Let's talk about what has worked and what hasn't. The beginning of the year was all about getting organized. Not being organized doesn't work. I had a lot of organizational ideas, but they required going and buying things. Thankfully, a couple of my colleagues saved the day by giving me some all important supplies like baskets. Transitions were a real problem as we began to chaotically pass things out. Now I have a basket ready for each table, and transitions are going much more smoothly. Another thing I quickly discovered was that students like to find excuses to stall and avoid work, even if it means breaking their pencils in half. I found that supplies are best pooled in a central location for each table. Nobody can make the excuse that they don't have what they need, and nobody can get out of work by spending lots of time at the pencil sharpener. I still have trouble keeping up with the pencil needs. Sometimes I sharpen pencils after school, so we have a ready supply for the next day. Whenever I can, I will assign a quick working student to the task once a day. One thing that has worked well is ClassDojo for behavior and communication with parents. I have over half of the parents connected. I'm hoping to get many more this week when I have conferences. It is a virtual behavior chart. The parents see everything going on, both good and bad. I can also share pictures and reminders with the parents through the website. It is a great tool. My principal encourages all the teachers to use it. Focusing on the positive and making things fun works. I started out getting frustrated because they were too loud and slow at following directions. Now we make it fun by having table competitions and singing a line up song. They are on task, and everyone is happy.