TELL ME I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE…
It is finally the end of the school day. It has been a great 7 hours of solving math problems, reading books, making anchor charts, and taking bathroom breaks… but why-oh-why does the end of the day have to be so insane?! As soon as I can finally get my students out the door, I turn back to go inside my classroom to be greeted by a huge mess. Papers, tissues, desks all crooked, book bins backwards (tell me I am not the only one) and then I get to spend another 20 minutes cleaning up after the day.
60 SECOND CLEANUP
That was how I felt before I started an end of the day routine in my classroom that I am excited to share with you! A 60 second YouTube video allows me to wrap up every school day quietly and start each new day in an organized teacher space.
Sixty second cleanup was born after constant chaos ensued at the end of the day. The kids were loud, the room was a mess, there were scraps all over the floor, the rug wasn’t straight… you know. I searched for weeks and tested out many ’60 second timer’ videos but this one took the cake and my students LOVE IT.
The best part of 60 second cleanup are the little extra rules I have added: You MUST walk on your tiptoes, you MUST be safe, and you have to be completely silent. If my students were to break any of these rules they are automatically disqualified – believe it or not, being disqualified from cleaning is NOT something they want to risk!
This seems small and trivial, but for a newbie teacher like me who spent 20 minutes every afternoon tidying up after the kids have left, I find myself with more time to do the important stuff!
I would love to hear more suggestions you have for ending the day on a positive and organized note – what does your end-of-the-day routine look like?