Class Dojo UPDATE!

What can I say...I LOVE Class Dojo!! :)  I have been so tired of using so many different behavior systems at once that it just becomes so much work.  I've found with Class Dojo, majority of that work is eliminated.  I haven't figured out how to use it as a grade, though.  If anyone has ideas for this, I would love to hear them!  It's amazing how my students see me with my iphone or ipad in the hallway, and immediately, they put up the quiet sign! haha  On top of that, who doesn't love the little avatars?!? They are adorable!!  My students love going in and changing them!  I'm still trying to figure out if I want to let their Dojo points add up throughout the week or reset them daily so we're trying both ways to see!  Process of elimination usually works!  Well, I will let you know how Week 2 goes!  Like I said, if you have any suggestions or ways it's worked for you, I would be all ears!  

Class DOJO!!!

I am sooooo excited to start the Class DOJO tomorrow to finish out the school year!!!  I have been researching and testing everything out so that it's ready to go, and I can't wait!  I, too, am always trying new ways to help increase positive behavior without always rewarding students for things they should be doing already.  Sometimes, I have conflicts with the whole immediate gratification because, let's face it, that's not how it always is in real life when you have to work long and hard for things and to see the success at the end.  I've been using the Clip Chart behavior system this year for the first time, and I have really liked the fact that every student has the chance to improve their behavior the whole day instead of being stuck on Red right away in the morning.  However, I have still found that it is sometimes hard to keep up with because of the school wide jewel incentive or the bucket fillers we use, and I tend to forget to tell students to clip up when they're doing something great.  With this, I will be able to have my iphone or ipad with me all the time while checking in on students.  I won't have to worry about moving their clips back for the next day, recording where they were each day or even filling out their behavior charts that they record on daily to have parents sign.  Everything will be done for me!! :)  I love that I can send reports to parents that are more detailed for me as well as the students and parents telling specifically what they were doing that was positive and negative.  Ohhhh, I can't wait!! :)  We, as teachers, have soooo many tasks on our plates, that I am really hoping that the Class Dojo helps alleviate one of those tasks in a fun, rewarding way with my students!!  I really think they are going to love it!!  I will let you all know how it goes this week!! :)

"Write-On" Desk-Top Name Tags!!

   

So I've been wanting to create these for a while, but I just haven't had the time until Spring Break!!!  It has always bothered me when kids draw on, bend, write on, etc. on their name tags on their desks!  You pay all this money for the cutest name tags with all the information on them only for your students to destroy them in a week if not sooner! :)  So, I thought instead of trying to stop them which we all know won't work when it's right there on their desks, why not make name tags that they CAN and are ENCOURAGED to write on!!  Also, I'm always having trouble trying to fit in handwriting into the daily schedule so why not have them use their name tags for handwriting practice daily?!?  So I decided to start making these for all year so I can easily switch them out.  For the skills, I looked at what we are doing in math for the last quarter and out of those skills, which ones my students either need work on or should be able to do easily for next year.  I will adjust these in the ones to come to go along with the time of the school year, too!  I'm sooooo excited to get these on their desks!  I haven't decided if I just want to print them and not laminate them and use packing tape to tape it to the desks.  This way they can use their pencils or crayons easily, and it cuts down on preparation.  Then if they do ruin the name tags, at least

In honor of Spring Break (aside from the fact that we had 4-8 inches of snow in Indy!! hah), I am having a STORE WIDE SALE in my TPT store!  Everything is 20% off until this Thursday!!  I hope this brightens up your day if you're dealing with this weather as well!! :)  Enjoy your week!!! :)

Money, Money, Money, MOney...MONEY!!! Making "Cents": Our National Coins

                                                                           

So this past week we were reviewing money and equivalences while solving word problems.  I do math rotations like Beth Newingham explains on her website, so I have them grouped by ability. I was going through the coins with them, and one group kept confusing nickels and quarters (which we've done ALL year plus since they were in kindergarten!!) so you can imagine my surprise in hearing this!  They didn't even do this earlier in the year!  I'm not sure what was going on, but it sparked my motivation to back up a second.  So I came up with Coin Profiles!  I thought that it wouldn't hurt all the kids to do some researching and really get to know their money system.  I made Coin Profiles and found websites for them to go to in order to research and find the information.  I'm hoping this will be a better way to help them understand the coins and better identify them!  With this, I made QR code signs to make the research more fun and controlled.  Each coin has 2 QR code sheets, but you can also use the websites I've listed for the computer, etc.  Then I have flashcards with self checking QR codes or regular ones with a record sheet.  I'm going to give them the quiz on Monday and Friday to see if there's any difference! :)  I'm hoping I won't get the same responses as last week!!! I'm PRAYING! :)

"You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives." Clay P. Bedford

So...we've been working on finding the theme of a story for the past week moving into this week, and it's not an easy skill to teach. Some students understand the theme, but when asked to support with evidence, they have a hard time. Some students don't understand the theme at all and have a hard time seeing how things can connect to them. WELL...today, one of my struggling students had a HUGEmoment!!

After reading a book, My Name is Not Isabella (awesome Women's History book), I asked the class what they thought was the them of the story. This student eagerly raises his hand so I call on him first. His response gave me good chills. He said, "You can be whoever you want to be." I stood there stunned...gave him a high five, had him clip up, and we gave him a round of applause!!! It was awesome!!! He was so confident! I hope he can always know the feeling of success even in the presence of difficult challenges.

Reading Skills Posters/Graphic Organizers/Quizzes/Tests/Skills Matching Game!!!

Soooo...since I'm new to all the blogging and just started creating on TPT this past September, I've been learning a TON on how to do certain things!!  Soooo...I HAD to share an accomplishment today which was to make a preview with all many of the pages in a set!!  I'm sooooooo excited!!!!!!  :)  I have been trying to think of how other teachers were doing this great thing, but I just could not figure it out.  I even asked my Apple Store friends (I worked at the Apple Store part time for a year and a half until this past October), and they didn't know how!!  So, needless to say, you can probably understand why this is such an accomplishment today!!  I'm pretty tech savvy, but this just tops everything right now!! :)