Class Christmas Party

Our class Christmas Party was a great success today.  I had to entertain them for the whole morning so I figured a movie was the way to go.  We watched the Polar Express.  I arranged the room with cushions in front and the desks around the back.  The Christmas tree lights were a beautiful touch to the room.

Of course with 1st and 2nd grade, watching a whole movie straight through is too much to ask.  15 minutes in I started making the hot-chocolate with the snowman marshmallows.  They loved it.  It coincided with the hot-chocolate scene in the movie.

This kept them busy for a little while, but not for long.  When they started getting ancy I pulled out a paper doll nativity set for them to color and put together.  It worked very well.  They colored while they watched the movie, and then they played with their paper dolls.

(Set Available here:  Nativity)

After the movie we played a really fun game.  I picked up a few packages of Air Heads and I wrapped them.  Then I wrapped them again, and again, then put them in a box, wrapped it, then another box, you get the idea.  I had about 8 layers of wrapping paper.  Next you need a pair of gloves and a pair of dice.  Now for the game.
1.  Kids sit in a circle around the present.
2.  They start rolling the dice.
3.  The first one to get doubles grabs the gloves, puts them on and then attempts to unwrap the present.
4.  Meanwhile the dice are being rolled and passed around the circle.  As soon as someone else manages to roll doubles the first person has to hand over the gloves and the next person gets to try.  Keep rolling and unwrapping until the present is unwrapped.
5.  The winner is whoever ends up finishing the unwrapping.  Make sure that there is enough candy for the winner to get a bag, and then another bag for the rest of the class to share.  They loved it!

Last of all we did the food.  Instead of asking parents to send in food, I just asked them to send in $3.50.  I picked up pizza, chips, root-beer and grapes and that was plenty.  Much easier for parents, and easier for me to organize.

It was a great party!

Christmas Countdown Calendar

This year I wanted a fun way to countdown to Christmas in my classroom.  The Christmas Village has 15 houses, one for each school day in December.  Every day you reveal a new card, counting down the days to Christmas.  The cards have Christmas Trivia on them.  So after asking the question you can give a candy or something to whoever guesses the answer.  The cards are editable so you could put fun activities in instead like "Write a letter to Santa", or "Sing Jingle Bells".  

This is the first page when its put together.

This is what the whole thing together looks like.  (4 pages)

Get it here:   Countdown!

Finally, Quiet in the Halls!

My biggest insecurity as a teacher has always been that I am too nice.  I rarely raise my too quiet voice.  I admire teachers that seem to just command respect and authority.  They seem to have perfect control, kids that walk in wonderful silent lines, and would never dream of swinging their lunchbox into the person next to them.

On the other hand, I don't want to yell at anyone.  I don't want them to hate school, I want to develop a mutual respect.  I expect them to listen to me, because they know I listen to them.  In this, my sixth year I have discovered a system that is really working well for me.  I found a neat website:  www.classdojo.com  .  I like it because I can give and take away points for all the little things that matter, but you don't really want the kids to stand on the fence for, or to write home about.  You can customize it to fit the things that are important to you.  I give and take away points for following the dress code, having homework done, being helpful, being kind, and being quiet.

Just a note on  the quiet in the hallway thing.  I wrote all of the kids names on a chalkboard and gave it to a child who's job is hallway monitor.  I announce dramatically that the monitor is in the hall, and will erase the name of anyone who talks while they are lining up.  Anyone who's name is still on the board gets a point for being quiet.  Guess what, they line up quiet!   For the first time in six years I have done it!

And what do they get for all this wonderful behavior?  That is the best part.  After 40 hard earned points they get rewards that cost me either nothing, or almost nothing.  Guess what their favorites are:  Teacher's helper, playing a game on the ipad, chew gum in class, a homework pass, or good behavior spy.

I used to spend so much money buying little trinkets from Goodwill or ordering from Oriental Trading Company.  Now all I have to do is buy a pack of gum, or print homework passes.

Here is a link to the coupons I made.  They are only $1.75 for all 24.  Or you can just make your own.  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Reward-Coupons-838518

Please let me know what tricks have worked for you!

Beautiful Winter Sunset Picture

Easy to make!  Spring isn't the only beautiful time of year.

1.  Color background on white paper with pinks, purples, blues and a little bit of yellow.

2.  To make the tree I folded black paper in half so it would be symmetrical. 

3.  Cut a curvy strip for the bottom and glue it together.

4.  Easy!

Classroom Management: The Race Track

The RACE TRACK Classroom Management System

The race track is a simple method of encouraging your children to follow your class rules with no yelling, or frustration, on your part.  Without a word you can point out unhelpful behaviors in your class, or joyfully point out when your students are on track.  The best part is that the rewards are fun, exciting, and won't cost you anything!

Here's how it works.  

1.  You make a track with about 25 squares that goes across the top of your entire magnetic whiteboard.  Mine is about 4 inches tall by 5 feet.  I made it curvy and wrote good behaviors on various squares.   Write "start" on the first square, and "prize time" on the last square.  

2.  Next print a squirrel and nut on cardstock, laminate and cut out.  I made several sets of pictures to have variety.  (a surfer and a wave, a leprechaun and a pot of gold , wise men and the star etc...)

3.  Come up with a variety of prizes and print on cardstock so they are ready.  

I used things like:

       1.   10 minutes extra recess

       2.  Go to lunch early

       3.  Play pictionary on the board

       4.  Have hot-chocolate

       5.  Make special art project

       6.  Any special thing that I was planning to do anyway, I can instead use as a reward.

       7.  Pajama Day

       8.  Movie Time

4.  Choose one of your prizes and hide it under the "nut" at the end of your track.

5.  You are ready to go!  Put the squirrel on the start with a magnet and whenever the kids do what they are supposed to do the squirrel moves up towards the goal, whenever they don't he moves back.  

6.  You should be moving the squirrel about 15 times per day, hopefully with a gain of about 5 spaces by the end of the day.  It should take about a week to get to the prize.

Autograph Books for the End of the Year

A great project for the last week of school is to have the kids decorate and sign autograph books.  A great way to wrap up the year with a fun writing project!  (See printable version at the bottom of this post.)

Add caption

For each book you will need:

1/2 sheet of white cardstock

Colored Paper (6 1/2" by 4 1/4")

14" of Ribbon

3 sheets copy paper

1.  Cut white cardstock in half length wise and fold.

2.  Cut pretty paper to 6 1/2" to 4 1/4".

3.  Glue to back of your cardstock with a glue stick.  There should be a 1" overhand that will wrap around to the front.

4.  Use edging scissors to make a nice edge and glue down to the front.

5.  Cut copy paper to fit inside the book.  (I cut 12 pages for each book, 4 pages from each sheet of copy paper.  Pages should be 4" x 5 1/4")

6.  Punch your holes in the cover and pages, making sure they will allign.

7.  Tie together with 14" ribbon.  Don't tie it too tightly or it will be difficult to open the pages.

8.  You are ready to go!  Have kids decorate the covers and give them little verses as examples as what to write.   A few of these were good:  autograph sayings

Here is a printable version if you would like to save time.  Printable Memory & Autograph Books