I am so thankful to all of my blog friends that have pitched in to keep my blog company while I’m out of the country. You are in for a special treat from my friend Molly! <3 Elizabeth
My name is Molly and I’m a first grade teacher in the Bay Area. I usually blog over at Lucky to Be in First about the adventures in my first grade class. I am crazy about Sperry Top Siders, peanut butter M&Ms and spending time with my family!
I am SO jealous Elizabeth is on vacation in my favorite place! If you haven’t been there {or don’t have Dublin on your bucket list} you must visit! Sadly, she wouldn’t take me with her, so she offered me up the next best thing…being a guest blogger!
Today, I wanted to share a few classroom management ideas that have worked in my own classroom. This year was definitely one of the more challenging classes I’ve had in my ten years! I had to dig very deep into my Mary Poppins bag of tricks to keep this class motivated!
In the middle of this year, I changed my behavior system from the pull-a-card to the Step Up Clip Chart I never thought I would make such a huge change in the middle of a school year, but desperate times…
If you’re not familiar with the concept, here’s a quick rundown. Kids all begin their day in the middle of the chart. Good choices move you up. Bad choices move you down. The goal is to get up to the top each day. If they are successful, they earn a star. After five stars, they earn a red clip {that they are allowed to paint themselves!} Once they get five stars on the red clip, they move onto orange and so on. This system has made such an incredible difference in their behavior and I highly recommend it! I love how fluid the system is.
Unfortunately, sometimes kids make some questionable choices {You seriously thought it was a good idea to pull his pants down?!} So, when outrageous behavior does occur and you have yourself scratching your head, you can turn to the Think Sheet!
Click on the picture to snag a copy!
When kids make a poor choice, I ask them to reflect on their behavior. Once completed, it gets sent home to be reviewed and returned the following day.
Another extension of this new behavior system is our Student Shout Out Corner. I saw Heidi’s original idea on Pinterest had to create my very own!
To introduce this concept, our class had a fabulous discussion on the importance of recognizing outstanding friends in an anonymous way. We discussed sharing positive statements and compliments about each other. We chatted about how good it feels when someone points out something incredible you’ve done. Of course, we had to discuss that it’s not just about writing what a great friend someone is or that you like their newest Pokemon card — it’s about complimenting your friend for something they did for you {or others} that made you happy to be their friend.
It’s been really fun to see what the kids write to one another!
Click on the picture below snag your own copy of the Student Shout Outs!
Hope you can use some of these ideas! If you get a chance, I’d love you to pop on over!
Slainte!
