Early in the school year, all educators are faced with the same important task: getting to know their new students. To learn some effective strategies for making connections with Read More…
Continue Reading

Written by Kristen Vincent, Responsive Classroom Consulting Teacher Lesson design is about planning and structuring lessons in a way that engages students in learning, practicing, and applying academic content and Read More…
Continue Reading

As you make the transition to online teaching, here are some tips, activity ideas, and resources to support your virtual classroom: Communicate to parents the supplies their children will need Read More…
Continue Reading

Below are some areas that can help create the conditions for students to feel comfortable and ready to start their work of learning and building a positive classroom community.  Assessing Read More…
Continue Reading

We all can think of stores that felt inviting and organized, places that created the optimal shopping experience. Classrooms, like stores, can be places where we frequently want to spend Read More…
Continue Reading

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” –Frederick Douglass This famous quote, printed on bright pink cardstock and posted above the whiteboard of a third grade classroom, stood Read More…
Continue Reading

Recently I was in a school conducting observations, and I noticed that all of the classrooms were picture-perfect. The decorations on the walls looked like an advertisement for a teacher Read More…
Continue Reading

Children need a classroom environment they can understand and trust. They need to understand the routines and to know where to find things, they need uncluttered spaces to do their Read More…
Continue Reading

School’s over! As you clean table tops, take down anchor charts, and sort supplies, pause and take a look around your classroom. Will you be leaving a space that worked well for…
Continue Reading

Recently I noticed my first graders having more trouble than usual sticking to our classroom rules. Several possible explanations came to mind as I began to reflect:“Am I not doing something I…
Continue Reading

I'm definitely doing this each year from now on! As the end of the first quarter of the school year rolled around, I reflected on the benefits I'd seen from involving students…
Continue Reading

When my new third grade students saw our classroom library for the first time this year, all of the book baskets on the shelves were empty, and although the baskets were labeled…
Continue Reading

One way the Responsive Classroom approach has changed my teaching is that I have learned to think of the classroom as a space that belongs to all of us, rather than as…
Continue Reading

What's your vision for your classroom community this year? How do you want the room to look, sound, and feel once the first weeks of school are over? In my last post,…
Continue Reading

Last spring, I encouraged you to take a good, hard look at your classroom displays and think about how, in the future, you might increase the emphasis on displaying student Read More…
Continue Reading

Monday mornings were especially exciting in my classroom because that’s when students discovered what their weekly jobs would be. They would go straight to the classroom job chart and search Read More…
Continue Reading

Take a look at your classroom walls and displays. What do they say about you, your relationship with your class, and your view of teaching? Are your students guests in your room,…
Continue Reading

Three years ago, I noticed my first grade class having real difficulty putting away the materials for one of our workstations. Although these students usually followed the cleanup routines we'd developed and…
Continue Reading

How much of the stuff that’s cluttering your classroom could be gone before school starts up again? Teachers keep all kinds of stuff we never use. Why do we keep these things?…
Continue Reading

I remember one third grader who really struggled with sitting still. If I’d required him to sit while he worked, it would have been really hard for him to get anything done.…
Continue Reading

In any classroom, displays should consist primarily of the children’s work, rather than teacher-made or store-bought pieces, no matter how beautiful those pieces might be. Displaying student work sends several important messages:…
Continue Reading

Simple signals for attention—whether visual (a raised hand) or auditory (a chime, rain stick, or other pleasant-sounding instrument)—are an essential classroom management tool.When I was student teaching, one of my professors said…
Continue Reading

In my first couple of years teaching fourth grade, I was surprised by how much my students argued about who owned which supplies. "Nicole, can I borrow your black marker?" Carradine would…
Continue Reading

Furniture takes up lots of room, so if you’re lucky enough to have some choice about how you furnish your classroom, you’ll want to choose carefully. Look for pieces that Read More…
Continue Reading

Just like adults, children of all ages need sufficient quantities of good-quality supplies if they're going to do their best work.
Continue Reading

A: With kindergartners, I do a lot of quick check-ins during class time, but when a longer conversation is needed, I use the quiet corner in our classroom. It's a small space…
Continue Reading