Classroom Management and Organization Tips

Create your classroom management plan and spend the first weeks of school implementing it.  You will have to decide what works for you, but plan for every contingency.  You need to have a procedure in place for everything you will do and you will have to practice it with your students over and over until it runs like clockwork.  Have 4-5 rules that are written in stone.  This needs to be the premise for your classroom.  Too many rules will muddy the waters.  

A few tips - 

Have a seating chart.

Have a line order.

Use music for transitions for younger students.

Create a routine and stick with it as much as possible.

If something doesn't work, chuck it and try something new.

Plan how children will begin each day.

Know how you want students to ask for help/ask questions.

Have a helper and assign jobs - students love to help!

Take a brain break and get those little bodies moving.

As far as organization, I am the type that believes there is a place for everything and everything in its place.  If children know where to find things and you know where to find things, it will cut down on so much wasted time.  Make sure you have set up a place for everything they will need - it is so much easier for them to have a designated place to go pick up their writing paper/homework/spelling sheets than it is for you to try and pass out everything or for them to have to come to you if they loose something.