Pencil Wars

The title of this post says it all for me.  Pencils are a battlefield for my students and I.  It drives me crazy!!  I've tried the sharpened and unsharpened buckets and giving it out pencils at the beginning of the week and so many other things.  Last year I ran across an idea for a pencil challenge.  This has saved my life!! I am not exaggerating.

I did make a change. I don't have pencil pouches for my kids and I am a little more picky about the pencils.  I give my kids three pencils a week.  They can come at any time and ask for another pencil, but they get three a week that count for the pencil challenge.  My big difference is that I want to make sure that my students are actually keeping track of THEIR pencils not just leaving them around and they end with the pencils they need. This means I write their number on their three pencils with a sharpie at the end of the pencil.  This takes a few minutes the first time you do it, but I don't mind. Plus it makes the kids accountable for their pencils.

I NEVER have students asking for a pencil from me.  NEVER! How incredible is that.  Plus, with their number on it I don't have students bringing me pencils because it is on the floor.  They find the correct person and I don't have random pencils floating around my room. Score for me!! Since I don't have kids constantly losing pencils it means we don't run through pencils as quickly as we have in the past.  My first year we actually ran out of pencils and I had to go buy some just to get through the year.

On Monday they get a prize if they can show me their three pencils.  If they can't they get the new pencils they need with their number.  If the pencils with their number are still in good condition they just keep using those and if they are getting small or look raggedy I will switch it out for a new pencil. Since my kids haven't had any problems keeping their pencils for a week, we are starting to up the time and now they have to keep track of those pencils for two weeks.

I know three pencils doesn't seem like much, but my kids are taking much better care of their pencils now so they don't need new pencils constantly.  They are obsessive about keeping track of their pencils.  I also cut down on sharpening because the kids are allowed to sharpen their pencil only in the morning during morning work.  Their job is to sharpen their three pencils.  If they need to sharpen their pencil the rest of the day they have to ask.  Before, my kids were sharpening whenever which meant if they were bored they got up and wandered to the pencil sharpener.  That meant my pencils magically disappeared.  Now they know their job is to have the three sharpened pencils and if they have to ask me to sharpen usually the first thing I ask is did you sharpen three this morning.

The pencil challenge has cut down on pencils in my room immensely and the way I do it works for me.

New Student Checklist

When a new student enters my room there are a million and one things that have to be done for them to function in my classroom.  There are several tests that have to be done to assess level, name tags, computer log-ins, data binders they need to be put in, and so much more.

My first year of teaching I had what I like to refer to as a "revolving door" classroom.  I had the lowest number of students, so I would get the kids that were transferring in.  This isn't at all unusual, but this particular year after I got a new student I would usually lose one within the next few weeks so I always had the lowest number of students.  That year since I had students moving in and out frequently I was constantly putting together papers for new students and doing all those little tasks and contacting five or six different people in the district to get all those tasks done.  I was always forgetting something though and I had no system to make sure that I did everything.

After about the fourth student I suddenly became brilliant.  You ever have those moments where you want to smack yourself for not realizing there is an easier way to do something?  As I went through and did everything for the new student, I wrote down what I was doing. Name tags, bus tags, clips, binders, supplies, tests, paperwork, etc.  I compiled a checklist for my new students for everything they would need.  If they needed anything done to be in my room it went on the list.

Each year I adapt the same checklist.  At the beginning of the year, as I'm setting up my new class, I change the list to fit what I'm doing this year.  It is a huge time saver.  Now I don't forget to have them tested or not contact someone about getting them into a certain system.  They also aren't waiting on me to get them a password I forgot to set up.  It makes my life soooooo much easier.

Organizing Copies

Several teachers I know have a similar system where they make their copies for the coming week and then they have a tray, bin, or basket for each day of the week.

I love my system for that, but I also have a system for copies farther into the future.  Sometimes you need to get a jump on copies or you want to do a complete unit at one time even though the unit will take several weeks. Instead of throwing those extra copies into a jumble I have baskets for each subject: reading, writing/grammar, math, and science/social studies.  When I have copies that aren't going to be used in the next week, they go into the corresponding basket.  Super simple and I can find the copies I need quickly.

It also has another great purpose, it makes finding extra work for days I have a substitute super easy.  If I have copies throughout the week that I haven't used, I put them at the bottom of my subject baskets.  That way I can use them later if I want them.  I separate the old copies and the new copies with a piece of pink cardstock.  Everything underneath the pink cardstock is old and I can pull it out for extra work, work for a sub, or whatever I need.

Everything on top I plan to use in the next couple weeks.  It makes my planning easier and my copies much easier to sort through.

Class Dojo

Last year I posted about my clip chart and how I was going to keep track of clips by using punchcards for every clip.  When students filled up a punchcard they were going to get a prize.  Well...that lasted all of about two days.  Ambitious would be the word I would use. Instead, I'm trying something very similar with a lot less maintenance on my part.  Class Dojo.

I used Class Dojo last year with my clip chart, but I would use clips one day and Dojo another day and it wasn't very consistent.  This year, I am using the clip chart only to clip down.  My parents and students are familiar with the chart for behavior and it also shows evidence for when students repeatedly have classroom issues and the discipline can't be handled in class anymore.

Instead of clipping up, which my kids really don't seem to care much about anymore, I am using Dojo Points.  For every 10 points, students will receive a prize.  There are a few reasons that this should work better for me.

1. Just hearing the sound of someone earning Dojo Points changes my classes behavior.  If your computer, iPad, or phone sound is on then earning points makes a sound.  My kids automatically start doing what they know they have to in order to earn Dojo Points.
2. This isn't something that takes a lot of effort.  All I have to do is press a button on my phone or computer.  
3. It encourages my kids to keep exhibiting better behavior. The earning potential never ends with Dojo Points like it did with the clip chart.  They can always keep earning points and prizes. That should be a huge motivator for my students.  

I made some reward pages and put them on my bulletin board to remind students what they can earn.  My first few students made it to ten points and the entire class got excited.  This is so low maintenance for me and my students really seem to love it.

My rewards are:

10 points- Candy

20 points- Pencil

30 points- Prize Box

40 points- Hats and Shades in Class

50 points- Work with a friend

60 points- Computer Pass

70 points- Homework Pass

80 points- Teacher Chair

90 points- Store Dollar

100 points- Snack

Holiday Weekends

Well most people are enjoying their three day weekend with last minute lake time or barbecues or shopping or any of the other fun things they could be doing.  When I think of long weekends I think of two things: extra time in my class and sleep. Well I managed to sleep for about 12 hours each of the last two nights (I also happen to be sick) and then I have spent Saturday and part of Sunday working in my classroom.  Have I mentioned I'm a self-professed workaholic? What I like about the extra time on weekends is that there is no one around which means fewer distractions and I can do all those things I have been putting off because I just don't have the time to do them  This weekend I managed to get a few things done.

First, we have a new reading and a new math series.  The great thing about new series is that it gets you out of any rut you might have been in.  They also happen to come with lots and lots of resources that are in separate pieces. I've been feeling like I'm having to go here for this resource and here for this resource and here for a different resource.  So my one big goal this week was to start organizing all of those separate pieces into one place so I would have everything I need.  For reading I made files for each week that includes vocab cards, definitions, and leveled readers.  As I add to my resources, I can add to the files.  Now the resources I need are in one place.  This will make me a lot less stressed in the coming weeks.

After I accomplished that minor feat, I managed to organize some of my binders.  This meant starting a reading resource binder that isn't related to my series but has supplements for different skills (i.e. teaching character traits, visualizing, cause and effect, etc.).  I also made labels for my binders because I had about eight total that didn't have a label and I was having to open three or four before I found the binder I needed.  Can we say waste of time?  Now I have cute labels and that makes me happy.

The other big thing I accomplished this weekend was to set up my intervention/small group binder.  In the next couple weeks we are going to start going to centers and I am now ready to pull individuals and small groups to work on skills.  This binder is set up to track data and keep me organized.

Beginning of the Year Scrapbook Page

Earlier I talked about the End of the Year Scrapbook that we create for our kids.  I thought it would be a good idea to show specific pages that I used in case you are interested in creating one too.  On the first day of school I like to give my students a chance to express themselves in an easy, non-stressful way.  This is a great little page by Doris Young that gives them something easy to do to ease us back into routine.

While they work on writing and coloring, I pull kids to take photos of their first day of school.  I make sure I have some kind of sign showing it is the first day of third grade.  This year I found these adorable signs on TPT by Teach and Tell Us that the students color themselves. I'm going to see how they turn out, but I'll probably have another sign ready for my kids to use just in case.

All you have to do is put each student's picture on a background and you have your first scrapbook page. I also include the "I'm Glad to be in grade 3" page in the scrapbook because my kids had some super cute excitements and nerves.

Give a Teacher a Hot Glue Gun and She'll Ask For...

Last week my family helped me get my new shelves put together.  This week third grade hallway got decorated.  Give us a hot glue gun and we can do just about anything.