I went back and forth for a couple years before I finally decided to create my own schedule cards. Now that I have used them in my classroom for a year, I will never go without them! Here are my top 3 reasons why you should be using visual schedule cards in your classroom:
1. They help improve your daily routine
Displaying schedule cards in your classroom assists your students when learning the daily routine. Once they get the daily routine down, it can even help improve transition times because students know what will be coming next. When the times are included on your cards, it also can help lessen (because we all know there will still be that one that asks every day) the amount of times you will have to answer “What time is lunch?”
2. They can help reduce student anxiety
Students thrive on structure and routine. When student’s can look at a posted schedule, they know what to expect throughout the day and it gives them a heads up for when there are changes in the schedule. When students don’t know what to expect, they can become anxious (which can lead to unexpected behavior changes). If you are unsure if you have any students like this, watch who comes into your classroom every morning and immediately looks at the schedule. I like to give these students some extra attention in the morning and help prepare them if there are any major changes in the routine so it helps that time run more smoothly. With that being said, gentle reminder to keep up with your schedule cards and adjust your schedule if there are any changes.
3. They double as classroom decor
If 1 and 2 didn’t already convince you, adding daily schedule cards to your whiteboard greatly improves the appearance of that area of the room! I chose to create my own to match my classroom theme but there are also tons of already made ones on TPT (including mine) for you to choose from. If you want to check mine out, click here.
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