Drop Everything And Draw!
School starts at 8:20 and our grade level has to be at our Resource Class {PE, Music & Technology} at 8:30. So that gives us about 8 minutes of homeroom a day, 40 minutes a week, 160 minutes a month.....well, you get the picture. It can be crazy or it can be calm, what I decide to do sets the tone for the day.
So ~ each day we start off with DEAR, Drop Everything And Read. Sure, it is an old expression, some of you young-cute-fresh-out-of-college-new-teachers might have even done DEAR when you were in elementary school! But it is one that works!
My students come in quietly, well mannered and prepared to start their work day calmly!
But Friday, well Friday is a different story. My co-teacher last year started this and I ♥love, ♥love, ♥love it. If everyone has been a good citizen during homeroom during the week we have a DEAD FRIDAY! We Drop Everything And Draw! They love it, they think the title is hysterical! They can even get out of their assigned seats and sit with friends. It makes the rest of the week wonderful, all I need is one person to not have a book or start being silly and I say, "Do we need to kill DEAD Friday?" They love that expression too, but it works, they get right back to reading due to the positive peer pressure of their classmates who want a DEAD Friday!
It works! It works! It works! Try it, you might like it!