny with their finger. On Friday they get to go to a store with their leftover pennies and buy something. Another strategy that the teacher used at the end of last year, when all the students were so anxious waiting to get out of school and behaviors started cropping up, was a 20 day countdown. She hung twenty envelopes from the ceiling numbered 1-20. Inside of each envelope was a fun (short) activity that those in the class that did their work and had good behaviors could participate in at the end of each day. This activity seemed to work well! Just today I saw that the class was so rowdy and talkative during centers that the teacher turned off the lights and it seemed to really quiet down and relax the children. The classroom has a lot of west facing windows with natural light, instead of the bright fluorescent lights, and this seemed really relaxing to the children.