Best Advice Ever

I wanted to link up with Valerie at Georgia Grown Kiddos to share my Best Advice Ever! After teaching for nine years, you always hear “I have some advice for you.” Sometimes its wanted (thank you friends) and other times it wasn’t. (I am all about honesty, y’all.)

I am super excited about this linky because when I was a first year teacher, I got both kinds of “advice”. Most of it was positive, but there are always those that aren’t. I am excited to share some of this positiveness to you all (newbies and veterans). Here is the advice I would love to share with you!

Not everything in your classroom has to be created by you to be “pinterest worthy”. I know we all love to have those classrooms that are “out of the magazine” cute. I am not going to lie, There are many parts of my classroom that are cute and made by me however, not all parts of the classroom need to be. Here are five ways that your students can share ownership of the classroom.

1.  Create an Alphabet! (or number line, numbers, geometry shape cards, etc) Students LOVE that their art is displayed in the classroom. These alphabet toppers came from the fabulous Amy Lemons at Step into Second Grade!

2. The same can be said for Anchor Charts! They may not be the most beautiful, but the kids LOVE them!

3. Technology: This one all depends on your district and the rules they have with technology. Some only allow certain things, so check just to make sure 🙂 My parents love updates from the students, and when their child is the “tweeter” or “poster” of the day, it oftentimes makes their day. The students also enjoy sharing their learning with their parents.

4. Raise your hand if you are a list maker! That is me, 100%. The last couple years I have kept a class list of things that I need to buy and places that I need to buy them. I keep it in the same place, and students add as I think of them (or as they think of them). They aren’t always spelled right but they are the cutest lists you’ve ever seen! It never fails that when I make a list, I forget something. The kids do not!

5. My last and FAVORITE tip is to incorporate those spontaneous lessons. We are all crunched for time, but these are the lessons that our students remember most. This dead butterfly a student found on our way back from a fire drill. They knew what kind of butterfly it was and the parts and HAD to share with the class. So I let them. We were already off schedule, so why not?!?! Hands down, best part of that day. Those kids did NOT go home and say we had a fire drill, they went home and told their parents all about how “Johnny” found a dead butterfly and all about the butterfly.

What ways do you allow your students to share ownership of the classroom? Share in the comments, I would love to hear them. And if you haven’t tried some of these, this is a great time to start! Give up control a little at a time and see what happens 🙂