One intriguing classroom management technique is the "2x10 Strategy."
This involves spending two minutes a day for ten consecutive days talking with your class about anything they’re interested in, which helps build a positive relationship.
This can be especially powerful with students who exhibit challenging behavior, as it fosters trust and understanding.
This subtle technique can significantly improve classroom dynamics and foster a positive learning environment.
A "go-to" activity for teachers is a reliable, easy-to-implement task they frequently use because it effectively engages students and achieves specific learning goals.
1. Gallery Walk
How it works: Post questions, problems, or topics around the room. Students walk around, discuss in groups, and write responses or comments.
Why it works: Encourages movement and active engagement with content.
2. Four Corners
How it works: Label the room’s corners with choices or categories. Ask a question, and students move to the corner that represents their answer.
Why it works: Promotes movement, discussion, and decision-making.
3. Mystery Bag or Box
How it works: Place an object or related items in a bag/box. Students guess what’s inside based on clues or connections to the lesson.
Why it works: Sparks curiosity and critical thinking.
4. Snowball Fight
How it works: Students write responses to a question, crumple their papers, and toss them across the room. They pick up someone else’s paper to discuss.
Why it works: Combines fun with reviewing or sharing ideas.
5. Scavenger Hunts
How it works: Create a scavenger hunt with questions or tasks related to the lesson.
Why it works: Adds excitement and requires students to synthesize information. More info on the scavenger hunt is here: https://teachers-resources-and-tips.blogspot.com/2024/12/scavenger-hunts-in-classroom-great-go.html
Scavenger hunts are dynamic, engaging activities that challenge students to search for and find items, answers, or information based on clues or prompts. They’re adaptable to any subject, age group, or learning environment.
How It Works
Set Objectives
- Determine the learning goal (e.g., review key concepts, practice vocabulary, explore a topic).
Create Clues or Prompts
- Design a list of tasks, questions, or riddles related to the lesson.
Examples:
- In history: “Find the year the Civil War started on the timeline.”
- In science: “Identify an object in the room that represents a simple machine.”
- In math: “Solve a riddle to find the next clue: I’m greater than 10 but less than 20, divisible by 5.”
Prepare Materials
- Place clues or task cards around the room or provide students with a checklist.
- For digital scavenger hunts, use tools like Google Forms or apps like GooseChase.
Form Teams or Groups
- Divide students into pairs or small groups to promote collaboration.
Set Rules and Boundaries
- Clearly explain the rules (e.g., no running, specific areas to search, time limits).
- Emphasize teamwork and respectful behavior.
Start the Hunt
- Provide the first clue or prompt and let students proceed.
- You can use sequential clues (one leads to the next) or non-linear hunts (students can complete in any order).
Debrief and Reflect
- Once the hunt is over, review the answers and discuss what they learned.
- Use this time to correct misconceptions or expand on key ideas.
Variations
Physical Scavenger Hunt
- Hide physical objects or cards around the classroom or school.
Example: In an English class, hide slips of paper with grammar rules or literary terms.
Digital Scavenger Hunt
- Use technology to create a hunt, such as QR codes linking to videos, images, or questions.
Example: A geography hunt where QR codes reveal maps students must analyze.
Concept-Based Scavenger Hunt
- Instead of finding objects, students solve problems or answer questions to “collect” knowledge.
Example: “What is the formula for the area of a circle? Write it down to move forward.”
Outdoor Scavenger Hunt
- Take students outside for nature-based or real-world observation activities.
Example: In biology, “Find three examples of plant adaptations in the schoolyard.”
Treasure Hunt Style
- Incorporate a narrative where students are solving a mystery or finding hidden treasure related to the topic.
Example: A pirate-themed hunt in which students decode math problems to find the "gold."
Why Scavenger Hunts Work
- Engagement: Students love the challenge and novelty.
- Active Learning: Combines movement, problem-solving, and content review.
- Collaboration: Encourages teamwork and communication.
- Differentiation: Tasks can be tailored to various skill levels.
Here are some engaging and versatile New Year activities suitable for all grade levels that can be adapted to fit your classroom needs.
Goal Setting and Vision Boards
- Activity: Have students reflect on the past year and set goals for the new year.
- Younger students: Draw or cut out pictures from magazines to represent their goals.
- Older students: Write SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals.
- Materials: Paper, magazines, glue, markers, or digital tools for creating online vision boards.
- Variation: Create a class goal together to encourage teamwork.
"Year in Review" Time Capsule
- Activity: Students reflect on their favorite memories, achievements, and lessons learned from the past year.
- Younger students: Fill out a simple worksheet with prompts like “My favorite thing I learned this year” or “I loved when we…”
- Older students: Write reflective journal entries or letters to their future selves.
- Follow-up: Collect the reflections and seal them in a class time capsule to be opened at the end of the school year or the next New Year.
"My Word for the Year"
- Activity: Encourage students to pick one word that represents their focus or intention for the new year.
- Discuss examples like "Kindness," "Growth," or "Curiosity."
- Students can decorate their word on a card or poster.
- Variation: Create a collaborative word cloud for the class by compiling all the students' words.
New Year STEM Challenge
- Activity: Challenge students to design and build something related to New Year’s traditions.
- Example: Create a party popper, design a clock that shows midnight, or build a “firework” using simple engineering materials.
- Materials: Paper, craft sticks, rubber bands, balloons, or LEGOs.
- Variation: Include a “resolution machine” where students invent something to help achieve goals.
Cultural New Year Celebrations
- Activity: Explore how different cultures celebrate the New Year.
- Younger students: Create crafts like Chinese paper lanterns or write resolutions on "wish leaves."
- Older students: Research and present unique New Year traditions from around the world.
- Discussion: Compare these traditions to how they celebrate New Year’s at home.
Gratitude Garland or Tree
- Activity: Reflect on the positive aspects of the past year by writing what students are grateful for on strips of paper or leaves.
- Display them as a garland, tree, or bulletin board.
- Variation: Create a classroom gratitude jar and revisit it at the end of the year.
New Year’s Escape Room
- Activity: Create a fun escape room or scavenger hunt with New Year-related puzzles.
- Younger students: Use simple riddles or matching games.
- Older students: Include more complex math problems, word games, or team challenges.
- Themes: Midnight countdown, finding a missing resolution, or unlocking the "new year treasure."
Class Countdown
- Activity: Create a countdown to the "Class New Year."
- Each student contributes an idea or activity for each "hour" (e.g., 10:00 = trivia, 11:00 = craft, 12:00 = celebratory cheer).
- Celebration: Have a mock New Year countdown at the end of the activity with a small celebration like confetti, music, or a mini dance party.
Creative Writing Prompts
- Activity: Encourage students to write a story, poem, or essay about the New Year.
- Prompts: “What if you could time travel to next year?” or “Describe your dream New Year celebration.”
- Younger students: Provide sentence starters like “This year, I want to…”
- Older students: Explore reflective or futuristic themes.
New Year Math or Art Integration
- Math Activity: Solve New Year-themed problems like calculating the time difference between cities celebrating midnight or graphing students’ resolutions.
- Art Activity: Create a class “fireworks” display by painting or crafting vibrant designs.
Tips for Adapting Activities
- For younger grades: Use visuals, hands-on crafts, and simple prompts.
- For older grades: Focus on deeper reflections, research, and critical thinking.
Girls in STEM: Throughout history, women have played a major role in the science of mathematics.
Sadly, not many are remembered in this way. These woman can be an inspiration to girls and young women to go into the sciences. Woman have been involved with math and science for thousands of years. But it still is basically a man's world. These woman of the past can be used to encourage more girls to pursue a career in science, technology, engineering, and math. Perhaps by knowing some of the accomplishents of women in the past, they too can strive to make history.
Of course they can inspire boys too!
Here are our picks for
The Top 10 Women in Mathematics History
#10 Elena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia (1646-1684). First woman in the world to receive a PhD.
#9 Hypatia (lived around 400 ad) The first woman to have an impact on the science of math. She was ruthlessly murdered in her hometown of Alexandria.
#8 Winifred Edgerton (1862-1951) First American woman to recieve a PhD in mathematics. Born in Wisconsin, she received her PhD from Columbia. After completing all the requirements, she was turned down the first time.
#7 Florence Nightingale ( 1820-1910) What did she have to do with mathematics? She revolutionized how statistics are gathered and displayed.
#6 Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) She discovered a comet, but apparently never learned her times tables!
#5 Mary Everest Boole (1832-1916) Became most interested in teaching math and science to children. Used "string geometry" to help depict shapes. Yes, she was a bit odd in her "other" beliefs, but aren't we all?
#4 Sophie Germain (1776-1831) She developed a theorem that is a basis for proving Fermat's Last Theorem. Certain prime numbers are called "Sophie Germain Primes."
#3 Maria Gaetana Agnesi (1718 - 1799 ) Wrote a book on calculus and an equation that when graphed became known as "The Witch of Agnesi."
#2 Ada Lovelace Daughter of Lord Byron (1815-1852) Worked with Charles Babbage and his counting machines. Could she possibly be the first person to think about programming computers?
#1 Grace Murray Hopper (1906-1992) THE first lady of computers. Had major impact on the first computers. Supposedly came up with the computer slang word "bug." Was member of the US Navy and reached the rank of Rear Admiral. Without her, you probably wouldn't be seeing this!
The following charts are for individual students. They are in pdf form that you can download and print.
Directions for using the behavior charts.
Each one has 10 places to either place a sticker over or color in. This is done each time a student completes a task. You can let them get credit for attendance, good behavior, memory verse, or even bringing an offering. When they fill all 10 places, they get whatever prize you reward them with. Tips for Sunday School behavior are below the charts.
Children are all different and you find this evident in a Sunday School setting.
During Sunday School, you may find that most of your children behave with little to no difficulty, but there are always a couple that will have behavior issues. Getting children to behave during Sunday School is important for several reasons.
You need order in the classroom to teach your lesson, the other kids need it for their own learning needs, and you need to provide a safe environment for all the children. Here are some ideas for helping children behave during this time.
Establish Rules
No matter what age of children you teach, you need to establish rules within the classroom. These rules should always been simple and pertinent. Do not have so many rules that children feel trapped in them. For example, simple rules such as "Listen at all times," applies to not only listening to you, but the other children as well. Think about what you expect out of the children and start from there. It is a good idea to explain all of the rules to the class, so there are no ways for them to misconstrue their meanings.
Get to Know Your Children
One important step in establishing order in your classroom is getting to know the kids on a personal level. Talk to the parents and find out if there are behavior issues in the home or if the child has been diagnosed with a medical condition that may cause behavior issues. Find out what works best for your children and what kind of classroom setting they respond to the best.
Have a Reward System
A reward system works out very well for children of all ages, especially children in preschool. It could be something as simple as earning star stickers each week for outstanding behavior, and letting the children place their own star on their Sunday School attendance chart. At the end of so many weeks, children can earn a prize from a prize box. Other ideas include earning plastic coins, "Bible bucks" or anything small that the children can trade in for larger rewards. It is always a good idea to keep the reward system in a place where they can see it each week. This gives them a visual reminder of what is expected out of them.
Plan Plenty of Activities
Children often misbehave or become restless when they become bored. You can prevent this by keeping your children busy during the time they are in your classroom. Have plenty of short and easy activities that last no more than a few minutes.
Remember that small children have a short attention span and need several small activities to keep their interest. Sculpting clay, puzzles, blocks, easy games and even a quick walk around the church are all quick activities that will direct their attention.
There will always be the child who doesn't behave during Sunday School. Learning how to distract that child's behavior is your best bet. Keep open communication with the parents of your students, use the tips suggested above, and you should be able to run a tight ship in your classroom every week.
Students who are motivated put a greater effort into learning and have higher acheivement. Most students are not motivated by normal classroom environments. How do you engage and motivate students? Teachers must instill an interest in the subject and make it relevant.
Even good lesson plans will not motivate students. Motivating students is a tough task for teachers. Once students reach a certain age, they no longer feel the need to attend school, let alone enjoy it.
It is up to teachers to motivate their students. Without at least minimal motivation, your teaching will fall flat and there will be little or no real learning in your classroom. How do you currently try and motivate students?
Your classroom must be an enjoyable experience. Student motivation will be next to impossible if your classroom does not have an inviting atmosphere.
What is your demeanor? Are you excited about teaching? Glad that you're there? Happy to see the students?
Excited about your subject or grade? You must be warm, inviting, and enthusiastic about your job.
You must show up everyday well prepared.
What does your classroom look like? Sterile? Prison? Blank walls? Your classroom needs color and excitement..
Put up posters. Put up students' work. You need to hook the students as soon as they set foot in your classroom.
Making your classroom an enjoyable place to learn is actually half the battle.
Students need a reward for learning. No, this is not prizes or candy.
That may work to get a task completed, but not motivate for real learning. Remember, we are looking to motivate students into learning, not necessarily completing a task.
The reward for learning that you strive for is a students satisfaction for learning. That's it. For example, you are teaching the Civil War. You want a student to sit back and say, "Man, that Abe Lincoln was one cool dude."
Okay, a little corny, but it makes the point. If that goes on in your classroom, you are virtually there! But it's not easy. It's not easy because teachers are taught to dish out a task, test, boom, done. Not very motivating, is it?
Students need a reason for doing the assignment. Give them one. Each teacher will have to come up with this on their own. No help here is given because if you can't think of a reason for teaching something, you can't motivate students.
Here are some hints. How does it affect them? Does it make them a better citizen? Learner? Relate it to their life. Relate it to their future. Relate it to their ego.
Relate it to current events. You cannot just say, "Because."
Praise goes a long way. This is the reward you can give out frequently and it's free. Write notes on their papers. Say things to them as you walk around the room. Call everybody by name and encourage them. Put student work on the walls. Put a piece of work from ALL students at various times. Call home and praise your students to their parents.
If your students have a reason to learn the material and get praise from you, that's really all motivation they need. It sounds simple, but remember it is hard. Over the course of the school year, you will get better.
Choose your opening to the lesson in such a way that it makes the students want to know more. It may sound silly, but a story can be a very effective way.
Using the Lincoln example, "Let me tell you about a guy whose mother died when he was nine. His first girlfriend got sick and she died. Eventually he became president."
Once your students want to know more, you have them hooked. They are motivated! You want your students to go home everyday and say, "Guess what I learned?"
Recapping student motivation, first is you and your classroom. Next comes a reason for learning. You then create a curiosity about what is to come. You do all those, your students can't help but be motivated in your classroom. And the best thing about this, is it make your discipline problems be few and far between.
One intriguing classroom management technique is the "2x10 Strategy." This involves spending two minutes a day for ten consecut...
