Behavior Tips for ANY time of the YEAR

I don't know about you all but sometimes around this time I need a 'pick me up' as far as behavior incentives in the classroom go.  Hi guys,  It's Vicky from Teaching and Much Moore and I'm happy to share some ( tried and true ) ideas for you to use in your classroom this month.

Pick up a chair cover from the Dollar Tree that is seasonal.  Walk around the room and when you see a student engaged, working on task and quiet ~ sneak up and place the chair cover on the back of their chair.  I also pick up a necklace ~ so this month it has hearts on it...next month it has clovers etc.  I place it around their neck as well. ( even the boys dig this in third grade ).  As the day goes on I move it around to other children.  At the end of the day whoever has it gets a trip to my treasure chest.

Here's a picture from the other day ~ I picked up a cute felt envelope from the Target Dollar Spot and cut the bottom of it so it opened from the bottom and it fit on the top of our chairs.

Another idea is to bring in a stuffed animal ~ it's a similar idea.  You can place the stuffed animal on a desk and use the same incentive above - prize of some sort at the end of the day....OR you can place it a set of desks and it can be used as extra table points.  Either way the kids love having it. { my favorite animal is a giraffe but you could bring in anything } If you have an owl theme in your classroom bring in a stuffed owl.  Or if it's March bring in a stuffed leprechaun.

My last behavior idea to use is a also great seasonal one for the classroom.  I just started them in November and it's been a big hit for my students.  I call them Behavior Bites and sell them in my store.  Here's a peek ~~~

Thanks for stopping in and visiting with me!  I hope these ideas are helpful and bring more sanity into your life and joy into your students lives. If you are interested in the behavior bites you can grab them { here }

xoxo,

Vicky

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The Power of Do It Again

Hi friends! It's Haley from My Silly Firsties. I'm sitting at the Detroit airport after a fabulous weekend with my sweet sister. I flew up to surprise her for the Aaron Watson concert and some sister time! We had a BLAST! I am definitely excited to be home to my sweet husband, puppy, and my 19 little monsters that I missed today! 

Here's a picture of my sister and I! Please excuse the eyebrows...whoa, hahaha...

Anyway, I thought I would do a short little post about one of the most powerful tools I have used this year! If you try it, and give it time to work, I promise it will make a huge difference in the way your classroom runs! 

So a little background...our summer reading from my district was the book Teach Like a Champion. 

If we're being real here, I will tell you this book is NOT my style. I am not the kind of teacher that shoots out commands...to be honest, when I first started reading it, I felt like a drill seargent! BUT...implementing it wasn't optional, so I figured I would do my best to use it in my room. There are tons (49 to be exact) strategies to implement, but these are some of my favorites. I do feel like this book is geared towards older kiddos...especially middle school and high school. BUT some...like the ones below...are applicable in absolutely any classroom. 

No Opt Out means a kiddo can't say "I don't know." They can ask for help...they can ask a friend. But ultimately, they should give the correct answer. The way I implement is a kiddo can say "Can I get some help?" and I call on another friend to answer. THEN (and this is super important) I go back to the original student and ask them to restate the correct answer. 

100% made me go "yeah right...come on..." when I read it. The expectation is that 100% of your students comply to your directive. To be honest, this year, I have a sweet little friend on a BIP and sometimes he just does not comply, hhahah. But he is a special circumstance, and my kiddos KNOW they all must "do it right or do it again." 

What To Do is giving very specific and understandable instructions. 

"Class, take out a pencil and your math notebook. Then put your head down and sit at a level 0." It tells them EXACTLY what to do and HOW to do it. 

Format Matters is SOO important. My sweet friend Christina Decarbo is the QUEEN of oral language, so I am so not the go to for this! But, I have tried really hard to have my students answer my questions in complete sentences. The right answer is great...but the right answer is a complete sentence is better! 

So...now on to "Do it Again." Like I said, the expectation is 100% compliance. SOO...if we are walking down the hall, and 2 sweet friends start jumping over the white squares becaause they are lava...they do it again. Sometimes the whole class does it, but usually the few students who need the extra practice do it again. 

At the beginning of the year, I believe you should explicitly teach and practice routines over and over...like so many times you want to punch something. But that is the way to ensure our little guys know exactly what is expected of them. If they don't do it right, I don't take away a point or anything like that...the consequence is "do it again and do it better." If they don't do it better, they do it again. Here are some times I implement it a LOT because it's times that I need their focus and attention so we can transition smoothly. 

I believe Do It Again works for several reasons. I truly believe that consequencces should be as natural as possible. If you break something, you have to fix it. If you hurt someone, you write an apology note. For things like walking down the hallway silently, it's hard to come up with something "natural," but I think "do it again" is pretty close! 

I present it like "oh...I think we forgot how to walk. Can we do it again so our bodies get even better at it?" It's all about muscle memory and practicing the RIGHT way over and over. 

I wanted to share one thing that has worked REALLY well this year. Each time we transition, we have a very specific way of doing it. 

I call out each step, and we ALL do it together. If we don't, we do it again. :) 

I hate talking about consequences...like really hate it. I try very, very hard to teach my kiddos WHY I ask them to do things and show them the correct way so I don't have to do it very often. But when I do, I always try to give consequences that aren't humiliating or ruin their entire day. I truly believe that "do it again" is the most powerful and EASIEST consequence I have ever used in my class! :) 

I'm curious if any of you have read Teach Like a Champion!? Comment with your favorite strategy if you have!  

Learning the Rules!

Hi Friends... Anna here from Simply Skilled in Second. Thanks so much for stopping by today! This is my last full week of summer and then the chaos school begins on September 2nd!  :) 

Even though I am on summer break, I LOVE using my time to "THINK" about school and create new activities and lessons that I will use in my classroom with my students.

One of the MOST IMPORTANT things that I work on with my students is creating and learning the rules of the classroom!  This is something we review all of the time and even refer back to our Behavior Anchor Chart throughout the year.

On the first day of school, I read the story called Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes.  It is one of my favorites to read to my class.

After I read the story to them, we always brainstorm ideas of how our classroom can stay safe, fun, and happy for everyone in it.  And so begins the creation of our Classroom Rules!  I allow my students to create the rules and I ensure that I word them in a positive way.  For example, we might write....Share with your friends... Work quietly.... Raise your hand to speak, etc.  I never word them with negative words like... Don't talk during independent work....or  Don't kick or hit your friends, etc.  We also state our rules in a positive way!  

There is also on other aspect that I add to creating the classroom rules.  I always tell the students that I have one rule for myself that I never.. EVER.. break.  They are very curious to know what this rule is... and I make it a pretty big deal.  I tell my students that I will NEVER.... EVER.. EVER yell at them.  You should see the expressions on their face when I tell them that....and the silence int the room is deafening.  The look of confusion with a mixture of pure happiness is really funny :)  They always ask me a ton of questions about my rule and always ask me if I break my rule ever.. and they literally don't believe me when I tell them I have never broken my rule!  I shared my ideas on what I do the first day of school with Teachers Pay Teachers and they featured me on the blog today!!!  Check it out here....

I am always looking for a FUN way to have my students learn and write about the new classroom rules that we will be following throughout the year...and of course..it is going to be done using a flip flap book!  This will be the first one my students do on the first day of school!  I can't wait to show it to them...well..maybe I can wait a bit longer :)  LOL

Here is a tiny peek to what's in store for your little ones as they work through my

School Rules Flip Flap Book!

This summer I also made one of my Tab-Its for the School Rules as well... just to change it up a bit.  I don't like doing the same thing year after year so I try to change it up every now and then.

Here is my School Rules Tab-Its that fit in your Interactive Notebooks.

So....if you are getting ready to go back to school or are just "THINKING" about school, take a peek at my School Rules Flip Flap Book and School Rules Tab-Its to add a little fun to your

Rule Making Mojo :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Hugs.