Classroom Routines

The fifth grade teacher that I help uses a few clear routines in the classroom that help support a productive learning environment. At the front of the room, she has a voice level poster that is visible to every student labeled 0-4. Level 0 is no talking, 1 is whispering, 2 is normal talking, and 3 is group talking. When the class is doing iReady on their Chromebooks, she sometimes verbally reminds them, "You should be at a level zero right now." When she says this, the class quiets down because they understand that they shouldn't be talking at all so that their classmates can focus. At other times, she might say, "You can ask your table a question but it needs to be at level 1." When I first heard her say a voice level, I was surprised that the class responded so well but it's obvious she had gone over these expectations early in the year and the students had a clear visual reminder of the poster. 

Another routine that worked well was the teacher giving the students instruction for getting ready to leave for the day. She would say, "I'm looking for tables who have their desks cleared off. Notebooks, pencils, books put away. No papers or anything on the floor." After the students cleaned up, she would say something like, "Table 2, good job. You may get your backpacks and line up." The students would then form a line at the back of the class and wait for the bell to ring so they could go. Or she might say, "Table 4, I still am seeing some papers on the floor. Get those picked up, please." Then the students waited until the bell rang and they would leave.

 I thought she did a great job of having clear routines so the students could transition easily from one activity to another and know exactly what to do before getting dismissed. These routines definitely made a productive learning environment because the students had clear expectations and knew what to do in each situation.



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