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.

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

Dance Parties

One of my favorite things to do in my class is to have dance parties.  These can be for brain breaks, rewards, transitions, inside recess, or even just a little much needed fun on a stressful or long day. I love to play one of these as we are cleaning up centers or transitioning because students only get to dance once they have cleaned up their area and are ready to move on.  It is a motivator for them to get done.  Plus it gets out some of the wiggles and giggles.

My kids only have a couple rules for my dance parties.  The most important rule they have to follow is that they must stay behind their chair.  We have long tables for desks, so if they don't stay behind their chairs then they end up smacking someone else in the face (or they magically end up across the room with their best buddy). The other rule is that if it gets too loud the dance party is over.  Simple rules for some simple fun.  Usually it only takes me stopping a song once or for someone to sit down for my students to remember the rules.

Of course, YouTube is the place to go for all things dance party.  I like to use songs with specific dances so my kids don't end up on the floor break dancing and possibly breaking their necks.  It also means some of my more reserved kids don't feel as out of place and they will do the dances once they know the moves.  The popular ones we do are the ChaCha Slide and the Cupid Shuffle.  There are also a ton of videos on YouTube with Just Dance Kids.  I also love teacher made videos.  Here is a playlist of some of my favorites to use in my room.

 

Music for the Soul (and to Prevent Pulling Out Clumps of Hair)

This post won't be amazing news to anyone, but maybe it will be helpful. Have you heard of the Electric Company? I hadn't when I started teaching first grade, but I stumbled over a video and fell madly in love. Electric Company is a PBS show that focuses on reading skills.  They have a ton of songs that are related to phonics and reading strategies.  Love! Love! Love! Many of my kids love to rap, so they love Electric Company.

I started using these songs when we started talking about the silent E.  There are two fabulous songs, one by James Englehart and one called "Silent E is a Ninja." If you don't check out any other Electric Company videos, you have to check out "Silent E is a Ninja." (Disclaimer: I am not liable for damage done by these songs getting stuck in your head.) My kids BEGGED to hear these songs. When I didn't have access to YouTube for a few weeks I thought they were going to start a riot.

I started using these as brain breaks, a chance for the kids to get up and dance. By the end of the year, I was using the songs to transition.  It's educational, so the time isn't wasted.  Plus, the students know when the song is coming to an end, and by the time the song was over they had to be cleaned up or at their seat or whatever the transition was.  I also loved it as an incentive.  Several of my kids liked to dance to the songs and if they were through with the transition they were allowed to stand in line or behind their chair and dance.  That meant they worked faster to get the transition over and get dance longer.  It meant a lot less wasted time.

Since I was doing this several times a day, I made up a Symbaloo board for my phonics songs with all our favorite songs right there with out navigating multiple searches or windows. (If you haven't checked out Symbaloo you should. It's all your bookmarks in one account on the Internet, so you can use them no matter what computer you are at.) You can find that board here. 

Clipping Up Behavior

 

Last year, my first graders responded really well to a clip chart.  I'm sure you've seen the basic idea by now.  Students start in the middle and then they clip up for good behavior and clip down for bad behavior.  I had a couple students that were great in class because they would do anything just to clip up.  I'm not just talking about the "good" students.  The students that constantly got in trouble were the ones that got really excited and motivated to clip up.  I wouldn't even have to say anything to get my class quiet.  All I had to do was point to a student and point to the chart and they knew to clip up.  A couple students would see and start doing what they needed to and it was a domino effect.  I love it when managing the classroom takes minimal work from me.

I'm not sure how my third graders are going to respond to the clip chart, but I figure it can't hurt to give it a spin.  Plus I'm revamping a little.  This is all a theory, but I'm crossing my fingers and my toes and pretty much anything else I can cross that this will work.  My biggest issue with incorporating this was that I was bored with the plain old rectangular clip chart.  I like pretty and fun.  It was not.  Then I ran across something on Pinterest (imagine that).  It was a pin chart made from frogs.   Check it out here.

Well, I am not using frogs anymore, but I loved the idea of using a different shape.  Since I'm using polka dots as a classroom theme, the logical idea is to use circles.  My next problem was how to get the clips to fit.  So I'm putting it together with ribbon so I can clip all the way around the circle.



I'm not sure my third graders are going to be quite so excited about clipping up for their good behavior, so I'm also implementing a new reward system.  Last year, my kids only got something when they clipped all the way to the top of the chart.  That rarely happened, but they were usually just excited I noticed their great behavior so it was no big deal.  This year, I want to make every clip count and I want to focus on moving up, not down.  The plan is to use behavior cards that the students are in charge of keeping up with.  Once again, Pinterest was my friend and provided me with a punch card that has only ten punches.  This is what I am going to use for my kids and you can find it here. 

For every time they clip up, students will receive one punch on their card.  If they clip up to the top of the chart, that means three punches in one day.  After they fill up their card, they can use the card to redeem things from the classroom store. What I'm really excited about is that I'm going to offer some different choices.  For ten punches they can get a prize out of a traditional prize box (candy, pencils, toys, etc).  They can also save cards.  For two cards (twenty punches) they get to choose an individual coupon like a homework pass, assignment pass, help from a friend, sit where they want for a day, etc. They can also save three cards.  For three cards, they can get a coupon for the class. These include a dance party, movie time, extra recess, popcorn during work time, etc.  I'm hoping some of my students will be encouraged to work hard for more than just the regular prize box and go for coupons which are pretty much free for me.  Plus it means they learn delayed gratification.  We will see how the theory holds up to reality.  If it doesn't work "Monitor and Adjust." :)