There are so many great resources for teachers. The problem is trying to read all of them for the best ideas. We are making it easy for you with this list of the 11 classroom hacks that can help you reach kids, organize the classroom and make your life at school easier.
Materials and Supplies
- Find an old straw dispenser to use for pencils
- Use decorated Pringles cans to store rulers and other items
- Frame and mount board games on the wall to eliminate bulky (easily broken) boxes
- Turn an old step ladder into an easel
- Shop at thrift stores for oversized button up shirts or dresses to use as paint smocks
- Turn squeezable condiment bottles into easily used paint containers
- Glue a pom-pom on the end of dry-erase markers to use as erasers to avoid using excess tissues
- Use a shoe organizer for the classroom mailbox
Classroom Management
- Discourage test cheating by putting version numbers on each question sheet and tell students to write the version they have on their answer sheet (hint, although there are version numbers, they are all the same – but nobody has to know that but you)
- Pre-empt excuses for missing homework by holding a “best excuse writing” lesson (then you’ll be able to say, “I already heard that one”)
- Employ a “Too Noisy” app that shows a colorful graph with a digital noise meter to alert you and your students when the class has exceeded acceptable noise levels
We know we’ve barely scratched the surface of great classroom/teacher ideas and we’d love to hear about some that you use.
By the way, we have all kinds of great classroom resources and tips at our blog, https://mycalcas.com/category/auto-insurance-for-teachers/ or at https://mycalcas.com/category/teachers/.
Here are two more resources from California Casualty that can help educators:
- Let us help make setting up your classroom a little easier on your wallet with a $2,500 Academic Award at www.calcasacademicaward.com.
- If you hate going into the run-down teacher’s lounge at your school, make sure to enter our $7,500 School Lounge Makeover® contest at www.schoolloungemakeover.com.
Sources for this article:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/clever-classroom-tips-for-elementary-school-teachers#.jbYeBkjx3
https://info.marygrove.edu/matblog/8-more-classroom-organization-hacks-for-teachers
https://teaching.monster.com/benefits/articles/8934-classroom-hacks-for-teaching-in-the-trenches
https://www.survivingateacherssalary.com/50-classroom-tips-and-tricks-for-teachers/
https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/14-hilarious-homework-excuses
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