Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Minute to Win It Games

If you are not using Minute to Win It games in your classroom I would encourage you to try them out. The games can be used as brain breaks or rewards that the class can earn. They are also great for end of the year celebrations. I most recently used them as part of my balloon countdown end of the year behavior incentive. The students that earned the reward participated in three games last Friday. You can download the instructions for the games from my TPT store here.

Suck It Up: Students moved Skittles into a bucket using only a straw.

-Carly

I hope you have found this blog post helpful. To stay connected with Carly and Adam's teaching tips and classroom freebies be sure to follow us on FacebookPinterestTeachers Pay Teachers, and subscribe to our blog!

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Reflective Behavior Plan: Getting Students Thinking About Their Behavior

"Am I loosing my mind?"

That is the question I ask myself daily as the school year draws to a close.  If you're like me, your desk is littered with a plethora of caffeinated beverages from coffee to diet coke. It's really the only way of keeping your brain functioning from minute to minute.

Our students' behaviors are increasing and effort drops off as they begin to realize that the end is in sight. All of the tricks and tools are coming out of the bag as we strive to keep our students learning and engaged.

One tool that I have found particularly effective to keep students motivated is the balloon countdown. You can read about it in my previous blog here.

However, no matter how awesome the behavior plan, there are always one or two students that won't get on board. Right? You talk with them, call for additional parent-teacher conferences, take away privileges, and the behaviors continue to interrupt and distract.

It is for these special friends that I have created The Reflective Behavior Plan. It's FREE at my TPT store here.


The Reflective Behavior Plan is great because it targets specific student behaviors. For some students it's easy to pick out an infinite amount of behaviors to correct. However, I select only 2-3 of the most interruptive and distracting behaviors. Once students have those behaviors under control you can move onto the next goal. Start with some small victories. A big victory in behavior is the result of a collection of small victories.

Example behaviors that I have been working on with my students include using a level 1 or 0 voice in the classroom, keeping hands to themselves, staying in their space, and using respectful words. Throughout the day, students score a 4, 3, 2, or 1 depending on how well they have met the goal.

Each student reflects on his/her score. This means that in the middle and at the end of the day, our special friends, will write about how their day is going and what they need to do to continue having a great day or to turn their day around.

When students earn a certain amount of 4's in the morning and afternoon they get their reward. In order for the plan to be most effective, the goals that students are working towards need to be things that are highly motivating to them so that they want to reach their goals. Rewards can be as simple as 5-10 minutes on the computer or doing a job for the teacher. I've also found that students love to earn a break to play with shaving cream.

With The Reflective Behavior Plan, I love how my students are keeping themselves accountable, and they are so proud when they see on paper how they are meeting their goals.

Try the Reflective Behavior Plan out in your classroom and let me know how it goes.

What are you using effectively to correct behaviors?


-Carly

I hope you have found this blog post helpful. To stay connected with Carly and Adam's teaching tips and classroom freebies be sure to follow us on FacebookPinterestTeachers Pay Teachers, and subscribe to our blog!

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The Peacemaker Project: Promoting a Peaceful End of the Year

Towards the end of the year, the increase in "tattling" is inevitable. The students are growing restless as the end is near. They've spent the last nine months together and need a break. Kids are getting on each others' nerves now more than ever. The little stuff that didn't bother them at the beginning of the year is now constantly being brought up. "She's looking at me," is the most common complaint followed closely by "He bumped into me." Seriously.

As a way to combat this negativity, I created the THE PEACEMAKER PROJECT. Rather than focus everything negative, I want to redirect students' energy towards the positive aspects of their peers.

To begin the program, I spent a few minutes teaching my students about what it means to be a peacemaker. A peacemaker decides that they care more about a friendship than winning an argument. We watched this Kid President video on things we should say more often. We also discussed strategies which peacemakers use such as ignoring comments and walking away. 


After our discussion, the students and I created a "Be a Peacemaker" bulletin board. Every time a student is seen being a peacemaker, they get specific praise. They also get a small peace sign to decorate and add to the Peacemaker board. As you can see, it's getting pretty full!

Throughout the week, students also can nominate their peers for the Peacemaker of the Week. At the end of each week, we award a winner!

How do you keep the peace at the end of the year?

-Carly

I hope you have found this blog post helpful. To stay connected with Carly and Adam's teaching tips and classroom freebies be sure to follow us on FacebookPinterestTeachers Pay Teachers, and subscribe to our blog!

Friday, May 8, 2015

How I Keep my Sanity at the End of the School Year

The end of the year for a teacher is rough. I'm there. I get it. 

No matter how effective my classroom management system is the end of the year always brings a little craziness. The students can smell summer on the horizon! I can too!

This year, rather than just playing defense, I decided to go to the offensive. I can't micromanage every student when they know the end is near. Why not just join them? Why not celebrate a little? It's important that I reward the students for all of their hard work and growth this year.



I created the Balloon Countdown to have a little fun. I made it available for FREE.

How it works:
  1. Cut out the reward cards. 
  2. Place one card inside each balloon before inflating. 
  3. Inflate the balloons with a card in each one.
  4. Number the balloons the number of days remaining in the school year.
  5. Tape balloons to a poster board and hang them in the classroom in order counting down.
  6. At the end of each day, 1 student is selected to pop the balloon and read the activity.
  7. The students complete the activity at the end of the next day.
It's so fun! My kids love it! We started at day 20 in the countdown. I let my students brainstorm ideas of what to put inside the balloons. We came up with 12 different party ideas, so we are doubling up on some like popcorn party, glow stick dance party (my students' favorite), and movie party.

Do they get the party every day? Not all students do. In order to participate in the activity, students need to complete their work for the day and demonstrate self control. This activity has been a great motivator to encourage my students to finish off the year strong.

I hope your students enjoy this as much as mine do!

In the comments, please share:

What do you do to keep your sanity at the end of the year?

-Carly

I hope you have found this blog post helpful. To stay connected with Carly and Adam's teaching tips and classroom freebies be sure to follow us on FacebookPinterestTeachers Pay Teachers, and subscribe to our blog!