Helpful Hints

We are linking up with Blog Hoppin' this week! We are SO thankful for our careers and are using this blog to share it with you!

Some of these could fall under time savers or helpful hints! But here are some of our favorites!

1. Door slings

Do you have to keep your door locked? With new safety procedures we need to have our doors locked at a moments notice. This sling allows up to keep our door locked and in a situation (which we pray NO ONE ever experiences) we can take the sling off and close the door. This is a lot faster than having to fumble with keys and locking and all of that. It's also perfect when students leave the classroom they do not have to knock to get back in just from going to the bathroom, Library, office, etc.

Of course we have a sign that asks guests to knock, but our own students know they can just come back in. 

2. Procedures! 

Have a procedure for EVERYTHING even how they will tell you they need to go visit the Library. Our kids have a clip with their name on it. One says "I am reading my book" the other says "I need to visit the Library." It stays on the reading ribbon until they move it to the Library ribbon. This is totally regulated by the kids and we don't have to worry about it. And the kids know not to keep saying "Can I go to the Library?" because when it's time we choose kids who have moved their clips over.

3. The BOX

This is the BEST thing I (Amber) have ever seen parents do at a school for their teachers.  The BOX is where we put all of our things that need copying, laminating, etc. We put it on the "To Do" shelf and come back later and it's done! Our parents volunteer in the workroom once a week to help us prepare materials! It's incredible! It's like magic. You can't really believe it until you see it work! But they are SO wonderful and they even decorate our cute boxes ;)

Helpful Hint-ASK PARENTS TO HELP! I'm sure that you have some who would be more than happy to! Use them! They are a great resource! And for once I don't worry about standing in front of the copy machine waiting for a weeks worth of activities! Even if you don't have parents that sprinkle magic fairy dust and make your work complete make yourself a cutsie box to put all of your things in that need to be copied, laminated, cut, etc. It makes hauling things around the school so much easier when it's all in one place. (These are the tops to the boxes our copy paper comes in. Our moms collect & decorate them for us. We might just have the BEST moms in our school EVA!)

What are your helpful hints that make your teaching life simpler?