A Student Teacher's Top Four Websites on Classroom Arrangement, Structure, Activities, and Organization.
After researching several teacher's websites I have chosen four of my favorites sites to post here on my blog. Each of these sites offer insight, strategies and ideas for new and veteran teachers on classroom arrangement, structure and organization as well as activities that can enhance learning. I hope that these sites will be insightful and inspirational to anyone reading this blog as they were for me.
Classroom Arrangement
Cornerstone is a website that has been created by Angela Watson an 11 year veteran teacher, educational consultant and instructional coach. Her site provides new and veteran teachers with ideas of how to plan and setup the classroom. She offers a list of ideas and strategies teachers can use when planning the physical space of the classroom and how to effectively layout the room. Ms. Watson provides various examples and ideas which include setting up centers, the classroom library, large meeting space and arrangement of students' desks.
Her book "The Cornerstone: Classroom Management That Makes Teaching More Effective, Efficient, and Enjoyable" provides additional ideas for teachers on how to arrange their classroom. This site was very resourceful in that it provided numerous ideas and strategies not only on classroom arrangement, but also helpful tips on holding a class meeting, ideas on effective instruction and list consisting on a number teaching resource.
thecornerstoneforteachers.com
Her book "The Cornerstone: Classroom Management That Makes Teaching More Effective, Efficient, and Enjoyable" provides additional ideas for teachers on how to arrange their classroom. This site was very resourceful in that it provided numerous ideas and strategies not only on classroom arrangement, but also helpful tips on holding a class meeting, ideas on effective instruction and list consisting on a number teaching resource.
thecornerstoneforteachers.com
Structure
A classroom need to have structure. This structure comes from how the classroom is setup, routines that are put in place and the daily schedule so that students know the flow of the day. Structure also includes how the teacher sets up a lesson or discussion and how well the classroom is organized. How a classroom is structure influences how well learning and teaching can take place along with being able to effectively manage students and their behaviors. Bright Hub Education offers different ideas for classroom management, adapting classroom structure to accommodate children with special needs and provide great lesson plans and ideas for different teaching methods.
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/search/results/?cx=partner-pub-6409535612800042%3A3546560145&ie=UTF-8&cof=FORID%3A10&bhPgType=topic&q=classroom+structure&sa=Search
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/search/results/?cx=partner-pub-6409535612800042%3A3546560145&ie=UTF-8&cof=FORID%3A10&bhPgType=topic&q=classroom+structure&sa=Search
Activities
Making Learning Fun is a website decade to early childhood educators who are looking for fun activities to enhance lessons and engage students. This site lists a host of themes and lesson ideas for different age levels. The activities range from building letter recognition to learning sight words. There are great ideas for activities that help students with math concepts, social studies and science. For preschool teachers there are many activities that are connected to favorite book characters that can be used to help with counting, learning patterns and early literacy skills. I have already printed a few of their printable to use in my own classroom.
http://makinglearningfun.com/index.html
http://makinglearningfun.com/index.html
Organization
Busy Teachers Cafe is a website that gives teachers ideas on how to arrange the classroom according to age group, tips on how to organize the classroom, how teachers can organize themselves and students. When planning how to organize the classroom teachers need to put into consideration many factors. This site offers examples in form of pictures and ideas on everything from creating and organizing centers, supplies, materials, the classroom library, seating arrangement and timing the lesson so that students remain focus as well being prepare a head of time with all necessary materials to avoid too much time being spent on getting materials or finding out too late you don't have the supplies needed. The site also provides new teachers with step by step ideas on organizing the classroom, how to use the space wisely, and lesson plan ideas.
http://www.busyteacherscafe.com
Teacher Vision https://www.teachervision.com/http://www.busyteacherscafe.com
Other Useful Sites
Ezine Articles http://ezinearticles.com/?Structure---Creating-the-Right-Environment-For-the-Positive-Growth-For-Your-Child&id=2302284
Hi Alda
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post and checking out the websites you selected. The busyteacherscafe.com has some really useful discipline plans and how to implement. I think that her suggestion of keeping it simple and limited to 4 or 5 rules is a super suggestion especially for early learning settings but wonder if the second warning which is penalized with a writing assignment might result in children having a negative experience with writing. What do you think? I think the Ice Cream Cone Contest and Treasure Box Contest are really effective ways to not only encourage positive behavior at both individual and group level but is such a wonderful way to practice math. Her ideas for various seating plans are useful to spice up classroom layout throughout the year and her suggestions for students job is a wonderful way to instill a sense of responsibility, ownership and community in the classroom.
Thank you for introducing makinglearningfun.com. It really is a wonderful resource for activities and offers so many great ways to inject fun back into the learning process.
I am always conscious about how little I know about creating an inclusive classroom environment for all students to celebrate their diversity. The various posts from brighthubeducation.com was really informative and helpful as I strive to create inclusive classrooms for some prospective students with special needs/ accommodations.
Janice,
DeleteThank you for your response. I like the idea of having 4 to 5 rules. It keeps things simple and enables students to remember the rules a lot better. I also didn't like the idea of a writing assignment as a second warning and don't see myself using it. Most of all I like the suggestions and like that I can use the information to adapt it to my own teaching style and my students needs and abilities. I would not want to use a consequence that could create or making learning to do something as a turn off for my students. Especially with young children. I love the idea of the treasure box and ice cream cone contest and have seen them used in other classrooms. I personally love Bright Hub Education and use a lot of the suggestions in my own classroom. Making Learning Fun is great for getting ideas to use. I like the idea of incorporating the learning centers in my lessons planning to appeal to different learners in the classroom.