Many busy teachers seek creative time-management skills to make the most of their time. Create a template of weekly lesson plans, which allows you to fill in the specifics which change. If you schedule a time to do this each week, you will not be scrambling at the last minute. Plan ahead and use an aid or parent volunteer to make copies. If you don't have many specials, see if you and a fellow teacher can work together to create your own specials. For example, one of you can teach art, and the other can teach music. Even in small schools, with only one class per grade, you can combine grades. This will give you and the students a break from each other once a week, allow students to experience additional creativity in school and give both you and your fellow teacher additional planning time during the school day.
Children may not know each other well at the beginning of the year, especially kindergartners, those who have moved or those at a new school which was just built. This interactive game gets children moving and helps them learn each other's names. All students should stand in a circle. One child starts by tossing a ball or bean bag to another pupil. Everyone says that student's name together. Make sure each child has a turn. To improve listening skills, play the telephone game with a new twist. First, play it the traditional way of whispering the phrase or sentence from one person to another. The ending sentence will differ completely from the beginning sentence. Next, ask how you could improve the results of the game. Talk about good listening skills, speaking clearly, asking the speaker to repeat if the child can't hear and having the second child say it back to the first child. Play the telephone game again and see how it improves the accuracy of the results.
Teachers and students alike might dread homework, but educators often use it to reinforce concepts taught in class. Instead of ending the week on Friday with a spelling test, try giving the test during the middle of the week. Students are less likely to be absent on Wednesdays. Use a spelling packet with about an hour's worth of related activities, including alphabetizing, writing words using "fancy" letters and using the words in a sentence or story. This teaches children effective time-management skills. They can skip studying on the weekends if they have family plans, are too busy or just don't feel like studying.