Teachers tell all! Here’s a list of classroom hacks that you can use now. These seemingly simple teacher tricks can offer mind blowing results. Check out our list below.

• The Green Folder – Everyone has a breaking point. When you see a child coming close to theirs …or maybe you are close to yours…stopping it before it happens becomes the goal. One way we do this at my school is by asking the student to deliver a specific green folder to another classroom. The entire staff can be in on it or just your teacher bestie. This allows the student to get out of the classroom, go for a little walk, get a breath of fresh air, and regroup. If the situation allows, the other teacher may even have the “helper” complete a little task for them once they arrive (i.e. stapling, filing, etc.) .

• “Reward Them for Getting Caught” – I give them a mission, and their goal is to get caught doing it. If another adult notices, and tells me about it, the class earns a reward. Last week their mission was holding doors for people. This week it is saying please and thank you. ~ Jose Garcia

• The Ugly Bag for Ugly Pencils – Since implementing the “Ugly Pencil Bag” I have not had one student mysteriously lose their pencil and ask for a new one. Imagine that. 🙄 GREATEST THING I’VE EVER DONE IN MY 13 YEARS OF TEACHING. I was fed up with kids “losing” their pencils every day, so I collected all the chewed up, no eraser, short, ugly pencils around the room and put them in this bag. I told them that if they ever need a pencil, they’ll have to bring their own or get one out of the “Ugly Pencil Bag.” If they happen to find an ugly one on the floor, they drop it in the bag. Only on a few occasions have I witnessed a kid actually get one out of the bag and use it. ~ Tiffany Castillo

• Morning Work – There is no better way to get a class settled in the morning or after recess than training them to come in silently and get started on their bell work. (I train them to do this using the ‘teach to’ method described HERE.) This has been a great way to center my class and get them ready for the day.

• Keeping it fair – It would be impossible to keep track of who I have called on & who I haven’t without my cup of popsicle sticks. Each student has a stick in the cup. After asking a question, and giving them some time to think, I can randomly pull a stick and have that student share their thoughts. I might keep the used sticks on one side to make sure everyone gets a chance, but the students don’t need to know this. If they think it’s totally random every time, it will keep them on their toes. Occasionally, I’ll pull a stick & decide that the question isn’t right for that particular student. In this case, I just pretend that the stick belongs to someone else.

• Cover your bulletin boards with inexpensive black bed sheets! – They’re fadeless and you’ll never have to change them out again! Landscape fabric also works great when covering bulletin boards. It is also fadeless, easy to cut, and does not show staple holes. I use the black fabric, but have also seen it in brown and gray.

• BINDER CLIPS for bulletin board set up! – Sometimes paper backdrops are our only option. You only have one set of hands and putting up this kind of bulletin board takes teamwork. Here’s a great trick you can use when you can’t track down a helper. After measuring and cutting my paper, I roll it up and binder clip it to itself. Then, slowly unclip, unroll, and staple as I go! This trick as saved me so much time and frustration during classroom setup!  Do that across the board and you will be able to do that bulletin board all by yourself! 🤯

• Report Card Comments – Just when we think we’re nearing a much needed break, these babies are due. Ugh!….But, I’ve cut my work down by more than half by saving and color coding comments. Since each student is so unique, I have organized my comments from highest academic performance to lowest. Behavior and work habits tend to coincide with academic achievement, but as you know, that is not always the case. I just access my master, make a few adjustments and copy & paste. You could do this yourself, but if you’d like to use my premade template you can find it HERE.

• Precious Wall Space – I love turning my bulletin board into a running record for each student. You can use a plastic sleeve or file folders with prongs to display student work. Just put the new activity over the old one. This allows tons of student work to be displayed without taking every inch of wall space. It’s a great way to show their progress and serves as a ready-made memory book at the end of the year!

• It’s not will you need a day off, but when! – There are only 3 things certain in this life: death, taxes, & teachers getting sick. It also always seems to happen at the most inopportune times. 🙄 Set up your emergency sub plan folder now & you’ll be worry free. Money can’t buy the peace of mind of having a set of sub plans ready to go. Oh wait, yes it can….you can find the grade specific plans I have used in HERE. 😉

Bonus Tip – This may seem obvious or it may not. Either way, I have to mention it because it’s such a time saver at the beginning and end of the year. Assign your students numbers. Then, have EVERYTHING numbered (i.e. file folders, mailboxes, supplies, popsicle sticks, etc.) When the year is over you won’t have to relabel everything with your new student’s names.

I’d love to hear about the tips & tricks that have been working in your classroom! Let us know in the comments below!

I hope you find these suggestions helpful! Click here to follow Peas in a Pod on Tpt for more classroom tips & freebies.

Happy teaching!

~ Melissa