Behavior Management

Hey, ya'll!

I am here to tell you that I do NOT use the clip chart. I used it my first year. I used it my second year. I threw it away my third year, and I have not looked back!

I liked the clip chart. It worked GREAT with my 4th graders my first year of teaching. They could earn little jewels to put on their clips if they clipped off, after 5 jewels they retired their clip to the Wall of Fame, and I bought them candy. Then we switched to a coin system that the 5th grade team came up with, so I clipped and gave bonus coins for jewels.

My second year teaching I switched schools, but I kept it up because the entire school used it and the kids could earn sparkly bees from the office. It worked for me.

Then, last year happened, and it was not effective. At all. The kids did not respond to being on the different colors. They did not care about the sparkly bees. They just wanted to be on their favorite color, even if it was BELOW green! I had kids who WANTED to be RED because they liked red! Whaaaaat!?

So, I had to switch. HAD. TO. SWITCH. One of my teammates had been having similar issues, and she had switched her kids to Super Bucks. So, I took a leaf out of her book and switched my kids to Dino Bucks. Super Hero themed classroom=Super Bucks, so Dinosaur theme=Dino Bucks.

It changed my life! They responded. They WANTED bucks! They did not want to lose bucks. It was amazing! I do Fun Friday in my room for an hour each Friday, so now they had to buy their choices with their bucks. Didn't have enough for the iPad? Guess you have to work harder next week! And then they did. It was amazing.

So, I kept it up this year, and it has been just as wonderful! We talk about how adults get paid to do their job, so we were doing the same thing in our room. Their job was to work and to follow the rules, and my job is to teach. Then we talked about how if I break the law I have to pay, so if they were breaking rules they would have to pay. BUT. They can always earn it back for turning their behavior around, and I have been very consistent with them earning it back this year! At the end of each day, they tell me how many (out of 4) they think they earned. If I disagree because they are saying 4 when they were in trouble quite I bit I just tell them to reconsider, and they do, and they will tell me 3 or even 2. I also give bonus bucks whenever I see kids going above and beyond.

On Fridays they count their bucks, I write it down on a paper that says, "I earned ____ bucks this week." and then I check if they are doing great, making improvements, or if they are having trouble and need to set a goal. So far, I have not had anyone need to set a goal because they all loooooove earning their bucks every day!

They keep their bucks in little library pocket cards. Sometimes I have issues with kids stealing bucks, but I can usually figure out who it is because they come to me with, like, 35 bucks when the max is 16 unless they earn bonus bucks. So we chat, and they lose their bucks that week, and it never seems to happen again.

I adore this system! It works for me and for my kids. The whole 1st grade uses it, and there has been talk about maybe getting the other grades to switch over too. Maybe this is the year that you, too branch out from the clip chart! There's a whole wide world of management out there, and it actually works!

Computer is 12 and iPad is 15. I added those in later because the first few weeks we didn't use any technology.

The First 2 Weeks

Hello!

Looooong time, no blog! But here I FINALLY am again!

Don't let the title fool you, however, because we are currently in our 8th week of school. I just have not found the time to get anything posted. Like, AT ALL. So, here is a quick (poorly photographed) re-cap of our first few weeks.

First off, in my last post, I showed you guys the cute frame I make that said First Grade on it from the first day of school. Well, here are a few of the interviews we did to go along with our pictures! They came out SO cute! I also (finally) got them up in classroom where I'm going to keep them all year, and then at the end of the year we'll do the questions again to see how they compare. :)

Secondly, we started Zoo Phonics this year! Kinder kinds started it last year, and then this year K and 1 are committed all the way! Let me tell you, it's AMAZING! I have never ever seen such strong spellers this early in the year. Such an awesome program!

As part of the beginning of the year review we built our own alphabet zoos! Each group had some letters, and they had to find pictures of animals or things that started with their letter. They LOVED this! Loooooooved.

For the first two weeks of school we do Fables and Folktales. We read a Fable or Folktale each day, fill in the chart for the story elements, and then do some kind of craftivity. Here is the chart partially filled out! We also did Peter Rabbit, Anansi the Spider, The Fox and the Grapes, and one more that I can't think of off the top of my head.

Here are our Anansi the Spiders that we made! We do this story last, so this craft just becomes that Friday's art project. :)

I also tend to read Rainbow Fish pretty early in the year because it's a fun and familiar story, and making the Rainbow Fish is always fun!

So there is a tiny peek into our first two weeks! In math we are working hard on subitizing and then we move into equality, and addition, and decomposing numbers. Then we just decompose and decompose and decompose so that we get TONS of practice with seeing what combinations make which numbers. It makes addition easier and faster, and makes story problems about a gazillion times easier too!

That's all I got for right now! I'm going to work my butt off to do more! I just could not find time between the start of the school year, moving from an apartment into a house, and starting grad school But now I have a better sense of my schedule and how to balance things, so I hope I can rock it second quarter with actually blogging regularly!

1st Day of School!

Hello, there!

I would just like to share that I successfully made it through the first day of school! I have 20 kiddos this year, and I can just tell that we are all going to have SO much fun!

I did not get a ton of photos because I was running around like a nut job all day, but I did take a few pictures of the name art project that we did.

We started off by going over rules, and procedures, and making sure everyone knew how they were getting home. Then we read The Name Jar by Yangsook Choi about a little girl from Korea on her first day of school. We followed that up with saying what makes us special, and then we put our names on large construction paper, and glued tissue paper squares to it, and I wrote what made them special on the bottom.

It was cute to hear what they felt made them special. I just wrote exactly what they told me! The next two pictures are of all the names hanging. My room is still only, like, 90% done, so when I get it all in place I will post a room tour. I WANTED to Periscope my room, but my school is way out in the desert and the wifi is not nearly strong enough.

In the afternoon we explored with our math manipulatives, and we played with our play-doh, and we watched Magic School Bus: Busasaurus! I also took all of their pictures in this adorable frame that I made! I was inspired by the one that I saw on @applesandabcs Instagram!

We're going to use the pictures to make a cute beginning of the year "All About Me" poster! Can't wait to share that! Overall, great first day, and I am ready for this year!

Currently!

You guys!

I am SO EXCITED!!!! This is my very FIRST Currently. Ever. I have always always always wanted to do a Currently, but never had a blog, so when I started this one I was just SO STOKED for August 1st to roll around! And now it's here!

So, here we go:

I am listening to Captain America: Winter Soldier in the background. It is playing on Starz. I was actually trying to catch up on  my taped episodes of Ink Master, but I got caught up in the AMAZING back to school bash that starts over at Step Into 2nd and is almost over, but they also just posted the GRAND PRIZE hop, and so I did that too... ANYWAY, my episode of Ink Master ended and I didn't even notice, but then suddenly Captain America was on, and since he's so dang cute I just left it!

I am LOVING my team! We get along so well, we have amazing things planned for the year, we are all such passionate educators, and I am so ready to start back Monday morning with those fabulous ladies!

I am thinking about all of my "to do's" for the first day of school and trying to prioritize them! I think the most important thing right now is to get my brochure written to explain homework, and behavior management, and birthdays, and all that jazz. But then there a THOUSAND other things to still do!

I am seriously wanting a few more hours in the day. Especially tomorrow. Sunday always goes much too quickly! It just means I am not gonna get nearly enough sleep.

Ya'll, I am moving in ONE WEEK and the only part of my apartment that is even remotely packed is the kitchen. That's it! I have tomorrow, and then the first week of school, and then the husband and I are outta the apartment and into a house, and NOTHING is done! I. Am. STRESSED. Thank goodness his mom has been helping or we would be up a creek without a paddle!

B2S RAK- I have the BEST principal ever! She is so amazing! And she is going through a really hard time this year. I had a really rough time last school year, and she, and my team, and my entire campus were there for me. I just really want to give back to her and support her this school year. Don't know what I'm gonna do yet... But she truly deserves it!

And that's it! My first Currently! Now I just gotta go follow the Rule of 3! 

Back to School Tip!

Hello, lovelies!

I am linking up with Hanging Around in Primary and Pop Into Primary for their Back to School Tips linky! (Apparently all I do right now are linkys... HA!) They are working to build the little fish/big fish community, so definitely go check them out and see what's up! #littlefishteacherblogger

My B2S tip is be very very VERY flexible! There is so much that happens in the first few days/weeks of school that I find it best to just go with the flow. There will be testing, there will be new students, there will be assemblies, there will be generalized chaos... and on and on. If you don't want to go B-A-N-A-N-A-S then you gotta take and deep breath and let it goooo, let it goooo... (This is why I shouldn't blog super late)

Of course, still have things planned, and even have things over planned, but understand that these kiddos are just coming off of summer break. I teach first, and lemme tell ya, they are TIRED. They get cranky and hungry and just plain tuckered out. So if we don't get to every little thing in the first few days it just has to be okay.

Remembering that flexibility it the key to your sanity during back to school time will help to calm your frazzled nerves, and help to bring some peace to your room. Your kiddos are looking to you and are feeding off of your energy, the more easily you can roll with the punches the more fun everyone will have.

One quick example- last year, on the second day of school, I got my times all kinds of mixed up and was reading the clock wrong. I thought it was already 11 and time for lunch, but it was most definitely only 10. I brought my kids into the cafeteria where our fab lunch ladies just looked at me like I was NUTS. I quickly realized my mistake, and our lead lunch lady jumped in and had the kiddos all practice putting in their lunch numbers a few times! Day. Saved. We then went back to class and read a story and did some Go Noodle until it was actually lunch time! I was definitely more careful after that, but everyone was able to keep on going because I was able to keep on going! #mistakeshappen  #shakeitoff

Hope you enjoyed my tip, and go link up!

Fun Friday Linky

Today is the last day of the Freebielicious linky party, and it is all about FUN FRIDAY!

Now, I do actual Fun Friday in my classroom because firsties need to play, but I also do other things that are a lot of fun!

We do a TON of Go Noodle because it's the best thing ever! I feel like most people have heard of it by now, but if not, go check it out. It's a website with tons and tons of videos to get your kids up and moving, and you get to choose a Champ and watch it grow after every 10 videos!

I also use their Airtime and Airtime Space videos after lunch so that we can work on some deep breathing to calm down before learning more.

This year we are also starting Zoo Phonics which looks like it's going to make teaching phonics WAY more exciting! Kindergarten started using it last year, and then they ordered it for first grade to also use this year. I will have to post more about it later as I get into teaching it.

I also do a lot of art projects! Sometimes they're really complex, but other times it's basically just coloring and cutting and gluing. We are lucky to still have specials, but we only have music, PE, computers, and library, so I make sure that every Friday we do a special art project. :)

Every year we make these bodies. I trace the kids on butcher paper, and they cut themselves out, and then they color their packet of organs, and cut and glue those on to their bodies! SO. FUN. I got this from student teaching, so I only have paper masters.

This year we did these from Giraffes Can't Dance. I don't remember who originally did these, but I saw it on Pinterest and pinned it and did it!

We also make these snowflakes. It's just coffee filters colored with markers, and then they cut them into snowflakes, and you spray them with water to make the colors run. They're so pretty!

Thanks for reading about my Fun Fridays!

Throwback Thursday #TBT

Hey, y'all!

Sometimes I say "y'all" because I spent the first 8 years of my life in Dallas, TX. Gotta keep in touch with my southern roots!

Today's linky with Freebielicious is Throwback Thursday!

Now, I was checking out some of the other blogger's links and a lot of people had put up old blog posts. I got pretty worried since you can clearly see that this is only my 4th post EVER. But I kept clicking and saw that some other bloggers had just written back about things that had done during the school year. Well, I can do that! So, here is my very favorite art project that I have ever done!

I live in Arizona, and we have a very unique environment down in the southern part of the state. It's all full of prickly things and things that bite and sting. Our most famous Sonoran Desert plant has got to be the saguaro (suh-war-oh) cactus. My first grade team does a huge desert unit in the spring, and we go to the Desert Museum, and I thought it would be SO MUCH FUN to make mini models of saguaros! Out of paper mache. Yup, the messy, gooey, flour/water/newspaper stuff. So, we did!

First, we covered toilet paper rolls with paper mache. I made my husband help me save all the rolls for, like, 4 months. I made little newspaper rolls for the arms and taped them on with masking tape, and then showed the kiddos how to layer on the gooey paper mache. I did have to go back and fix most of them, but some students did an amazing job! Paper mache is hard for firsties, y'all!

After it was all dry we went back and painted our cacti green and painted the dirt brown.

The we added details such as the pleats in the cacti and the cactus flowers on the top. They could also add details to their dirt such as other animals or water.

Then, because I'm a little cray-cray, we made desert animals out of clay, waited for the clay to dry, and then painted our desert animals. I meant to buy Crayola Model Art Magic, but accidentally bought Crayola regular-old-clay, soooo most of the animals broke apart and I hot glued them all back together/on to the plates.

The animal that they made was the same as the animal that they researched. Each kiddo picked an animal, and then they were put into groups based on that animal, and then we researched and wrote reports!

Part of the research was done on our first grade field trip to the Desert Museum where they got to see their animal FOR REAL. They then had to read the signs about their animal and record the info. (In reality each group had a parent volunteer to help with the reading/recording.)

In theory the animals were supposed to be painted realistically, but I kept having kiddos absent, so their animal kept sitting there being all sad and unpainted. By the end it was like, "Just paint it please, and no I don't care what color you use!"

Hope you enjoyed my throwback!