There are many times in the day that you can nudge your students in a particular direction as a group rather than calling out individual students.  Some examples: waiting for the class to line up, transitions from one activity to another or anytime your class is moving as a group.

Choose a system
How creative are you? I’m not so much, so my system was points on the chalkboard. Each point represented a minute for game time on Friday afternoon. By the way, this was not “free time”.  I had a list of activities to choose from (math games, computer games, etc.).   That is pretty basic, but it worked.  Anything that rewards the group toward some goal (weekly is good).

When  to Reward
Use this system to emphasize what is really important to you.  Of course you’ll give them points if they are all working quietly and you’ll take points away when they are slow lining up. But also think about rewarding them for being a good classroom community. Avoid using the incentive as bait i.e., “If you quiet down, I’ll give you a point”. Instead,  reward behavior when you see it happening.  If the class is doing exceptionally well during independent reading, quietly say, “Nice job” and put a point on the board.  If you see one of your students pick up some trash in the hallway to throw away, say, “Thanks for doing that, Nikki” and put a point on the board. You’re reinforcing a positive community while you modify the group’s behavior.

Here are some examples of instances when you can use your group incentives:
- lining up
- walking in the hall
- independent work (everyone is on task)
- homework (everyone turns it in)
- one student helping another
- group work (productive, respectful discussions)
- positive report from substitute or specials teacher

Some other Resources:
Education World
Dave Wiggins

This is the first step in classroom management; and the one with which kids and teachers are most familiar.  It’s progessive behavior monitoring - check marks, flags, colored cards. It doesn’t matter which one you choose, but it does matter how you use it. It works with all elementary-aged students. It’s possible to have great classroom management without individual accountability - it requires building excellent community and a very skilled leader. However, I would reccomend all new or struggling teachers to start with individual accountability.

Colored Flags
I’ll use the flag system as an example, but anything similiar will work. First, think about how you will display and manage the flags. Use a pocket chart and hang it low on the wall so the kids can reach it.  Write each student’s name on a note card and put it in the pocket chart. Next, cut out little squares of green, yellow and red construction paper. Put a set of each color behind each student’s name.  The flags should be visible so that you can glance at the chart and the current flag for every student.

Managing the Chart
Since students will be changing their own flags, the chart itself can become a mess.  Create a classroom job for managing the chart. At the start of each day, a student will reset all the flags to green.

Recording the Results
You’ll be using your chart for all kinds of incentives, so you’ll need to have a long-term record. Each month, give the students a blank calendar. At the end of each day, ask them to color in that day’s results. Make sure all the kids have green, yellow and red crayons easily accessible everyday. Walk by the students who ended up on yellow or red to make sure it’s recorded correctly.

Clue in the Parents
Parents love to have a daily record of how their child is doing. Store the flag calendars in a “Parent Notebook” that goes home with the students everyday. This means you won’t have a copy of all the calendars. Instead, you can keep your own calendar (or a note in your lesson plan book) about and red or yellow flags. It should only be a couple (or none) each day.

Additional Classroom Management Resources:
Dr. Fred Jones

Reading books with pre-schoolers is easy - the parent reads and the kid listens. But, what should do you do when the child is learning to read? Should you let them struggle through each word? Should you jump in whenever they get stuck? Should you formulate comprehension questions?  Here are a couple of tips.

Remember the Goal
The best thing you can do for your child is foster a love of reading. They don’t have to be a fluent reader in order to comprehend a book. When you sit down to read with your child, try to make it fun.

Challenge, but Don’t Frustrate
When a child is reading alone, it’s important that the text is appropriate for their reading skill.  When you’re reading together, you can choose any book at any level - as long as it’s interesting to the child. You will support more or less depending on the difficulty.  When they come to a word they don’t know, give them a clue (”look at the picture” or “It starts with C, just like your name”). If they don’t get it, move on. If the child gets frustrated, the fun is over.

Focus on Comprehension
Talk about what’s happening in the book. Talk about the pictures. Make connections to the child’s life. Make connections to other books.  You’re conveying the message that reading is not just about sounding out words.  Reading makes you think and makes you laugh. When you’re talking about a book, the most open-ended questions are the ones that make kids think the most (they are also the most difficult). For example, you might simply say, “What are you thinking?”. If that’s enough to get them talking, great. If you get a blank stare, you’ll have to get a bit more specific, “What did you think about Charlie?” and then, “Why did Charlie want to go to the toy store?”. You can progress like this until you get some conversation going, but always try to get back to those open-ended questions.  Sometimes the child is thinking about something that may never have occured to you.

Additional Resources:
US Department of Education
KidsReads.com
Carol Hurst

Most parents know that reading to their kids is important, but don’t often write with them. Not surprisingly, many kids are great readers but struggle with writing. Writing with your kids is really fun; here are a couple of tips.

Make Books
Take a piece of construction paper, fold it in half and staple some copy paper inside. With young kids, you can “write” the story with illustrations first; this helps them follow along. See my post about making books with pre-schoolers. If the kid is doing the writing, don’t spend too much time getting it perfect. The emphasis is on the creative process, not the spelling or handwriting. Older kids will have fun making their own illustrations. These books become a part of your library and kids love to read them over and over again. 

Choose Non-Fiction
Kids tend to get stuck on the autobiographical “About Me” books (What I Want to be When I Grow Up, My Family, etc.). Help them get past this by realizing that everyday things are book-worthy. When they get the hang of writing about things that really happened, there is never a shortage of material.

Write Small
Beware the “My Summer Vacation” story. The subject is way to big to be interesting. It will inevitably sound like a laundry list of events (First, we flew on the plane, then we went to the hotel. We went to the beach and built a sandcastle…). Instead, help them choose one, much smaller event - maybe just the airplane. The details will make the story colorful (I ate two tiny bags of peanuts and drank a cup of tomato juice…).

Write Often
Don’t wait for something special to happen. Write about walking to the park, baking a cake, getting a haircut, visiting a friend…

Additional Resources:
US Department of Education

Organizing the Books 
Having an organized classroom library makes readers’ workshop much easier. You’ll need to have lots of books - of all levels and genres. You can organize most of the library according to level. There are tons of systems for leveling books. Most books have some level attached to them (usually on the back cover), but every publisher is different. If your school doesn’t already have a system, use a correlational chart to get them all on the same scale.  I wouldn’t recommend trying to level and organize books yourself. You’ll need help (it’s a job too complex for most kids). If it’s not a school-wide initiative, gather a few teachers and do it together.

Putting books in tubs makes them easier to manage. Color coding the tubs makes it even easier (levels A-F are blue, etc.). Kids have to be able to easily identify books that are appropriate for them. You will guide them to appropriate books during a reading conference. They also have to be able to put the books away in the correct tub. In addition to the leveled books, you’ll want genre tubs.

The type of genre depends on the age of the students, but some choices are: fiction, non-fiction, mystery, biography, science, history, fairy tales, realistic fiction, historical fiction, transportation, fantasy. You can also make tubs from favorite series or favorite authors.

Make it Comfortable
Make your library a nice place to be. Rugs, pillows, lamps, art, flowers - whatever you have to make it cozy. Spend some time teaching kids how to put books away so that the library stays organized. Show the kids that the library is a special place and they will take care of it.

Prepare your students for conferences

Students have to know where they are academically. It should not be a secret that they are behind in writing or advanced in math. They should all have goals and take pride in their progress toward their goals. Conferences are a time to make parents a part of the process. Give students a “conference plan” beforehand and some incentive for making sure their parents come. A conference plan might look like this:

1. Reading: get the book you are reading and read a page to your parent. Explain your reading goals.
2. Writing: get the last piece of writing that you published from your writing folder. Explain your writing goals.
3. Math: Choose a math game and teach your parent how to play. Explain your math goals.
4. Science: Show your parent your science fair project and the peer comments you received.

Be prepared to show parents the data

A report card is not enough. You need test results and examples of grade-level work. After each student shares with their parent, you need to show them the relevant data. Parents might not know what third grade writing should look like. Show them. They might not know what a fifth grade book likes like. Show them.

An Example 
Here is an example of a fifth-grade student named Gaby. She is doing well in math, but struggling in reading and writing.

Gaby brings her book to the table with her grandmother and me. She reads aloud and I can see that her grandmother is surprised at how she is struggling. Next, we look at the test results. I explain that Gaby is now reading at a third grade level (remember, this is no surprise to Gaby). We discuss Gaby’s progress so far and her reading goals. Gaby tells her grandma, “I am working on context clues to figure out words I don’t know”. I explain to grandma that she really needs extra practice at home. We talk about where Gaby can read at home and if they can go to the library together.  Grandma commits to helping her at home.

After a similar conversation about writing (it’s important that I show her what fifth grade writing looks like), we move on to math. Gaby chooses to play a multiplication game with grandma and explains the rules. Gaby wins the game and is beaming. I show grandma the math data and congratulate them on her achievements.

After we’ve been through the whole conference plan, we review what they’ll work on at home. I give them a book and a take-home math game.

Additional Resources:
Public Engagement
Education World