Procedures are a necessary evil!
It’s that time of year again when we get to think about what we want to do with our classrooms and how we want them to run. If you’re an organized, super analytical teacher like me, chances are you have a lot of procedures already in place from last year, and, on top of that, you are coming up with new ones just to make sure your life gets easier this year. Yes (!), because we know it all too well: procedures and routines are a key element to ensure a well managed and organized classroom environment. That’s a fact. But practicing procedures can be B.O.R.I.N.G both for the teacher and the students! That’s another fact.
Over the years, I’ve tried different activities for teaching and practicing procedures, based on my students age and needs, always regarding student engagement as of paramount importance. Out of all the things I’ve tried, I found that having students model the incorrect way of doing something was the most successful and fun way of practicing procedures. However, this year I decided to go with a room transformation right off the bat and tackle it all at once. That’s how Candyland came to be!
Procedures made fun!
I’ve been thinking about using Candyland in class for a while now. Reviewing and practicing procedures somehow felt the right thing to do with the game at the beginning of the year. Candyland is a fun game to play, the rules are easy and everyone knows them, so it seemed like a perfect way to focus on the content of my procedures.
Setting up for the room transformation was easy. This year I am sharing the room with another teacher, so she was excited to help and be a part of it all. We used pink table cloth, colorful streamers, balloons, and Astroblast neon colored paper. The cost of this room transformation: $0, as I’ve repurposed everything from previous room transformations. The only thing I created from scratch was a sign that I was going to hang up from the ceiling, but because of new fire code, I ended up leaving it on the ground. Nobody seemed to mind one way or another.
The students were extremely excited to walk into our room, and the day got better and better.
Because my students have special needs and require lots of visuals to access the content, I created simple 4-5 step procedures to go with almost everything in my room, from hand signals to voice levels, flexible seating, and everything in between. The verbiage was simple, clear, and concise, and the pictures added the much needed visual support. Here is a list of all the procedures I included:
Break Area
Earning tokens
Choice boards
Restroom procedures
Visitors
Clean up procedures
Special Toys
Snacks
Learning Stations
Library
Fidget objects
Water fountains
Hand signals
Ask for help
Drills
Working with a partner
Working with a small group
Working independently
Dismissal from the Resource area
Dismissal from The Speech
Dismissal from the Sensory Lab
Working in a small group
Working independently
Chromebooks and computers
Early Finishers
Test Taking
Cafeteria
Unfinished assignments
Attention Signals
Voice levels
When others are working
Turning in assignments
Flexible seating
Find them all here.
Find it here.
It was the first year my students were genuinely excited about practicing procedures due to the room transformation and the perspective of playing Candyland. From Kindergartners to sixth graders, and myself included, everyone had a lot of fun, and the procedures seemed to stick.
Of course I couldn’t bring myself to taking everything down at the end of the day, so I decided to do some IEP baseline data collection the next day, using the same Candyland idea. I created multiple sets of cards for numbers, letters, and Fry sight words. Taking data using Candyland was a breeze. Students were engaged and asked to play over and over again. I have a feeling this is going to be a winner in my class this year!
