r/ElementaryTeachers

I am a third grade teacher and I would like to use a center set up for my morning routine this coming school year. Before really committing to the idea, I wanted to get some advice on how you would go about implementing this and setting the behavior expectations because I understand it is ambitious especially for being the first thing they do when they come in. My goal is to give them something calm, engaging, and self paced that they can do in the morning.

First, let me take you through my school's morning time set up as well as how I wish to run this routine.

In the morning, students have a 15 minute block of time between the school opening and when we take attendance then start our academics. Therefore, some students have the whole 15 minutes to do some sort of morning work while others arrive after morning work time is over.

This is an inner city high needs school. I have students who are reading chapter books and others who don't know all their letters. I have proficient English speakers as well as new comers. I have students who could already excel in long division and others who still need to count on their fingers to solve one digit by one digit addition. What I am highlighting is that there are many academic needs I am both trying to play to the strengths of as well as give extra practice to during this morning routine.

How I plan to run the routine

1. Students would get a paper on Monday with Day 1-4, each day corresponding with one of the 4 center options. Friday would be a make up day/free choice day depending on if they missed a center.
2. When they come in, they get their paper and they go pick what center they would like to do that morning. There would be a cap to the number of students who can do each center on any given day (Say there are 20 students, the cap would be 5) and they can only go to each center once in the week, Friday being their opportunity to do a center a second time.
3. I am also considering having some sort of item with their name on it that they can put down at their center to show that they have claimed it for the day (especially since there might be confusion of how many students are in a certain spot if they go to the bathroom or something like that)
4. During this time, they would be expected to be silent as they work.
5. As I design the centers, I am planning to make them activities that can still continue to be engaged with even after they have filled in the required parts of their papers to avoid early finishers.

How I plan to implement the routine

1. At the very beginning of the year (maybe after the first week or so), I will start by putting the same activity on all tables every morning (so Monday everyone would have a math one, Tuesday everyone has a reading one, etc.). This gives me a chance to teach everyone in the class how to engage with each center.
2. The next week, I will put a different center at each table group, but have them stay in their own seat and engage with whatever center ends up there for the day. Throughout the week, every activity will cycle through every table, so they get the opportunity to try them all.
3. Friday of that week will be their first opportunity to practice picking a center to go to for the day. They get to go choose which center they liked the best and do it again. I will probably have them choose their Friday morning center on Thursday afternoon so they all know where they are supposed to be Friday morning instead of meandering and getting frustrated that the center they wanted was full.
4. If I feel it is necessary, I may repeat steps 2 and 3 for a few more weeks until I feel they are ready to start choosing their center in the morning when they arrive.

Some center ideas I have so far

1. Play Doh words: Students would have a list of spelling words (maybe in a jar at the center of the table?) and they choose 3 or 4 that they need to spell using Play Doh to form letters. They would copy the words they chose onto their day 1-4 paper. Once they have filled in the blanks on the paper, they could continue choosing words from the jar and making them with the Play Doh.
2. Base 10 block addition and subtraction: Self explanatory, using Base 10 blocks to solve some problems that are given to them on the day 1-4 paper. At the beginning of the year, the problems would be one digit then shift to two and three digit as we review those skills. Once finished, they could practice making and solving their own problems.
3. Writing prompt: Students have lines on their paper and at the center would be some sort of prompt, maybe even choosing between multiple. There might be pictures they need to write a story for or an opinion question or maybe even some sort of props they can use to inspire their writing, etc.
4. Making arrays: Students would be given poms or tiles or beads to create arrays for multiplication and division problems on their paper.
5. Some sort of coloring that has to do with whatever unit/season we are in
6. Building/STEM centers: Using random objects to build something. For example, during our animal unit when learning about animal adaptations they could try and build some adaptations for certain conditions.
7. Some sort of handwriting practice cuz omg lol

So anyway, I know that was so much info at once, but I would love some feedback on this idea! What would you do to make sure it runs smoothly throughout the entire year? What are some other center ideas you would have?

Hey everyone!
I’m in incoming first year K teacher (yay!) In first grade, my classes have used pennie’s as an incentive. for example, positive behavior earns you a penny, at the end of the week you can buy from the class store with whatever pennie’s you have. I LOVE this in first but do you think this is a bit much for K? Should I switch to pom poms? Any other suggestions??? Thank you! ❤️✏️

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Hi. I'm a fresh graduate. recently, I gave a demo class and an interview at a school. they appeared to like me and promised to call me again in the middle of July for another demo.

Here's the thing, the first demo I gave was directed towards 6/7 graders. They want me for first and second grade.

I have trained in a kindergarten before and I'm generally good with kids, but I would like to study and look at HOW to deliver information to children of that age because I believe that's the most challenging part about these classes.

Please provide me with books, online (preferably free) courses, YouTubers that help with such a matter, and whatever else comes to mind. thanks a lot!

I had an interview today and even though I thought it went “okay. “ my mentor teacher called me 10 minutes after my interview ended to tell me the school that I interviewed for called her and asked for a reference about me. That has to be a good sign right? Has anyone gone through this and they ended up not getting the job?

Hey, all!

I interviewed last Friday. On Monday I was informed that I was selected. The recommendation for hire was sent in on Tuesday.

I'm excited, but also very anxious. What's the usual follow-up and when can I expect it? Would it be by phone or email?

Thanks!

Genuinely don't know what happened here and need some advice from people who've experienced this before because this is honestly a first for me 😭

Two weeks ago we did a multiplication lesson for the day and this student was crushing it. Whole day went smooth after the initial explanation and she breezed through her worksheets with almost zero help from me. I genuinely thought she had it down with how well she was doing that day.

Yesterday we revisited multiplication in class and it was as if she had never seen it before in her life. She didn't remember the name (kind of understandable I guess, but in my defense I said it a lot that first day lol) didn't remember how to do it, didn't remember any of the tips/methods/tricks we used to work through the questions. All of it was just gone like Men in Black memory wipe style 🕴️ the questions yesterday weren't harder than before either, it was literally the same level of difficulty and even after some re-explaining and presenting my same lesson from two weeks ago, she still struggled a bit with the work.

I don't know if I just didn't teach it well enough the first time? or if this is more normal than I realize and just part of the learning process? but this is genuinely the first time I've had this experience where a kid does so well with a concept one day and then struggles quite a bit with the exact same thing the next time they see it.
I guess I'm trying to figure out how to actually make a lesson stick instead of it disappearing a couple weeks later because it feels like that's exactly what happened here /: Anyone have strategies that have worked for you to make your lessons stay with your students? or have some more insight on how/why this happens?

In my city, public schools are closing because of low enrollment. I get that part of it is due to lower birth rates, but a lot of parents are choosing charter and private schools instead. Some of those even have waitlists! There’s one public school in my city that’s set up like a charter school, and guess what? It has a waitlist too.

This makes me wonder why aren’t public schools trying to adopt more appealing ways of teaching to attract families? Or am I missing something?

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Any platforms do u trust in elementary classroom? Free or paid is fine, just not another thing that makes more work for her. We're based in Estonia. TIA!

Hey!

I just heard back from the school I interviewed for. The email says "congratulations, you're a finalist", and that they're having trouble hearing from my references.

Does this mean I got the job?

I am in a very unique situation . I was a both a para and a student teacher. At the end of my student teaching I was reported by a coworker for a weird reason that I’m sure had racial and sex stigmas attached. You see I wrote letters to my ELA class like my professor told us to and with permission from my mentor teacher. Another teacher found one and reported to my principal “I don’t feel comfortable with him passing out letters to students” and when she didn’t get the response she wanted she told HR and claimed it were yellow boundaries behavior. HR opened up an investigation. Parents and students were interviewed and nothing came of it. I was absolved. However, since it’s an at-will state, I was terminated - still appealing and arbitration is coming. They basically said I’m a risk and it’s better to just to let me go now. Compassionate teaching??? Anyway.

I applied for a position and I don’t think the termination or investigation is on there. See I created the account and completed the application during the spring 2025, prior to the investigation which happened that fall and didn’t finish until January 2026.

Another thing is I was terminated for my act as a student teacher - which did affect me as a para.

Honestly, I’m not sure if I updated my account and disclosed the information. Typically when I apply, it’s a one click process because my application was already filled out. I know I’ve disclosed it in recent applications for new districts, even though I’m not sure if I should’ve.

I’ve been pulled to interview (in the district I previously had a profile with) and I don’t know what do I do?

It’s a unique situation. I know I was terminated as a para, but it was for a student teaching action. I don’t even know if I’m supposed to disclose that. Isnt student teaching supposed to be a learning process?

I want to be proactive and contact HR, but I don’t know if I should or if I should wait until after I interview. Would HR understand that I just forgot to update my profile, or how it’s a unique situation and I didn’t understand how to respond? I did call a few weeks ago for clarity but never got a response.

What do you think about it? What should I do?

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Looking for some advice.

I am being reassigned to 5th grade from MS math intervention. I have never taught elementary before.

I am very familiar with 5th grade math content thankfully.

I have never taught ELA so that is my biggest worry, along with teaching a self contained classroom. I do have some literacy training and curriculum trainings this summer that should be helpful.

I do enjoy MS a lot, so I should be good with the 5th grade age.

Hit me with all your advice!

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