Classroom Management I can really do!!!!

I've been trying to make this style behavior chart work for me for quite a while.

The idea is students start on green and then move up or down according to their behavior.  My issues have always been worrying about parents.  I hear students being scolded by their parents if they are green or blue, "Good Day" or "Ready to Learn".  Heaven forbid I correct a behavior and move them to "think about it".  I had a girl cry for two hours because she was moved down to purple because she would get in trouble.

Aghh!  So of course, everyone is mostly on pink all the time, unless they do something really wrong so I don't have to deal with parent reactions.  But then there's the talking, running in the hall, little things I tend to let go for this reason.  So these little things get worse and worse!

I spoke to another teacher who expressed the same problem.  She told me she doesn't color their folder each day or tell the parents anything unless they get on red!  This got me thinking...  I came up with a new chart that I can actually use.

All those little behaviors that I want to work on I can give consequences for, but they are still on pink!  Someone's making weird noises just for fun.  Ok, pull your stick.  It's only been one day so far, but one little girl who sometimes like to try my patience is so proud because she's up on 2 pieces of candy.  She keeps saying, "I'm being so good today!"  So proud.

I did make it clear that for larger offenses we will be sent straight to green.  Being mean to someone, being disrespectful, etc...  We discussed these for a while.

I also added "Fun Friday".  A mystery reward at the end of the week.  Anyone that gets on yellow or red will not be able to participate in this reward.  The rewards I have so far are:  play four corners, heads up seven up, make cookies, popsicles, extra recess, free crafting time, sidewalk chalk, Simon Says, Charades, etc...

Encouraging Writing in the Classroom

This year I have started my 1st and 2nd graders on daily writing assignments.  Honestly, I was hesitant to start.  I was fearful that making the kids write everyday would end up with a nightmare of complaining, whining, and scribbling some junky, meaningless words down just to fill the square.  

I was wrong.  It turns out that journal writing has been a wonderful way to encourage students to find their voice, and discover the joys of writing.  They will find the perfect outlet to share their thoughts, feelings, and dreams.  At the same time they will become experts on how to construct a sentence, while their punctuation and spelling skills improve.  Very important for the teacher side of things.




Here is how:
Here are a few ideas to get you started:

First you will need a notebook, spiral or composition book for each student.  For younger kids, make sure you teach them to start at the beginning of their books and write on the next page each day.  Otherwise they will choose a random page and you will never find their stories.  Writing every day is essential in developing a healthy writing habit!

Set a requirement for how many sentences they have to write.  I started with 3 or 4, and plan to work up to 6-8 as they get more comfortable writing.

Respond.  Not always of course, there is not enough time in the day, but even just say “Wow that’s crazy!” to show that they really have an audience when they are writing.  (Another of my students likes to write a personal note to me every day, he eagerly looks for my response.  It is very sweet.)

Optional:  I like to correct spelling by writing the word correctly in the margins so I am not marking up their work, but they can reference the spelling for the next time.

Reward.  I use class Dojo and give a point for completing their story, or two if they work very hard.  

Make sure you have a variety of prompts that the students can relate to.  Include ideas from sharing thoughts, experiences, dreams, imagination, and fantasy.  

Here are a few prompts to get you started: Write about a time you were brave?
What is something you do not want to do? (One of my first graders put change diapers for this one, it was very cute!)
If you had lots of money what would you buy?
What makes you happy?
Write about a time you got really dirty.
Write about a hot air balloon ride.
What do you think it would be like to be blind?
What would you do if you were the king or queen?
What is something you should work harder at and why?
Write a story about your new pet. It can be any animal in the world.
Write about 3 things you like to do when you are quiet.
Write about going to the dentist.
Tell about a time you were hurt.
Write about learning to ride a bike.

As I am a planner, I went ahead and made up 170 prompts on cards so I won't have to think about it for the rest of the year!

Get them here:

Writing Prompts for the Year

My Buggy Backyard Classroom Theme

This year I decided to go with the bug theme.  So cute and fun!

Check out the old school desks.  I love them though!  I found hanging paper lanterns from 5 and Below for $1 each.  Set's off the backyard look.

This board idea came from here.  I was in the Dollar Tree and saw the fairy wings.   OOOH!  Butterflies for a buck!  I'll take it.  I just used construction paper for the caterpillar and dragonflies.

Birthday Chart has bugs in jars.  I used the poster maker at the teacher center to make this.  Nice and big so it filled up a good chunk of wall, yay!

Matching alphabet and numbers.  Letters and Numbers

Cozy Spot Changer

So, having pillows and cushions in my room has always been important to me to encourage the kids to curl up with a book.  Of course, the downside is the inevitable squabbling over who gets to sit on the cushion.  I almost took them all home this year to avoid the drama, but I thought of something that will get rid of the problem, and let the comfy spots get used fairly.
Very simple really.  I used Powerpoint to make a wheel with my kids in the center.  I took pictures of all my pillows, (and headsets)  we argue about those too!  I assigned one student to be the cozy spot changer.  She will turn the wheel one turn every day so everyone can see clearly who's turn it is and there will be no fuss!  Yay!

Powerpoint tip:  Just insert circles and lines.  Use two separate pages, put a brad in the center.

Clean That Table Kiddos!

I am at a little Christian school, where I have the privilege of teaching the first and second grade.  Total of 11 kids, crazy, I know!!  Cleaning our table after lunch has always been the worst chore.  "Who's the table washer?  Who are the floor sweepers?"  No-one seems to know.
We try, but we never have done very well at getting our table clean.  I figured, hey, we are the little ones, the 8th graders can handle our crumbs and juice drips...

Until....  I tried boys against girls.  I assigned each a table and said, ok, lets see who can clean it the best.  If anyone's table is not good, they will have to do both tables next time.  They pretty much went bananas on the most dedicated 6-7 year old cleaning frenzy I had ever seen!  They wiped off the chairs, pushed them all in, they did an incredible job!  And, they loved it.

I did have a few kinks to work out though...  First they were soaking towels, and then getting more towels to dry.  Big waste.  To solve it, I spray 6 half sheet towels and hand them out.  They are not allowed any more.  Problem 2 was they were running all around the room.  To fix that one, they will get a 5 min. time out for running.  No hurry just clean!

It's been a week and it really has morphed from being a competition, to just having fun working together.  Some of the boys even like to help the girls out, since there's only 4 girls and 7 boys.  I haven't had a losing team yet.

My New Lesson Plan Book, YAY!

I have tried numerous different planbooks, but I wanted to really go for it, and make my own.  Here is what I came up with.

The Cover Page

The class schedule.   Scroll down to get the schedule for free.  :)

6 Subject weekly lesson plan, room for detailed notes, and events and reminders in the top left banner.  Holidays are included in the banner too.

Pre-dated for this school year, yay, I hate doing all those dates by hand, it takes forever!

Here is the month at a glance calendar, there is a ton of "stickers" you can use for all those dates, inservice, report cards, conferences, birthdays, 1/2 days, meetings, etc...

Attendance pages come in 6 styles, somehow it makes me feel a sense of progress to have the pages different for each marking period.  Also like not having to write all those names by hand, just copy and paste them here, and into the grade book, next part...

I included all the elementary headings, you can copy and paste those in, or for higher grades,      period 1, 2, etc...

The kids:  So excited to have all this info right at my fingertips, no looking through files for the phone numbers, and allergies and all that stuff.

Pages for notes, self explanatory. :)

Year at a glance, always useful.

I'm excited, hope you like it.  It's editable in Power Point, also comes in PDF and is only $6. 

Get it here:   Lesson Plan Book

Free Class schedule:  Schedule

Fraction Circle Practice

My first graders had some great practice with hands on fraction circles today.  Very simple to put together, and everyone gets to have some concrete experience with fractions.

1.  I cut out three circles of the same size but different colors for each student.
2.  Cut one in 1/2, one in 1/4's, and one in 1/3's.
3.  I cut out square cards of a different color and labeled them for each fraction.
4.  Laminate, and bag each set.
5.  Students assemble each circle and have to correctly label it.