Class Dojo {super fab classroom management}

I just may have the solution to your EOY craziness!!!  And it's free...you're going to love me for sharing.  :)

ClassDojo is my new favorite thing!  It's a website that tracks your students' choices.  Each student gets a little avatar next to their name and they can earn points for doing something great {being on task, helping a friend, participating} or lose points for making a not so great choice {being off task, not doing homework, showing disrespect}.

I keep mine pulled up on the SmartBoard where my students can see their points and be part of helping me track them.  It's easy enough to use that all I have to do is say "Great job Pinkalicious, you get a point for working so hard" and she just walks up to the screen, clicks her name & clicks "Hard Work."  Then her point total on the class screen goes up by a point!  {students with points are shown in green and students in the negative are shown in red}

From the home screen you can also take attendance, set a timer, choose a student at random {which is fun because it flashes through all of their names until it lands on one} or award points to multiple students at once.  You can also customize the behaviors to add things like "Walking quietly in line" or "Shouting out."  {Bonus: if you have iPad with internet you can take your dojo wherever you go!!}

We look at our whole class percentage each Friday to see how we're doing and set a goal for the next week.  With this report, I'd praise them for their on task-behavior and probably suggest some strategies for remembering to bring back homework.  I also like to compare the percentage to the week before.  If it goes up, we all get a little prize.

You can set a bigger goal for some of your fun EOY activities!  Maybe in order for your class to earn a special theme day they have to have 90% positive or higher as a group for a whole week?  Maybe some of your friends need a goal of having 80% positive or higher as individuals to participate in a field trip or school assembly?  There are so many possibilities.

Since Class Dojo is a website, parents and students can access it at home.  They each receive a special log-in code so they only have access to their account and it'll let parents see exactly what their child is receiving points for as well as which areas need growth.

If your parents don't have internet access, you can print each child's report to send home.  This is great if you have a student on a behavior plan because it keeps the data for you!!  {ie. how often they are off task}  Then you can work on strategies specific to the area they need to improve and track if the percentage increases or decreases each week.

For example, Diego here is fabulous at helping others but that could have a factor in his off task percentage being so high.  I would probably try to isolate him during work time and let his reward for on-task behavior be to go and help his friends or be a teacher helper...building on his overwhelming strength.

On the other hand, Barbie is doing a fab job in class but is having a hard time remembering to do her homework.  Since she's such a hard worker at school, I would probably make a phone call home to see if anything is going on that's keeping from doing her work - or if mom and dad even know that she's bringing work home!

I highly suggest that you check out ClassDojo.com and play around with the demo class.  It's fun.  It's free and it just might that change in classroom management that you need to get your kids motivated to make good choices again.  I have a feeling I'll be using it much earlier in the school year next year!!!

March rewards {freebie}

It's currently time with Farley again!  Okay, okay, maybe I technically broke a rule with the last one but nothing starts with K!!  And you better not tattle on me because you know me better as Little Miss Glamour anyway.  ;)

You read that right, here's your freebie!  I've always switched up my reward system in March because it's 3rd quarter, the weather is {hopefully} starting to get warm & we're leading up to spring break.  All great things but also a recipe for cray behavior.  I diecut shamrocks, write prizes on them & laminate them.  They stay in my sparkly green bucket and kids who make good choices get to choose one at the end of the day.  {If you'd rather only do it once a week or as a random surprise you are welcome to do that too.}

Just download the file, print on green paper and voila!  Done.  Remember, you don't have to print the same amount of each page.  If you want it to be harder to earn a buddy class, just print less of those.  Your kids will never know.  ;)

Horton teaches Character Ed.

My kids have been obsessed with Dr. Seuss books {hee hee...Obseussed!} and I'm not even sure how it started.  But our library wagon has been chock full of 'em for the last month or so.  Bring on Fox in Socks, sir, I've read it eight jillion times, sir, and now I'm a pro of the rhyme, sir!

{I seriously can't wait for Dr. Seuss day.  These kids are going to lose their minds when they find out!!}

We had a little preview today when I had a lightbulb moment while reading Horton Hears a Who.  I have a student who hasn't wanted to participate this week no matter how many reward or motivator tricks I pull out of my sleeve.  So as I was reading today about Jo-Jo the shirker who finally saved the day with his Yopp!....it hit me.  CO-OP-ER-ATION.  If little Jo-Jo hadn't gotten it together to finally speak up and make some noise, he would've let down his whole community while they {in your darkest, most terrifying voice} boiled in Beezle-Nut oil!

Luckily my students went to music immediately after finishing this story so I had a quick minute to whip this together and have it ready by the time they got back.  We made I guided them to connections between the Whos' cooperation and how we have to cooperate in class to get things done then I pulled out this little diddy and we put it on paper.

Not only that, but then I had the brilliant idea to hang them on their cubbies so they'd have the cooperation reminder each morning as soon as they came in to start the day!  Sometimes I even amaze myself.  ;)

The Jo-Jo image came from Coloring Pages ABC.  A little warm-up for March 2nd!  Who-dee-who!

What teachers really want to tell parents.

Ron Clark is an amazing educator who really gets children and how to reach them. He knows that respect, manners and an encouraging environment must be in place before anything academic will stick. Google his name and you'll find accolades from multiple sources, clips of his students performing for the president and countless teachers telling how they've used strategies of music and student interest to create better lessons.  Or better yet, for his whole story, watch the made-for-TV movie The Ron Clark story starring Matthew Perry.

In case none of that is ringing a bell, I wanted to give you a little background to be sure you understand the credibility of the article I'm about to post.  If you've been an educator at all, even if this is still your first month of your first year, chances are good that you've already encountered a parent who doesn't respect you as an authority figure or who has already challenged a rule or consequence their child has faced.  Please hear me say that there are many good families and parents out there and that I am not at all stereotyping every grade school parent as disrespectful.  The unfortunate truth of it is, though, that as educators in the current school system, our credibility, authority and basic perception as professionals goes down every year.  Not because we aren't doing our jobs and not even because we're bogged down with paperwork & other things that are so prevalent in the education system.  No, the credibility of teachers continues to go down because how we're perceived by society continues to drop.

Ron Clark had the opportunity to talk about this issue with CNN and I think he made some clear and valid points.  Click on his picture for the article.

Now, how do we get parents to read this with an open heart and mind?

clip chart cuties.

I am psyched that we're moving away from the card system this year.  You know the one...construction paper strips in a pocket and once the kid gets away with enough warnings {which varies based on whose class you're in} then they have to pull the green card out and they're on yellow...to red to blue to whatever you choose.  5 greens in a week = treasure box.  You know the drill.  We've had the same system forever and it's worked well but I was ready for a break.  And yay yay, it's my favorite day becaaaaaause we're switching!

Our school has adopted the clip chart system instead.  And while I'm not saying you're a horrible teacher if you still use the color cards {hello, I used it the past 7 years} this one has way more benefits.  For example, you know that precious little lovie in your class whose name you can't remember for the first two weeks of school because you never have to redirect her?  Well, with this system, she gets to move, too.  UP.  Up for good behavior, down for not so good.  And wait for it...you can move more than once!  Mind boggling.

Ok, so maybe I exaggerate a little but I really do think there's more freedom with this system.  Kids are more motivated to do better because they can advance back and fix their mistakes and the kids who never get in trouble don't have to wait for Friday afternoon to be rewarded!  It's also a headache reliever for people like me who get sick of Treasure Box Friday Afternoons {you know, when parents pop in, extra announcements are being made, the office calls for early dismissal, assemblies are scheduled and the apocolypse takes place}.

We have some freedom within our own classrooms to praise and punish as we wish.  I've chosen the classic 9 step program for my little learn-a-holics:

Pink: Superstar

earns a cape or crown {I love a sentence strip crown any day!}
*also received a jewel on their clip to make it extra blingy* 

Red: Fabulous

earns lunch or reading time with a friend

Orange: Rockin

earns treasure box

Yellow: Good

earns candy jar or gumball

Green: Ready to learn

earns a sticker or tattoo if moving back up

Light Blue: Warning

earns the chance to fix-it 

Dark Blue: Cool Down

earns a few minutes in the cool down corner

Purple: Parent Contact

earns an email or phone call home

Black: Office Referral

earns a trip to see the principal

I also backed each one with cute scrapbook paper in the appropriate color.  {red has sparkly apples and orange has slick pencils...those are my favorites!}  Now that I've had this in place for a while, here's an update: I hung them vertically in that order near the bathroom by stapling just the middle and leaving the edges free.  My kids needed some help {even with a stool} once they got up above Fabulous but they loved needing to ask me "Can you move me up to Superstar?!"  I also made a hall of fame in the hallway so when the students got 5 jewels on their clip they got to move it out there and start a new one!

Get your own adorable grahics {here}.

And get your own 9 step-program {here} complete with 2 sample parent letters.