End of the Year Behavior Management

When it comes to classroom management, routine consistency is the key. Seasoned teachers know that when time is invested early on in classroom routines, the success will carry through the rest of the year. But by the time May comes along the necessity turns to novelty. Even though the normal schedules get interrupted by assessments and play days - the students still crave structure. Here are a few ways to make school fun while still keeping them under control!

Voice Levels Board

This simple hand-made poster can be made on poster board or on a Google slide. It creates a visual for the students to self monitor their noise in a fun way. Every student wants to keep working with a buddy as long as they use a “Spy” voice. As the year goes on their classroom talking voices increase. This poster is a great way to keep them thinking about their inside voice!

WOW Board

Another simple hand-made poster that I laminate for longevity: I create a grid with letter/number coordinates. Throughout the day, I put their initials on the squares (in dry erase marker) to reward them for good behavior and academic excellence. At the end of the day, I randomly pick 2-4 squares and they receive a candy pick. The students love to get as many squares with their names on them as they can.

Compliment Stars

Hallway behavior is another thing that goes down the drain as summer approaches! I award stars to the students that receive compliments from other teachers/staff members or even other students for their hallway behavior. I put the stars on the board when we receive them. Once we receive 10 stars they get a class reward. I usually choose things that don’t cost me too much time or money. Their favorite is having lunch bunch in the classroom. Another variation of this is earning fuzzies in a jar. The more they earn the bigger the prize!

Class Dojo

Class Dojo is an app that you can download for free. When you upload your student names into the app, each student receives a monster avatar. The teacher can assign points to different behaviors or actions. There is an option on the app that allows for it to randomly choose a student. If that student is following the classroom expectation, they earn the point. If not, the teacher randomly picks another student. Each Friday, I give each student the points that they earned in real paper Dojo cash. I have also created a paper menu that has rewards that the students can purchase when they earn their dojo points and dollars.

I love using Class Dojo! You can read about my experience with this app here:

How to Create the Best Home/School Connection with Just One App!

You can find materials to support a Dojo classroom here:

Fourth and Fritcher 3-in-1 Mega Pack Bundle

Reminder Anchor Chart

Sometimes you need to have a chit-chat with your class. In the past I have gone over the rules in-depth and created an anchor chart to help them remember the expectations.

You can read about this process here:

Refocusing For the Rest of the Year

Reminder Anchor Chart

Every teacher as time goes on creates a “tool box” of management techniques that work for them. But having a May/June arsenal is a must for surviving the last 2 months of every school year! Good luck - the end is very near!!!

End of the Year Tasks in an Elementary Classroom

It’s that time of year to start thinking about what worked this year and what we can do to improve next year. I’ve had a lot of “end of year” school years. Throughout that time, I’ve learned a few tricks to help make the start of next year a little bit smoother.

1. Copies for the Fall

I start going through all the activities and original copies that I used for the year. Then I make a list of all things that I want to use again. This list works as a rough draft for plans but also a check off list for my printing assignments. Our district uses digital printing so I can upload the PDFs for the copies I want printed. I know I will add and supplement with new activities, but I like to send all of my copies for September and October before the school year ends. I set the copies due date for the first week of June so I can check it off my list and store it for the summer. It will be one less thing I need to do as I prep my room for the new students coming in!

2. Packing

Each year we have to take everything off our walls and pack up as much as we can so they can move out all of our furniture to wax our floors. This year we have to move our classroom to another building so we have to do “real” packing. But I use the same process either way!

As a team we make a label sheet on standard copy paper that has my name, room number, and a place for a box number. We send this to printing and request about 100 copies for each of us. Each teacher has a designated paper color for his/her sign. It’s a quick way to differentiate which box belongs to which teacher. With a complete move (including the furniture), everything gets a label sheet and number: chairs, tables, bookcases...everything.

As I start packing, I tape the label sheet on the box and number it. I also create a spreadsheet that will tell me which box has which items inside. When I unpack later, the spreadsheet will help me know which boxes contain what. I use the spreadsheet to determine which boxes to unpack and where. I also use the chart to organize the order I unpack boxes. For instance, I’ll put all construction paper-containing boxes near the cupboard where I will store construction paper. I might just move them there during the initial sorting phase and empty them out at a later time. As I empty boxes, I check them off my spreadsheet. The spreadsheet also helps me realize if a box or group of boxes doesn’t make it to its new destination.

Label Your Boxes: Name, School, Room #, and Box Number

3. Bulletin Boards

Most years we can keep our bulletin boards up as long as we cover them. We hope that the summer staff doesn’t get anything wet and most times we are good. But if you have to take them down each year here is a quick idea to keep all of your bulletin board materials together.

I usually spent a lot of time layering and mix and matching different borders. To save time later on, I keep the materials together to replicate it for the next year. I dismantle a bulletin board one at a time. I take all the staples out so they are ready to go in the fall. I roll up the borders in a rosette shape. As soon as all of that bulletin board stuff is rolled up, I use a large binder clip to hold it all together. Then, I also label which bulletin board it belongs to. This way in the fall you just have to put up new paper and your borders are matched and measured for easy assembly.

In the past we have used plastic dollar store table cloths or fabric for the backing of the bulletin board. But some years the district has given us issues over them being a fire hazard. So I found a better solution! I found rolls of white wrapping paper at the dollar store. This works great and matches any color combination that you use to decorate.

4. Planning Spreadsheet

My fourth grade team has created a google sheet to lay out our content literacy and standards plan of attack. This is powerful when you see what articles and books you are using for each lesson. It demonstrates where you have gaps and where you need to incorporate different lessons for different standards. This also leads my team to the discussion about spiraling curriculum. We want the students to work towards deeper learning over mastery. The more exposures and applications students have to standards and skills, the deeper the learning will be. It is even more powerful when we are hitting those areas in Social Studies and Science!

The NYS standards (NYS Next Generation Standards) have been revised to combine the old literature and informational standards. So, instead of keeping track of 2 sets of reading standards, it has been condensed into one!

These are some simple things that will help you think about how you will wrap up your school year while still preparing for the start of the next. As we get more experienced as teachers, we learn a few tricks that make us say, “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”