Inside: If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for quick tips and tricks to make your day easier! These 21 helpful teacher tips will save your day and year!
I’m sure this will be the first of many blogs that will help you save time and set up simple systems that’ll make your classroom run smoothly. I hope these 21 teacher tips will be enjoyed by you as much as they are by me!
Classroom Hacks
These classroom hacks will help you with a few nagging issues that pop up during everyday tasks! My day flows so much better with just these 5 simple things!
1. EXPO Markers: Store markers upside down in a magnetic container or organizer on your board. Benefit: The ink lasts longer and comes out more “juicy”!
2. Hanging Posters: Use Mavalous tape or masking tape and place your tape rolls horizontally on your poster or paper. Benefit: The poster or paper will not roll down since your tape is not placed vertically.
3. Attention-Getter: Use a wireless doorbell to signal to students when it’s time to clean-up, line-up, transition, etc. Benefit: With 52 different tones, you will keep your students on their toes to listen carefully for the sound AND save your voice at the same time!
4. Mr. Sketch Markers: These are wonderful for posters and anchor charts. Benefit: They smell delicious while you’re working and when your room might smell otherwise! 😉
5. Small Items Organizer: This is a wonderful system for storing small supplies (e.g. sticky notes, paper clips, binder clips, rubber bands, staples, pencil top erasers, etc.). Benefit: Use one for yourself and provide a separate one for students (I’ve used it in Kindergarten and 4th grade with the same success). Students no longer have to ask you for one paperclip, one sticky note, etc. *Model and practice how to use this before turning students loose. Expectations go a long way with this not being another “play place” in the classroom! This might be one of my favorite teacher tips for instilling independence!
Teacher Tips
The following teacher tips will give you little sanity back in your day! Think of how you can customize the teacher tips to work best for you!
Tips for Feeling YOUR best
6. Extra Outfit: Keep extra clothes, shoes, socks, and even an umbrella at school. Benefit: You never know when you’ll spill something on your clothes or a student will have an accident near you. Plus, sometimes a shoe buckle or strap breaks and nobody wants to walk around barefoot all day. I always have neutral colors and flats (even if I switch shoes midday if my feet start hurting). Don’t forget, you might start your day in sunny weather and leave in a downpour…keep an extra “cheapo” umbrella in your classroom.
7. Makeup Bag: Keep a makeup bag stocked with items to help refresh you. Benefit: You can brush your teeth before conferences or an Open House event, you can even reapply perfume or touch-up makeup. Here’s what’s in my makeup bag (I use a lot of sample and travel sizes): makeup, facial spray (I love the Mario Badescu ones), deodorant, toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash, sunscreen, brush, comb, pain relievers, scrunchies and hair ties, perfume, body spray, nail file, and earrings.
8. Snacks: Keep a drawer or tub filled with grab-and-go snacks. I even keep a few water flavor enhancers to jazz up my water throughout the day. Benefit: You won’t get hangry during the day, and by having healthy go-to snacks on hand, it’s one less thing you’ll have to prep the day before!
Peaceful Moments
9. Blanket & Slippers: I got this teacher tip from a few coworkers! They use the blanket for when their classroom is freezing or while at recess duty. I’ve even seen them change into slippers at the end of the day! It’s kinda brilliant! Benefit: You’ll be cozy and have a slice of home with you while you’re at school!
10. Me Time: Make sure you take 5-10 minutes for yourself during the day. This could be reading a book, listening to music or sitting in silence, sitting outside for a snack or lunch break, or going on a mini walk around the playground or building. Benefit: When you take a few minutes for yourself, you’ll replenish some of your energy and feel better for the rest of your day. Happy you = happy teacher!
Teacher Time-Savers
These teacher time-saver tips will help you from the first day of school to the last! No more running around and prepping these things the day before or morning of!
11. New Student Supplies: Spend time at the beginning of the year making gallon-size Ziploc bags of extra supplies (e.g. crayons, pencils, glue sticks, markers, etc.) for any new student that might pop in without much notice. Gather additional folders, notebooks, and paper and binder clip the Ziploc to the folders. Store these in a tub and simply get one out when you get a new student. Benefit: No more scrambling for supplies when a new student arrives. They’ll instantly feel welcome and don’t have to scrounge around in their backpack for items that they may not even have. BONUS TIP: Create extra copies of your Welcome Packet (think Class Agenda, Rules, and Schedule, etc.) to include in their Take-Home folder. This goes a long way to welcoming the family (that you might not have even met when the new student arrived). A quick personalized note stapled to this packet lets the family know you’re happy to have their child in your class.
Must-Do at the Beginning of the Year
12. Work Packets: Although most people don’t discuss this topic, I feel that it’s one thing that I would’ve liked to have learned sooner than later. Whenever you have a difficult student that might have to spend the rest of the day in the office (or next day ISS, etc.) prepare work packets in advance. Benefit: No more flipping through workbooks, tearing out pages, or making copies for these situations. BONUS TIP: Keep extra copies of your consumables from the previous year to include in these packets (e.g. math workbooks, cursive sheets, extra copies of Scholastic News, etc.). Not only will this save you time, but it’ll also save you copies. This teacher tip has saved me hours of time over the years! Plus, the student(s) will still be learning and able to have work for the duration of their leave from your classroom. Choose to grade it or not, depending on school policy.
Mega Time-Saver
13. Sub Tub: Absences happen to all of us. Some planned and some not. Don’t leave the burden of coming up with work to your coworkers! Create an in-depth Sub Tub (I use a tub that has space for file folders) that is always ready to go. I also have a Sub Tub Binder with a Table of Contents and tabbed labeled sections. My sub can get a quick glance at our schedule, procedures, routines, behavior system, and attendance sheets without much morning prep for them. I even type up a sample day and lesson flow that could easily work with whatever we’re currently working on. Luckily my 4th graders can tell the sub if we’re working on a special project, research paper, etc. that might be unique to that week. Benefit: This reduces so much stress for the teacher, the sub, and the surrounding coworkers (and the front office with attendance)! BONUS TIP: Create different tabs in the Sub Tub for holiday/seasonal activities, brain breaks and challenges, and books for easy read-alouds.
Get the Most Out of Conferences
14. Parent-Teacher Conference Chart: My teammate came up with this brilliant idea last year and our lives were forever changed! It’s just the two of us in 4th grade and we’re departmentalized, so I know this won’t work for everyone or in every school–adjust it to work for you. Over the last few years, we realized that some parents really wanted to talk about academics and grades, while others wanted to talk about social dynamics. Of course, we still had our student files, data, and talking points, but this was a fabulous addition. Benefit: We didn’t feel like we were “talking from a script” or a conference sheet. My fabulous teammate created the following super-quick and super-easy poster:
Prep in Advance to Save Time ALL Year
15. Birthday & Holiday Treats: Save time all year by doing this awesome teacher hack for birthday and holiday treats! Prepare all of your student birthday treats and certificates at the beginning of the year. Add them to a tub and keep a birthday chart or list in your room, on your computer, anywhere that you’ll see it often! When a student has a birthday, simply grab their treat from the tub and place it on their desk (or hand it to them in the morning). Prepare the holiday treats for your students in the same fashion. You know that stores start stocking shelves months before the actual holiday. Grab any goodies, treat/gift bags, and anything else you need. Get it taken care of early! Benefit: No more scrambling the week or day before (or after school) to prepare for a student or holiday! BONUS TIP: Recruit student interns, student teachers, spouses, significant others, or even your own children to help with this task!
Sanity Time-Savers
16. Phone Timers: Use your phone to set timers for students who leave your room for special services. You can either use the same alarm tone or individual tones for each student. Benefit: No more reminder notes or frustrated teachers waiting for your students. Your students will learn to associate your alarm (or tone) with leaving for their services. BONUS TIP: I set my alarms 5 minutes early to allow students time to clean up, organize their work, and ask any questions before they leave.
17. Paper Copy Management: Use a bright/neon sticky note and write “LAST COPY” on the last paper in the pile. This can be useful if you provide a “paper pick up” location in your room for students to grab independent work. Benefit: Even if you make extra (or extra-extra) copies of work, students will inevitably need another copy. By having this note on the last copy, students will begin to think that’s your only copy (but it’s not…you have the master or digital copy…they don’t have to know that). Pretty soon, they start to problem-solve, look in their folders, etc., and magically find their first copy!
Time-Savers for Readers
18. Book Stamina: Do you have students that don’t finish a chapter book or struggle with reading motivation? Grab a few sticky notes and cut them into little strips! Simply section out the chapter book and explain to your student that each sticky note is the end of that reading chunk. Example: If there are ten sticky notes, then it’ll take them ten days to finish! Benefit: Students have a visual of a reasonable reading allotment and begin to build stamina without it feeling like a chore. They want to “get to the sticky note” and sometimes will even read past it! Soon enough, you’ll have students making their own sticky note sections once they realize that it’s really only 20-30 pages at a time!
Spend Time in Your Day Rewarding Students
19. VIP Student: Create a special desk or area in your classroom to celebrate a student that is exhibiting VIP behavior. Of course, you’ll model and discuss what you’re looking for to achieve this accomplishment. Also, let your students know that you’ll be “watching” a student each day (they don’t know who…I just draw a number each day). If the student you drew didn’t make it, you simply announce that this student is still working on the desired behaviors and you’ll put that number back into your imaginary jar, etc. This is a great teacher tip to also weave in SEL lessons and encouragement of others. You can choose to have your VIP sit there for a day or week, or anything in between. Benefit: Students who are doing the right thing, working hard, and being a good example for others get rewarded. Students who need a confidence boost can easily be rewarded by this (or by getting selected multiple times and extra celebrating this amazing occurrence). Add cool supplies for them to use while they’re at the VIP table!
Time-Savers That Celebrate YOU
20. Signature Pieces: Create 3-4 signature pieces or projects that celebrate and showcase your strengths as a teacher. These should be unique to you (no cookie-cutter ideas that everyone is doing) and highlight something special about your class. Your future students will look forward to your class because they know you’re doing XYZ! Benefit: These will become traditions for your students and they’ll be able to talk about these with their siblings and compare notes. These signature projects create such a positive energy and buzz around your classroom. BONUS TIP: Be sure to invite administrators during these times and “advertise” these in your newsletters as well. It’s totally fine to be your own cheerleader!!!! *Future blog posts will highlight some of mine!
Drumroll…
21. Time: I saved one of the best teacher tips for last. Read this carefully…leave on time each day. Yes, at the end of your contract hours. For me, that is 3:45. This is a boundary that I established years ago and have held true to it ever since. Please do this for yourself, your family, your pet, your spouse, your significant other…they need you to be the BEST you and not a worn-out, exhausted version of yourself. It’s OK to “leave work at work”. It’s also OK to not get everything crossed off your To-Do list. If you know me and my perfectionist nature, I hate having a To-Do list, but I hate being utterly exhausted more. This is why I think this is a non-negotiable. Will it make everyone happy? No. Will some staff members come looking for you for your help? Maybe. But you know what? You’ll be there tomorrow and the next day and the next day to help out. Benefit: Working smarter, not harder is truly a lifesaver. *Note: I know some days this will not be possible (e.g. faculty meetings, evening events, etc.), but you’re in charge of the other 95% of the time!
I hope these 21 teacher tips will help save your day or year! They’re so easy to implement and most are FREE! Take a breath, pat yourself on the back, and know that YOU are doing an awesome job no matter what systems you have in place.
Here are some links to things mentioned in the post. These are NOT affiliate links, I’m not associated with or paid by these companies to promote their use. These are items that I’ve purchased and used for years in my classroom. Most of these items can be found on the company’s website or Amazon.
SadoTech Wireless Doorbell-Amazon
*My exact model is no longer available, this is a similar product
Rooting you on and always here for you!
Explore. Travel. Read. Repeat.
