Procedure Fun!

Oh my word!  I completely forgot how exhausting the beginning of the year is.  I just sat down on the couch after dinner and almost fell asleep.  That was at 6:00.  Who else is having this same problem?

This week has been beyond full with teaching procedures.  My little pumpkins this year are needing a lot of extra practice with procedure practice.  We have been practicing walking through the hallways, holding the railing on the stairs, and sitting criss-cross applesauce.  I have not taught any "curriculum" yet and I am 100% ok with that.  I think it is so important to focus on teaching procedures and routines in the classroom until the students are so familiar with them that they are second nature.

Yes, you may lose a week or even two of "teaching time", but in the long run you will gain it all back.  Once my students have these procedures and routines down, I am able to teach for so much more time because I am not having to constantly remind them of these.

Now, throughout the year, you will need to go back and reteach those procedures from time to time.  It is important to do this especially after long breaks (like winter break, spring break, etc.).

What I love the most??  My new principal just said today in our staff meeting how important it is to just focus on procedures and routines.  She said when she taught 6th grade that she spent two weeks just teaching procedures and routines.  It made me realize how important this is not just in kindergarten, but in every grade.

I want to leave with you with something to ponder that my principal said.  She said that when she taught sixth grade she realized that her students knew how to walk in the hall, go through the lunch line, and play on the playground as fifth graders, but she needed to teach them how to do all these things as sixth graders because no one had done that yet.

Do you teach procedures and routines?  How long do you spend doing this?