Students like rules. They like routines and structure, as it’s easier to function in them. The trick is to strike a happy medium – give them enough freedom to express their creativity during activities but in an organized framework with boundaries. It’s quite a fun topic, actually. Let me show you why in this next blog post.

Routine is important because: 

Class routines are going to be different in preschool, elementary school, and in high school. Depending on culture and age, students will react differently to certain routines; that’s why we gathered as many examples as we could. Find your favorite one! 

But remember, no matter which ones you implement, rules and routines need to be consistent, predictable and clearly articulated to work. 

Let’s take a look at the different types of routines. We collected some of the best examples, tips, and printable activities for you to try.

Effective classroom management tips are the backbone, so we start at the basics.

Transitions can be challenging for many young learners. It’s important to give students a clear idea of when you all will move on to the next activity and what that requires them to do. Setting a timer for transitions is a very tangible way to let them know we’re moving on to a new topic or activity. Songs work just as well: “By the time the music stops, everyone back in their seats with the book open at page 15”.

It will add variety and predictability to schooldays and something to look forward to every day. Be creative here and include chores or tasks that need to be done – make it playful and see that even collecting trash in the classroom becomes fun.

Some examples to spark your creativity:

Assign one or two students each week to look for acts of kindness during the week. Have them report their observations to the class at the end of the day – it’s a wonderful way of practicing not only kindness put public speaking and presentation skills. If your students are of a more advanced level, this game can be in English. 

An active body activates the mind, too – of course, we’re not saying you need to become a gym teacher all of a sudden. Check out a couple of easy movements you can easily complete in the classroom and have the little ones release some stress and fatigue. 

It’s a great idea to try out when they feel tired or in between activities to free their minds and start fresh for the next challenge.

Daily routines start at the very first moment students enter your classroom – so why not start with the simple habit of paying a little bit of attention to all your students every day? 

Decide with your learners if it’s a wave, a hug, or a high-five that suits them best.

Classroom routines examples help to set the tone for the entire learning environment.

Teach the little ones about praising each other and give them a framework of a healthy feedback culture. Make it a habit to congratulate each other when something goes right, and not judge if a classmate makes a mistake. 

A funny way to praise and learn English at the same time is by using Praising Cards.

If you’d like to read more about the importance of social-emotional learning at an early age and find out what it really means, check out our article about it written by psychologists and educational experts. 

There are no two teachers and two classes that are the same – and that’s one of the reasons we love this profession so much. Depending on age group, nationality, number of students, and the group dynamic in general, you’ll find that something that works like a charm on one student or class does nothing for the other. 

Try to enjoy the process of finding why routine is important in your classroom, in your particular case, and take the time to figure out what works best. And remember, you’re planting seeds today that could become part of a beautiful forest in the future, giving them techniques that might become part of their daily routines and even personality as an adult. That is pretty exciting on its own. 

Divide the class into smaller groups of three or four students and distribute the board game, a deck of cards, a dice and figures. If necessary, go through the instructions on the fields. 

Link surfing is a fun online activity not only for your Easter classes. All your students need is a computer and a wikipedia page in front of them.

The students’ task is to arrive at the Wikipedia page “Easter” only using the hyperlinks of the website. This challenges their cognitive skills, reading skills and how fast they can scan through a text.

Ask your beginners to decorate a paper egg. Using this paper egg have a fun Easter role play with this dialogue, for example:

Here’s a tip to level up the previous activity for your intermediate students. Ask them to form pairs, and  think of a great present idea for their partners. Ask them to finish the sentence “If I were an Easter bunny, I would bring you a(n) X. Then to elaborate on why they’d bring a “pencil case” or “confidence” or an “alarm clock” for their partners.

If you’re seeking versatile teaching materials suitable for a variety of classes, look no further! Our monthly downloadable resources offer a wealth of engaging content, including specialized materials for Easter and much more.

With a plethora of worksheets and supplementary resources at your fingertips, you’ll never run short of inspiration for your lessons.

Don’t miss out—download our material today and unlock a world of educational possibilities!

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Organise a fun parade for your students. Divide the class into groups, delegate them to an English-speaking country and ask them to colour their flag. Help them prepare for a parade, let them fly their flags and march across the classroom to the national anthem. Look at a world map together and have them place their flags on it. Also encourage them to create a poster or draw other pictures that symbolise their country.

The legend says that Thanksgiving originates in 1620, when the pilgrims left England on a ship called the Mayflower to start a new life in America. It took them more than two difficult months to arrive and unfortunately, the journey was followed by a harsh winter when more than half of the pilgrims died of hunger.

Luckily, spring came and the pilgrims met the native tribes who taught them how to plant crops and how to hunt better. In 1621 they had a harvest like never before and by autumn all the pilgrims had enough to eat.

Ask the learners to sit in a circle. Give each learner a name: turkey, potato or pie. When the teacher calls “turkey”, all the students with this name stand up and switch places while the teacher sits down on one of the empty chairs.

The learner who doesn’t have a place calls the next name. It’s also possible to call “Thanksgiving dinner”, in which case all the learners stand up and switch places.

They were thankful for all the food so they invited their Native American friends to a feast. According to the legend, this was the very first Thanksgiving dinner in history.

How to celebrate Thanksgiving with your learners? Here are some tips to help you:

Ask the learners to sit in a circle. Start the game with a sentence like this: “I’m bringing turkey”. The next learner’s task is to repeat the first food and to add another one: “I’m bringing turkey and potatoes”.

The game ends when everyone has something to bring for dinner.

Use our introductory paragraph about Thanksgiving as a reading activity. Divide your class into groups and ask them to write questions about the text. Next, pair up the students who have different questions and let them check each other’s reading comprehension by answering each other’s questions.

If you’d prefer to improve your learners’ language accuracy, copy our text and delete some words thus creating a gap-fill exercise. It’s up to you!

Use our word search and gap-fill exercise attached.