We want students to use their time wisely in the classroom. Students need to work hard and keep their brains busy. How we set up our classrooms with different classroom time management strategies can help students finish their work and help us use our classroom time most effectively. So today I’m sharing the best classroom time management tips to help you save instructional time.
Importance of Time Management in the Classroom
Let’s first talk about the importance of time management in the classroom. There are so many topics, subjects, standards to teach in the school year. Districts are now requiring us to teach additional topics for social emotional learning on top of everything else we are already teaching. So all the classroom time we have in a day needs to be used effectively or we won’t have enough instructional time. But we also want to use time wisely so we can bring in some fun into the classroom because that is important for both students and teachers.
Another important part of classroom time management is the teacher’s time management for all of the tasks they need to perform. As a teacher, it is so easy to have your to-do list pile up and get behind. This results in us staying late hours or coming into school early. And that is just no fun. It leads to teacher burnout. So later in this blog post, I’ll be talking about classroom time management for teachers.
But let’s get into talking about the classroom time management tips that help you use your instruction time most effectively.
Classroom Time Management Tips
My first tip is to use a quality timer when students are working. Anytime I give my second grade students independent work, I always set a time. But this isn’t any ordinary timer. It’s a timer that shows how much time students have visually. It’s much more effective than regular digital countdown timers. This helps students really see how much time they have to finish their work. The timer I use is called the Time Timer. I have it up above our front white board so that it is very visible to students.
This also helps me keep track of our classroom time because I know we are going to move onto our next lesson when the timer goes off. It helps our day run smoothly. Find this timer to use in your classroom here.
When students finish their work, they line up by my table and I give a quick look over their work. I can help them with any misconceptions. If students need help, they know to come sit at the table. I can help them in between checking students’ work. I make a check mark on students’ finished work. They love when I use Mr. Sketch Markers. They are scented and students enjoy getting a check on their paper with them.
Find these markers here.
Having a check on their paper is a cue for them to move on to the next activity. It’s a good transition and one of my most simple classroom time management tips.
If students finish their work before the timer goes off, they pick a fast finisher activity to do. If students have not finished their work in that time, they put their work in their “finishing folder” in their desks and complete it during our Fun Friday time at the end of the week. I’ll talk about these classroom time management tips next.
Fast Finishers
When students finish their work, you want to make sure they are using their time wisely. I teach my students at the beginning of the school year that when they finish their work, they need to get caught up on any unfinished work in the “Finishing Folder.” If they don’t have any work to get caught up on then they can choose a fast finisher activity to do.
In my classroom, these activities include reading a book, taking A.R. tests, and playing a math game.
My students love playing these math games. Most of them help them practice math fact fluency. These are fun games like board games, card games, and puzzles. Learn more about these games here in this blog post: The Best 9 Games for Practicing Math Facts
I also have some money counting games that my students love. Learn more about these here.
I place all of the math games in a hanging organizer on one of our classroom walls. Students can go pick out a game whenever they need. I have the pockets labeled so students can independently put things away when our classroom timer goes off. This helps fast finisher time run smoothly. Find the small bins I put the card games in here.
Learn about more fast finisher ideas and tips here in this blog post: 12 Fast Finishers That Are So Fun
Classroom Time Management Strategies
Counting Down
As part of classroom time management strategies, you want students to have quick transitions. If you have them moving from their desks to a carpet area, you want them to do so quickly. If they are getting out supplies, you want them to do so quickly. This saves valuable instructional time.
To help students have quick transitions, I explicitly teach what I expect from each classroom routine and procedure. I do this with a PowerPoint where I list the steps of each procedure. I model to my class and have them practice. We have a class discussion about how this procedure should look like, sound like, and feel like. Learn more about this here in this blog post: 9 Classroom Routines and Procedures, Number 3 is a Life Saver
Find the PowerPoint I use here.
Once I have taught these transitions to students, I know about how long they should take. I give students a certain amount of seconds to make the transition. If they reach that goal, I will give them extra Fun Friday time. I just write “+5” or however many seconds on the board. If students take longer, then I will minus that many seconds.
It often helps when I count down. I will say something like, “Get out your ELA books and turn to page 246. I will give you 15 seconds.” Then I will start counting down from 15. If I get to 1 and students have still not made that transition I will say, “Your time” and I will start counting up. I will minus those seconds.
On Fridays, I will add up all the time students have earned and add it onto our base of 15 minutes of Fun Friday time. If students have negative time, I have students put their heads down on their desks for that amount of time before we can start Fun Friday.
Let’s get into some Fun Friday ideas you can use in your classroom.
Fun Friday
Like mentioned before, Fun Friday is a way for me to manage how fast students make transitions in the classroom. It motivates them to be quick and save instructional time. Fun Friday also motivates students to work hard and get their work done.
Before I excuse students to go play with our Fun Friday toys, they have to take out their “finishing folder” and show me that they don’t have any unfinished work.
If they don’t, they can go play with our Fun Friday toys and games. If they do, students work on that. When they are finished, they can join the others.
For more ideas and tips with Fun Friday, read this blog post here: 3 Fun Friday Ideas for Classroom Management
Motivating students to use their time wisely and get their work done makes Fun Friday one of my favorite classroom time management tips.
Classroom Time Management For Teachers
Teacher Planning
Finally, let’s talk about how to use your teacher’s planning time most effectively. We all know it is no fun having to stay after contract hours on a Friday just to get our planning done and copies made for the next week.
Here are tips for classroom time management for teachers that I have seen save me time so I can leave at contract time everyday.
I have an hour of planning/prep time on Tuesday afternoons when my class goes to P.E. and Library. So I try to get all my planning for the upcoming week done on Monday.
I use a teacher planner that breaks apart each day into my lesson times. I write in what math and reading lessons I am teaching for the week. I write what activities I am having my students do during centers, and I plan what we are doing for our afternoon activities.
Find the free weekly planner I use here.
Once I get everything planned, I make a list of everything I need to do for these lessons on a sticky note. Then during my prep time I get as much done on that list as I can. I try to challenge myself to mark off as much as I can. It’s very motivating. That way I use my prep time as effectively as I can.
This method helps me stay a week ahead in planning and prep. It helps me go home at contract time almost every single day.
I hope that you can apply these classroom time management tips. These classroom time management strategies will save instructional time and it will help you use your time as a teacher more effectively.
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