What to do when your classroom routines aren’t working anymore — resetting expectations without starting completely over.

This time of year can be a bit hard. The honeymoon is over, and students are comfortable. They are starting to hit some of your pain points, and you realize that your expectations need a reset. I know that this personally happened to me last week. Students were testing me throughout the day and by the end I was at my wit's end. I had to step back and look again at everything. 

Here's what I did to get us back on track.

First, we revisited our expectations. I went over the rules and what I expect of the students.

Next, I tightened up my consequences. I reminded myself that I cannot let students break my expectations without consequences. If so, the expectations might as well be thrown out the door. 

And...I spoke with students and parents so expectations could be reinforced at home.

Expectations are definitely important and when they fall apart, you need to stop and get them on track. It will save your sanity and make your teaching time more effective. 

Math Game Monday: Fall Multiplication Games

With tomorrow being the first day of fall, this set of three multiplication games is very timely. They are not only easy to play and prep, but you have a variety of games for students to practice their facts with. These games are also easy to differentiate because students can use them to focus on the set they are on or review previous sets as well. 

You will receive a Four in a Row game, A Falling Acorns card game, as well as an In the Pumpkin Patch roll and cover game. 

Each game comes with instructions and is perfect to use in math centers. They are great for partners to play together. 

If you are looking to add a little pumpkin spice and fall vibe to your math centers, add these to your rotation. 

Find Fall Math Games Here

A Fun Game We Tried at PE

Working in a small school often means I am it in terms of electives or specials. This year, we are helping each other out and are taking an elective each, but when it comes to PE, we do our own. 

In PE, I try to have a focus on a certain game or type of game for each month. I found that a lot of students did not know basic games like kickball or many dodgeball. So, doing a monthly focus, has helped them learn many more games. 

This month, I ran across a super cool and fun game that I had my students play last week. They have been playing at recess on their own the last couple of days. The game is a tag game (our focus for the month is tag games) and it's called Secret Agent Tag. It is different than many other tag game I have tried and the students LOVED it. 

To start with, students meet in the center of the gym and must close their eyes. I go through and tap certain students. If they get one tap, they are the "bad guys." They will be the ones to try to tag other students. Anyone who gets two taps are the "secret agents." They are the ones who can rescue the other students if they get tagged. The rest of the students who are not tapped are the "citizens." I only have 11 students, so I chose two for each of the bad guy and secret agent roles. But the game suggests about 10% of your class for each.

The fun of the game is that each player is unaware of who holds each role in the game, but it becomes evident after a bit. Students play for three minutes. If there are no more citizens, the bad guys win. If there are citizens left, they win. Then we go back to the middle again to choose the next players to be bad guys or secret agents. 

Try it out if you get a chance. I'm sure your students will love it as much as mine did.  

Math Game Mondays: Decimal Dunk

I am so happy to have gotten my 5th graders back this year after two years of teaching a 2nd-4th grade combo. 3rd-5th has been my sweet spot for a few years and I am so excited to be back. But, with that said, I needed to make my center activities a little more robust for the class. I needed to add in some activities that included some decimal math activities. Our second unit for the year involves addition and subtraction with decimals, so I have created an addition and a subtraction game that has the theme of sports. I am going to build this out with an entire series of games for the four basic operations all surrounding the theme. I am not going to tell you yet what all the sports themes are, but for now, let me introduce you to my first part of the series, my addition game.

Addition with Decimals Center Game

This game is simple to set up with very little cutting. It is mostly a print-and-go style game. The bright oranges really add to the overall basketball theme in the game 

Snag Decimal Dunk here.

Why Play Still Belongs in the Elementary Classroom and How to Make Sure it's There

Introduction: Somewhere Along the Way We've Decided They're Too Old to Play

Have you ever been in a kindergarten classroom? It's filled with bright colors, fun activities like blocks, pretend play, centers, manipulatives, games, and lots of movement activities. Early elementary classrooms are expected to follow best practices and include those in their setup. But, once you step into an upper elementary classroom, you will see that those things have largely disappeared. The blocks are gone. The centers go away and things seem more serious. Worksheets and textbook learning takes over leaving little room for play. Students are expected to sit quietly, listen, and work on page after page.

Play doesn't have to be something you squeeze in after learning. Play is often how some of the best learning takes place.

1. Play Increases Participation

When I tell students to complete a math page of 20 problems, for instance, I may hear some moans from across the classroom. But if I say, find a partner, we're going to play a game to practice these facts, the excitement is real. The skills are the same, but the energy has totally changed. I remember when I gamified the classroom with my circus multiplication activity. Students were excited about their learning overall and much more engaged. They raced through the activities, working carefully to unlock the next levels. They were looking forward to earning tickets for our carnival-style circus games where they could also earn prizes. 

2. Games Give Kids a Reason to Practice

Many skills involve lots of repetition for students to master. Skills such as multiplication facts, division facts, fractions, vocabulary, and even grammar need lots of practice. Worksheets give that repetition, but games can provide that too. The difference is that students actually want to practice when a game is involved. 

If you give your students page after page of math worksheets you can be sure you will hear some sort of disgruntled sounds or words from the kids. But students will happily solve many math facts when they are trying to beat a friend in a game. 

3. Play Teaches Things That Aren't on the Worksheet

While students are playing games, they are not just practicing math or any other skill. They are also learning important life skills such as:

• taking turns
• following rules
• communication
• solving disagreements

4. Play Lets me see my Students Differently

When I am walking around my classroom while students are playing games, I have the opportunity to observe students in a different light. I might hear a student explaining their thinking to their partner. I can see who understands a concept but needs a bit more confidence in the skill. I notice who has a strategy for solving the facts. I can see who is following procedures without really understanding them. 

Some of a teacher's best informal assessment happens when students don't even realize they are being assessed. The pressure is off and they can really let their knowledge shine through.

5. Play Gives Kids a Chance to Be Kids

Yes, upper elementary students may seem quite grown up when you compare them with kindergarteners, but remember, they are STILL little. They still enjoy being silly. They still like pretending. They still want and need to move. They get excited about competitions, challenges, themes, dice, cards, and ridiculous classroom games. 

Often districts pressure teachers to have kids produce something tangible and measurable. But, I do not believe, for even one second, that school has to look completely serious to be valuable. 

6. Play Doesn't Mean a Classroom is Out of Control

Many teachers think that if there is noise or fun in the classroom it must be because learning is not happening and it is out of control. Classrooms with productive play still have expectations, routines, and boundaries. It is all about the training. Students have to learn:

• how loud they can be
• where materials belong
• what happens if there is a disagreement
• when the game ends
• how to clean-up 
• what appropriate competition looks like

As a teacher, I spend time teaching my students how to play classroom games at the start of the year because it will continue to pay off throughout the year. 

7. Play Doesn't Have to be Complicated

There are lots of things you can do, starting tomorrow, that are simple and free. 

Math: Dice games, card games, around the room challenges, multiplication races

Reading: Reader's theater, vocabulary charades or headbands, acting out parts of speech

Grammar: Silly sentence challenges, grammar games

Science: Building challenges, observation games

Brain Breaks: Quick movement challenges

Indoor Recess: Board games, drawing, building puzzles

8. What I've Learned After Years in the Classroom

I have taught for long enough to have seen plenty of educational trends come and go. State expectations change. Standards change. Curriculums change. Kids don't change. 

Your students still want to laugh, have fun and move. They still want to create. They want to play with their friends. And, if I can combine those things with learning, I don't consider one second of that instruction time a waste. I consider it quite the opposite, great teaching. 

How do you make room for play inside the four walls of your classroom? I'd love to hear about games, traditions, activities, or crafts that your students never seem to outgrow.  

Looking for more ideas? Check out my TPT store games right here. 

Math Game Monday: Dots & Boxes Multiplication Edition

What's not to love about a traditional game of dots and boxes? This game, although a classic, is still a hit with my class. Students can practice one set of facts at a time for extra focused learning.

How to play Dots & Boxes

I like to either laminate or slip these into a sheet protector so I can use them again and again. Each student will use a different colored whiteboard marker.  They will select a set of multiplication facts to practice (number of fact set is located on the top left of each game board). Students roll a 12-sided die, multiply it with the number on the top of the sheet, and find that number on the board. They will draw a line between two of the dots that are around the product. Take turns rolling and connecting two dots. If you complete a square, write your initials inside it. That is one point for you. At the end, whoever has drawn the most boxes wins.

Tips and Tricks for Dots & Boxes

One thing I like to do is use this as a partner game. I find that if I have more than 2 students together, it can get a little bit noisier than I would like while I am working with small math groups.

Last Thoughts

You will have this game ready to go in no time. Just print and go. Your students will be practicing their math facts in no time with this easy-to-play game. What are you waiting for? Snag this one today and make your life a bit easier. You will no longer be asking, "What will my students do while I am in small groups?"

You can find it right here. You will also find a link to a short video that shows how to play.

 Happy playing!

Who Was Books About Students & All About Me Student Autobiographies

I love to start my year by getting to know my students a bit better. Here are two fun writing projects that I have used in my classroom that do just that. These are great for the beginning of the year, but I have used the autobiography one in the middle of the year with great success too, so timing is not really a huge deal on either of these projects.

Autobiography Writing Project

The thing I absolutely LOVE about this project is that it includes having students interview their parents about before they were born and when they were little. It traces the student's lives from their parents finding out they were going to have a baby all the way up until their current age. 

Students dive in one interview and piece of writing at a time. I usually start with the very earliest stage of their lives and work up to their current life. I send home an interview paper on the first day. They are supposed to interview their parents that night and return the information the next day. Then they use the questions and answers to create a paragraph that tells about their life. We repeat that process for several days, sending interviews and then writing the paragraph the next day. Toward the end, students can do their own work without needing to interview their parents. The result is a super sweet keepsake autobiography pocket book for each student to display. 

I just LOVE this project so much! I learn a lot about each student and they learn about themselves as well. They take home a beautiful project that will be a keepsake for years to come. 

This comes with so many different forms for different nationalities and looks of children. 

Who is Books

This is another fun way to have students write about themselves and this is completely different from the last activity. The information in each is unique. First, I start by having the students write in 4 different ways about themselves. Here's what that looks like for me. 

1. Bio Poem

This is a fun way for students to practice writing poetry without it being too challenging. This poem is a formula (just search bio poem in your search engine and it will pop up with directions for how to have students write this poem). 

2. Hopes and Dreams (Goals)

Students write about things in school that they hope or dream for their year. This is basically a list of goals they want to achieve that are school-related.

3. One Little Word 

Students choose one word to represent something they want to strive for this year. They also write about why they chose that word.

4. Favorites

Students write a list of favorites such as: color, number, sport, subject, animal, friend, etc. 

Once the writing is done, I used AI to create book covers. Sometimes I have to play around with this for a little bit, but this is the basics of what I do:

Upload a picture of the front cover of a Who Was book from my library or on the web. I also upload a picture of one of my students and tell the prompt to create a Who Was style book. I tell it to name it using my student's first name. I also pick a theme if wanted. This time I had it create them in a sports pose playing their favorite sport and wearing their favorite color. That was about it. I made sure that it made the head big and the body small in each picture to match the actual artwork on these books. 

Once I get an image, I save it and I upload it to a Powerpoint and center it on the right side of an 11x8.5 document. I type out the four pieces of writing (two on one slide and two on another). Then I print the writing front to back and print cover. I fold it all like a book and staple the single sheet inside the front cover and it's done. I hung these on the wall outside my classroom and got a lot of attention from other students and staff. Super fun...and free!

Here's where you can find the autobiography for your class.