Teacher Identified Tier One Supports
- Relationships
- Early parent contact
- Routines and expectations
- Celebrating success
- Quality instruction
*Teachers had the opportunity to unpack each of the above Tier One supports with strategies they
currently use in their classroom or grade level.
• Relationships
o Gr 6 FSL – routine/sharing personal stories
o All staff welcoming students at doorways, saying goodbye
at the end of the day
o Morning meeting, dialogue, journaling
o Morning sharing circle – assigned sharing/question day
o Assembly – teacher versus student challenges
o JH home room challenges
o School spirit days
o Healthy competition among teachers
o Coaching team sports
o JH intramurals and equipment sign – out, four square,
bball nets
o Wrapping party (social justice project)
o Academy events
o Gr 8 Heritage potluck
o Gr 5 Heritage Fair
o Classroom games (skunk, indigenous math games)
o Christmas concerts and santa visits
o Gr1 morning carpet time
o Classroom discussions
o During snack discussions
o Staff zinger days
o JH teachers around lockers in the morning
o Gr 6 morning meeting
o Gr 6 Thoughtful Thursday
o Holiday parties/celebration days
o Write to your teacher
o Laugh attacks – showing you’re human
o Be snoopy about their lives
o Sharing about own personal experiences with students
o Clubs
o Show/tell sharing
o Attending student extracurricular events
o Class newsletters, communication apps
o Reading buddies
o Star of the week
o 7 sacred teachings
o School wide cross graded events/challenges
• Early parent contact
o Bloom’s App
o Class Facebook pages
o Phone calls
o Forbes Facebook page
o Weekly emails
o Monthly newsletters
o Student/parent?
o Welcome to ECS night
o Meet the teacher night – September
o Boot room conversations with parents
o Class website/blog/google classroom
o Email/phone call about academic struggles
o Student – led profile with parent input
o Remind app-teams
o Phone call to parents who did not attend ‘Meet the Teacher’
o Letters home – positive impact
o Student interest survey
• Routines and expectations
o Clear school wide expectations for all (hallways, transitions,
computer lab, etc.)
o Predictable morning routine (bell work), end of day routine
o Morning meeting to discuss day
o Announcement on board
o Student of the week (specific tasks), star of the week
o Predictable daily routine
o Predictable consistent consequences
o 15 mins of calm time after recess
o Marble system for positive classroom behaviour
o Consistent transitions – practice and review until all students are
successful
o Schedule for the week – math madness Monday, new concept
Tuesday, etc.
o Visual schedule (daily, weekly)
o Timer (transition between tasks)
o Labelled organized places for work/assignments
o Seating/desk formations – randomized
o Expectations for assignments
o Classroom clean up
o Purposeful use of music for regulation
o Brain breaks, movement breaks
o Posting ‘I can’ statements – tie in with curriculum
• Celebrating success
o Knight slips
o K-4 Assemblies
o 5-8 Assemblies
o Classroom points/award systems
o Competitive quizzes (kahoots)
o Positive calls home
o Letter home
o Celebrate teacher success/strengths/contributions
o School spirit days
o Pep rallies
o Homeroom competitions
o Goal setting (personal/academic)
o Monthly reading goals
o Homework behavior paper clips – reward at the end
o Bulletin boards
o Allowing students to showcase something they are good at
(sharing circle, talent show, etc.)
o Celebration of learning – Gr1-8
• Quality instruction
o Gradual release of responsibility
o Knowing and teaching your curriculum
o Scaffolding and differentiation
o Baked potato (Shelley Moore)
o Making it fun and meaningful with experiences kids can
relate/connect with
o Understanding by design – start with curriculum and build
quality content on curriculum for learning styles and
ability levels
o Think-pair-share
o Engagement
o Focus on critical thinking
o Project-based learning (creating brochures – creating
student based lessons)
o Small group, differentiated teaching (math, writing,
reading)
o Student choice within assignments/projects
o Different learning styles – kinesthetic/audirtory/visual/etc
o Open-ended questions
o Cross-curricular teaching/learning
o Modelling/exemplars
o Having and presenting rubrics before giving the
assignment
o Guest speakers – who? PACE, Wrestling Coaches
o Focused Friday (Shop/Home-Ec)
o PL Groups leading to quality instruction – INQUIRY
o Book studies through PD
o Bringing movement into instruction
o Non-permanent vertical surfaces (MATH)
o Graphic organizers – big sheets of paper and markers
o Making connections beyond the classroom
o Field trips
