classroom management Archives - Page 3 of 3

Spark Student Motivation, Mother’s Day Writing, and Daily Deal!

May 11, 2013

Linking up with Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching to share another way I keep my kiddos motivated! On Wednesday, I shared how I use clipboards during writing time to let my students write around the room on the floor… well, I use a similar trick during Reader’s Workshop, too!

These are my book nooks for independent reading time! Every kiddo has a clip. The clips move once a week. Each “nook” comes up every third time- they have to sit at their desk one week (because there just aren’t enough nooks!!) and the floor one week, but then they get a special nook! They get SO excited on these weeks. The options that come up are green chair (under an umbrella because of my beach theme), a couple students have yellow pillow (just a cheap Walmart pillow with a yellow pillow case on it), a couple have blue folding chair (some cheap folding camping chairs I found at Walmart one year, too), pink pig (an oversized, soft, stuffed pig that one of my kids gave me one year… I used to have a pig theme in my room!), teacher’s chair, and their favorite: purple float. Because of my beach theme, I brought in an inner-tube and they seriously love it. I think I need to get a couple more for next year! Here are some pictures of some of the book nooks in my room:

Some of the nooks are empty in these pictures because they were at the library, or maybe taking an AR test… because trust me… desks aren’t chosen over nooks if they have the choice. I began using book nooks a few years ago, and I can honestly say that I have seen an increase of on-task ACTUAL independent reading. They know that if they “abuse” their book nook, they lose it, so they are always reading!!

I also wanted to share the activity we did for Mother’s Day in my room. Pin it for next year, because it’s a great one!! I got the idea from Joanne, who got the idea from AMC at Looking from Third to Fourth! We read the book, The Best Part of Me.

It’s a book written by children- each page is a different child and each child has chosen their “best” body part and describes what makes it the best. We read the book together, and then I had them think of what is the best part of Mom instead. These kiddos made me cry. Seriously. I am so proud of how mature they have become, and how sweet they were in these writing pieces to their moms! Here are some examples:

One last thing before I go today… 🙂 I wanted to offer one last “deal” for Teacher Appreciation Week, so I am offering my Mentor Sentence Unit over at Teacher’s Notebook as Today’s Daily Deal!!

If you haven’t checked these out, there are some really awesome products every day that are 40% off!!! Shut the front door!! 😛 I have gotten some great things over the last few weeks and decided to participate, too. So if you didn’t pick up the Mentor Sentence Unit in the TPT sale this week, make sure to head over and snatch it up now- this huge deal will be today ONLY!!!! 🙂

Enjoy your Saturday!

Uncategorized

Sparking Student Motivation… with FOOD!

May 4, 2013

I’m linking up with Joanne today from Head Over Heels for Teaching! I’m so glad she’s back in the bloggy world from her Disney Cruise! 😛

I have a couple motivators to share with you today. :o) The first is… FOOD! The sweeter the better, although they don’t mind salties either. 😛

We did this activity on Friday for M&M Math Day on our ABC Countdown Calendar. I gave each group 100 M&Ms and they practiced fractions and decimals! They wrote the fraction and decimal of each set, compared sets, added sets as decimals, and made models/arrays of the sets. AND NOT ONE COMPLAINED! In fact, they were all helping each other, getting along, staying on task… because they knew they got to eat their M&Ms when they were done! 🙂

You can find this activity in my 4th Grade Common Core Aligned Decimals Unit!

*sidenote* I also just recently bundled all of my math units! The units are my best sellers in my store… and it will save you money to buy the bundles! You know… just in case there was a sale coming and you needed some math resources… :o) If you want to check them out, click on the bundle pictures below!

Numbers and Operations Bundle

Fractions and Decimals Bundle

The second motivator I wanted to share with you today is a TEACHER motivator!

Isn’t she wonderful?!? She is so right, too.

Go link up with Joanne to share your own motivators, and get some ideas from some other awesome bloggers about what they do in their classroom!

Also, don’t forget about my Friday Feedback Frenzy– happening all weekend! (Weekend Feedback Frenzy wasn’t alliterative enough for me… hee hee!)

Uncategorized

Spark Student Motivation: Classroom Tests

April 13, 2013

It’s Saturday! You know what that means!!! My BBB Joanne from Head Over Heels For Teaching has a fun Saturday linky!

I know a lot of us have state tests on the brain, but I wanted to share something I do in my classroom with my unit classroom tests! I got the idea from Pinterest, but that person pinned it from an idea from Ron Clark. If you have been living under a rock (*wink*) and don’t know who Ron Clark is, you MUST read a book or an article by him at some point. My favorite article is What Teachers Really Want To Tell Parents.

Aaaaaanyway, so the idea is, when students get 100% on a test, they get to wear a button all day like this:

Students and teachers see the button, and they ask what the student made- it gives the student a chance to brag about themselves and get high fives and recognition from others!!

Well, I’m a printer label girl (if you can’t tell by now… and a post-it girl… and a marker pen girl…. 😛 ) so instead of buying the buttons that they would have to take off at the end of the day, I made printer labels that the kids could wear as stickers- and could wear home to show off to their parents! A lot of mine like to stick them on their binders, too, so they can “keep them forever.” I adjusted the criteria for getting a sticker, though- if you make an A (not just 100%) on the test, you get to wear one. The kids are so excited to get a sticker!! First of all, if they had a test in the morning, they ask me that afternoon if I’ve graded them (which 9 times out of 10 gets a big fat NO haha!) because they want to know if they got a sticker. When it is time to give the stickers, I do it first thing in the morning (so they’ll have their sticker all day), and I make a big production of it. “I have some A Teeeeeeeeeeests!!”

Yesssssssss!!!! They all get super quiet, and you can see them waiting on the edge of their seat. I announce each A-Test one-by-one, and the students cheer for each other! I hand them their test so they know what grade they have, and then they announce their grade. :o) Teachers and other students ask them all day about their test because of the sticker, and you can just see them beam!!

Want my stickers? Here ya go!! Click here or the image below! 🙂 I use 2″x4″ labels (Avery 18163).

Go link up with Joanne’s awesome linky, or just go read everyone’s amazing ideas!! 🙂

Also, don’t forget to go enter my 300 Follower Giveaway!! 🙂 There’s one for every grade!!

Uncategorized

Spark Student Motivation!

April 6, 2013

I am so excited to link up with one of my very BEST BBBs, Joanne! This is her first linky party (how freaking cute is her button??? So sparkly!!) and I know it will be a successful one because the topic is absolutely “magical!” 🙂 Each week, link up with her to share your magic tricks for motivating students- can be something you currently use or have used in the past… or even something you want to use!

This week, I want to share my “Good Deeds Tickets.”

I do everything I can to promote kindness and community in my classroom. One way I do this is through good deeds tickets. I have a huge roll of tickets like this:

I tear them apart and put them in a basket on my desk. I also have an empty tennis ball tube (no hands can get down in there…) sitting next to it for ticket collection.

Anyone that does something nice for someone else gets a ticket FROM THAT PERSON. For example, Vanessa helped John pick up his crayons that just flew all over the floor when his box came open… John gives Vanessa a ticket. She writes her name on it and turns it in. Then on Friday, I do a drawing. I usually pull 5 names (one for each day of that week). If I pull a duplicate, I redraw just to give others a chance. The winners get to choose a reward coupon they can cash in for fun stuff: homework pass, eat with the teacher, eat with a friend, candy from “my secret stash,” extra computer time, etc…

It has really helped my kiddos be more conscious of being considerate and helpful to others. I’m hoping this little “trick” helps kindess become a HABIT, not just something they do for a ticket. 😉

What are some of the tricks you have up your sleeve? Jump over to Head Over Heels For Teaching to share, and check out some other awesome ideas!! 🙂

P.S. Make sure to check out Third Grade Doodles!! She is having a 100 Followers Giveaway! 🙂

Spark Student Motivation, Mother’s Day Writing, and Daily Deal!

Sparking Student Motivation… with FOOD!

Spark Student Motivation: Classroom Tests

Spark Student Motivation!

Facebook

Pinterest

Instagram