Spruce up the classroom in the new year!

 

The perfect carpet becomes a focal point for the classroom and a comfy place for kids to gather for instruction. Classroom carpets are not just for little ones, either. 5th graders love to spread out on the carpet for independent reading or learning games. Carpets are a great way to transform any classroom! They add color and comfort instantly. Perfect for keeping current carpets in mint condition. Carpets come in multiple sizes to fit your needs. 

In the words of one teacher "Comfy, colorful, carpets create a classroom community, a place where children can sit, listen, talk and build connections. In kindergarten, the carpets are learning areas where children learn alone or with friends. A classroom without a carpet is like a bed without a pillow, not quite comfy enough."

Calming Circles Carpet: $127.46 EA*

 

These Alphabet rugs are perfectly designed for any classroom setting. Their colorful and simple theme helps students learn the lowercase & uppercase alphabet during Circle time, Story time or other group activities.

 

Owl-phabet Tree Carpet $127.46 EA*

Sequential seating $127.46 EA*

 

Carpet Square Kits are great for any classroom. They come in Alphabet, Numbers and Shapes.  These carpet kits are easy to use and easy to store. When you are not using them for educational purposes, use them as individual seats on the floor for each child.

 

Toddler Alphabet Blocks kit nature $144.46 EA Set*

(set of 26 squares)

Alphabet blocks primary $144.46 ea set*

(set of 26 squares)

 

Teachers Love carpets just as much as the kids do!! see how they used these carpets in their classrooms:

Alyssa Gagnier shared, “I do ALL my teaching from my carpet and cannot imagine teaching in a classroom without one. I find students are more attentive when sitting at the carpet because of their close proximity to the teacher. I like sitting around my carpet with my students to share ideas and talk about our day. A carpet is an essential in any classroom!” 

Shellie Leveratt wrote, “Community gathering place! Comfy reading place!! Students sit in pairs, not assigned spots, but partner arrangement helps with management. I love that I can see each student’s face!”

Jolene Maynard explained, “I teach grades 2-5 in a Christian School and I use the rug for centers, independent quiet reading or work, listening to tapes or cd's, cooperative buddy work, and we even do calendar and Bible devotionals on the rug, as well as reviewing group concepts or doing a read aloud.  It also helps students to get a chance to change locations throughout the day instead of sitting at their seats or a table for the whole day.”

To find more carpet designs follow this link: http://www.purefunsupply.com/Daycare-Floor-Carpets-s/420.htm

 

*All prices are subject to change.

Classroom Management – 5 Ideas for Managing Noise Levels

1. Catch A Bubble – My mom uses this with her preschool students and it works like a charm. She tells them to catch a bubble and they immediately fill their mouths with air. Students will tap their friends who haven't yet caught the memo and point at their mouths to let them know what’s going on. Next thing you know, the class is quiet and everyone has puffy cheeks.

2. Call and Response – The teacher starts by saying “1, 2, 3 eyes on me.” The students will then respond with “1, 2 eyes on you!” You can even come up with your own clever phrases to use. Try using your classes favorite song. The teacher will say or sing the beginning of the first line and students have to finish.

3. Match the Clap Pattern – The teacher will start by clapping a special pattern. When the teacher completes the pattern, the students must then repeat it back. This can go on for a few rounds until you have everyone’s attention.

4. Marble Jar – Place a Jar at the front of your classroom. When students exhibit good behavior, add a marble to the jar. When they behave poorly, remove a marble from their jar. When the jar is full, your class can celebrate by having a pizza or popcorn party! Having a visual in the front of the room is a great way to keep students thinking about good behavior.

5. Whisper Challenge – Start by whispering a direction to the students. For example, “Raise your hand if you can hear me.” Those that hear you will start the reaction by raising their hands. Continue to whisper different actions until you have everyone’s attention. You can even throw in a few rewards as you go such as “the first five people to raise their hand may go to the prize box.”

Classroom Management – Quiet Critters

Looking for new ways to keep the volume in your classroom down? Check out these Quiet Critters! Quiet Critters only make an appearance when the room is quiet and the students are well behaved. If things get too loud or out of control, they get scared and need to return back home. You will want to have one for each student in the classroom. This way the students that are behaving can have one placed on their desk and the students who are not will change their act to earn their quiet critter too.

All you need to create your critters are heart shaped foam pieces, assorted wiggle eyes, and colorful pom poms. The foam heart acts as the base and looks like little feet. Simply glue the pom pom onto the heart and then add the eyes. We love that the critters pictured above have different eyes. It adds a little fun for the students when they see which one they earned. You can even have them create their own critters and ask them to pull them out when they are well behaved. Give this idea a try and let us know what you and your students think!

How To Motivate Students to do their Best Work in 2015

Looking for ways to get the best work out of your students in 2015? Here are a few things you can do to motivate them to give their best effort.

Set Goals- Goal Setting is a great motivator for students of all ages. Each individual student should have goals to reach that meet their specific learning abilities. You can even make class goals! To make this even more effective, you can make a goal sheet so that the goals become visual to the students. They will enjoy seeing themselves climb to new heights and reach each goal along the way. Incentive pads are a great way to inspire and track progress as well!

Show Enthusiasm!- Your Students will be inspired by your excitement. By showing enthusiasm, students will feed off of your attitude and mimic your excitement. You can also get them excited about learning by making things fun! Turn the activity into a game or an art project. You can even allow students to work together as a team. They will then be inspired by one another to do their best!

Expect Their Best Work- Let students know that you are aware of their potential and that you want to see their very best effort. You can create a positive competition by having children compete with their best record or best score. Make sure that you allow a chance for improvement when they fall short. You can give them feedback that will encourage their best work and help them to obtain it. Be careful not to discourage and always keep it positive!

Give Praise- When students give their best work, let them know! Be specific when telling them what you like or when you see improvement. Make sure to give praise when effort is being made. This will inspire students to continue in their work and not give up on it.

Reward Good Work- Students love to be rewarded for their hard work. This can be achieved in several ways. You can give prizes like stickers, badges and awards or hang good work on the wall for all to see. Maybe they get to go to the treasure box or even attend a special pizza party during snack time. They will love earning prizes and bringing things home to show Mom and Dad.

Classroom Management – Play Ball!

A great way to keep students in check is to have a tangible scoring system of their behavior. Here is one of our favorites called Classroom Baseball.

Classroom Baseball is a great choice for any classroom. Start by creating a poster that includes a pocket for each student. Each pocket will have three craft sticks in it to represent strikes. Throughout the day, you can give students that are misbehaving a strike. That student will then need to remove one of their sticks from their pocket. Those who strike out get a note or phone call home to Mom or Dad. Students who complete the day, or even the week, without any strikes will get the chance to “play ball’.

 

You will need to reserve just a few minutes at the end of the day, or the end of the week, for this portion. The well behaved students can line up for a chance to toss the ball for a prize. You can simply use a ball or a bean bag and a small trash can or even have four different boxes to represent the bases.

Tip! Try using four different sized boxes or baskets. They will get smaller as the bases go on making first base the largest and home plate the smallest. The prizes will be better when they choose a more challenging base.

Now you have a fun game for students to look forward to. It will give them incentive to be on their best behavior each day and not strike out. Now let’s play ball!

Classroom Management – Take a Brain Break

We all have those days when the work becomes too much or we just can’t quite seem to keep still. The perfect solution is to take a quick Brain Break. Give your students a few minutes to get their wiggles out and focus on something different.

You can use this time to sing a song, take a walk outside or around your hallway, play a quick game, or even have a little snack. Taking this time will help you to avoid outbursts from antsy students and frustration for those who just need a brain break.

 

Try this! Have students write their favorite Brain Break activity on a craft stick. Put the sticks in a cup and draw one when it is time for a Brain Break. Your students will love seeing what their surprise Brain Break will be.

 

 

Want more classroom management ideas? Check back in at http://purefunsupply.blogspot.com.

Classroom Management – Rules and Goals

A great way to get students involved in creating your classroom management plan is to have them help you decide what the rules and goals of your classroom should be. Have students spend some time brain storming ideas and write them on the board as they come up with them. They can also create consequences and rewards for when goals are met and rules are broken.

Once completed create a visual to hang in the room. This might be one poster with everything on it, one poster for rules and consequences and one for goals and rewards, or even a poster for each rule and each goal. Have your students split into groups to create and decorate the posters or allow them to decorate the one large poster with everything on it.

      

Now students are guaranteed to know what the rules are since they helped to create them! This gives them a visual reminder of each rule and what happens when they disobey them. They also have a positive visual of goals and what rewards they will receive when goals are met.

Check out our Incentives and Motivators to use as rewards for good work and good behavior!

Classroom Management

For every teacher, having a solid Classroom Management Plan is key! Sadly, there isn’t one magic plan that works for every classroom or student, but by sharing a few ideas we hope to help you create a plan that works for your classroom! In this series, you will find a few basic tips and ideas that will help you keep a positive and manageable environment for your students.

Our first tip is simple; Love your students. There is typically a student in every classroom that stirs up a bit of trouble. This can cause tension in the room and even between teacher and student. The difference in positive reinforcement and a negative reaction is loving each student first. Think of them as your own and strive to make sure they know they are loved and believed in while in your classroom. Look for the best in each student and help them to always bring their best to class with them every day. By letting them know you believe in their best you are encouraging them to believe in their best as well.

Along those same lines, tip two is to Set the Tone of your Classroom. Leave room for humor and take the time to recognize the personalities of your students. It really makes a difference for you and for them when you remove pressure and get to know them. Your classroom should be a positive environment for every student. Having a reminder to keep things positive may be beneficial to your room. Try adding a poster with a positive quote to keep students inspired!

Looking for more tips and ideas on classroom management? Check back in at http://purefunsupply.blogspot.com/ tomorrow for another blog post. You can also leave us a comment below and let us know what works best in your classroom! We would love to share it in one of our future posts.