These methods have helped my classroom management skills:
1. Don't assume that they understand anything at all. Break every task down into baby steps, from the way you want them to put their heading on the paper to the way you want them to behave. Model the way you want things done, have them do it for you, praise their efforts and tell them what they need to do differently, let them do it again. Every day, tell them what you want them to do and praise them when they do it. Yes, you'll feel silly, but it seems to work. Especially praise them when they do it without being told.
2. Praise should be random after the first few times for one behavior, so they don't come to take it for granted. "Jane has his paper out with his heading on it, Tina has his paper out with his heading on it, Lucy has her paper out with her heading on it..." is all you need to say.
3. KEEP CALM. If at all possible, draw attention to kids who are doing the right thing and not the ones who are being disruptive or off-task. They love to make teachers lose their cool!
4. I focus strongly on every student's right to have a safe, supportive learning environment. If someone is criticizing or bad-mouthing another student's work, ideas, or answers I say to the offender (usually privately but sometimes in front of the class), "Jane, I am not going to let anybody in this room criticize you like that. This is a place where you can feel safe to do your best and make mistakes without getting criticized. And I'm not going to let you do that to anybody else either. Fair enough?"
5. If several students are talking at once, I remind them that I am so attention-deficit that I can't concentrate on what a person is saying if there are distractions. I say, "Help me out here. I want to hear what Jennifer is saying."
6. (Maybe this should be #1) Get Harry Wong's book, "The First Days of School." Read it. It is tried-and-true wisdom.
7. Go easy on yourself. Don't get frustrated with your lesson plans--you are learning how long it will take to teach a story and the activities that go with it. Once the kids learn exactly what you expect and that you are going to consistently reinforce desirable behavior, perhaps they will settle down and move faster, but for now accept the fact that however long it takes is how long it takes. They keep telling us that the focus should be on quality, not quantity.
8. It's likely that many of your students come from homes where the noise level is high, people compete for attention, and the TV is always on. Calm, quiet spaces are threatening to some kids--it means there is something wrong when it happens at home. That takes a while to overcome. Try letting them hear soft, INSTRUMENTAL music while they are working. Research shows that remarkable things happen to people's thought processes when they listen to classical music (Bach and Mozart music especially promotes clarity of thought).