I’m sure you’ve seen those pop bottle tornado gadgets (with 2 connected pop bottles filled with water so you can watch the tornado inside when you flip it over). They’re pretty cool, I know. Well they’re even cooler when used as a timer in your classroom! The kids think it’s bomb sauce and they all want to complete their assigned task fast so they can watch the tornado for as long as possible. Here’s how to make this an effective timing tool:

1. Time the tornado so you know about how long it takes from the time you flip it (mine was about 31 seconds).

2. Then introduce it to your class. The first time you show them, don’t make them do anything while it’s going; let them watch it 2 or 3 times to see how cool it is.

3. Give specific instructions as to what you’d like the students to do before tornado time is up. For example, backpacks packed, trash off the ground, desk cleared, etc.

4. Tell students that the faster they complete the task, the more time they’ll have to watch the tornado.

5. Actually use this system you’ve put in place. It’s cool!

This year, I’ve seen lots of owl themed things up in classrooms. This owl theme lends itself nicely to lots of puns using the word “who”. Here are two I particularly liked:

This teacher (photo above) made her own owl using butcher paper. Too cute!

My favorite thing about these classroom rules is that they’re worded in a positive way. The tell students what to do instead of what NOT to do. Why give kids ideas of things you DON’T want them to do?! As a side note, I learned this same principle in lifeguard training years ago: We were told to yell “walk” instead of “don’t run” because half of the kids would only hear the last half (“run”) and kids who weren’t paying attention would think they’re hearing the command to run all the time. Anyway, props to this teacher!