Best Behavior Update

My foster Boss went to his first day of doggie school today. The hardest command, "stand up!"
There was even a man with a monkey, yep a monkey. He was still on his best behavior. If he were in my class he would get a 5!

So here is my update on the special area behavior plan.
I also finally put my reflections forms on my Google Drive so you can get them here.

Instead of letting each student earn individual points (we were worried this would be tooooo much work for the entire school) we decided to let the class earn points as a whole. We will still use Class Dojo for individual students and the consequences will still be a three step process.

So here's how the new system works.

Each class starts on out entering the room on a 3. They can clip up by showing respect, responsible behavior, and safety. They can also clip down if the majority is off -task, being rude, etc.
At the end of each class they get a mark on our chart (some of our more competitive classes love to see if they can beat the other grade levels.) If they get 5 five's they get a whole class reward. For example: barefoot day, watch a book trailer, play a game on the smart board, free reading/drawing for 10 mintues, read the book of their choose, etc.

So far it's off to a great start.

Top Dog Classrooms

Slowly, but surely I am trying to take pictures of my favorite classrooms. I have an old Kodak EasyShare so sorry about the quality.

My office is coming along.

My quote board.

Where in the world is Flat Stouie?

My board. The start chart is for behavior.

Noise level expectations.

End the "Do we need? Can we use?" questions. 

Special area behavior chart. Each class earns a score at the end of each class. When they get 5 5's they get a special treat.

 These are from a first grade classroom. It's dog themed as well so of course I love it.

In the hallway. Great for me when I go to get a student and the class is gone.

An easy way to display work in the hallway. The bag stays up all year and you can easily slide papers in and out. No staples!

Standards listed by the work.

Special area schedule. Visual schedules are a must.

Adorable bulletin board to show off work.

First Grade Expectations are listed on the wall.

Parts of speech.

My Favorite Classrooms

Dr. Ray has one of my favorite rooms at DSRR. Everywhere you look there is something great. I snuck in today to take pictures, but didn't get a chance to finish. Here are the first images. More to come.

Love this way to displaying important info, pictures, etc.  The wire totally goes with her theme.

Dr. Ray is a huge music lover so it's totally fitting that she uses guitar picks with numbers for her students to check in. 

Best teacher ever right.

Need to get your students attention? In her room she says "Johnny" they say "Cash."

I just love this lamp. It's one of those hidden treasures. 

Stay tuned as I share my favorite classrooms in the building, so we can beg, borrow, and steal some awesome ideas.

Flat Stouie

Our Flat Stouie project was a huge summer success check it out!

You Will Be My Friend

Yesterday at a request of a second grade teacher I did a pop in lesson on making friends.
She has a new student who is struggling to make friends and we have several that could always use the social skills practice so here's what I did:

First we read "You Will Be My Friend" by Peter Brown.

We spent a lot time talking about the title: why did it end with an "!"?, what would you change?, what words would you switch?, etc.

 At the end of the book we brainstormed ways to introduce yourself to a new person, ways you could make friends, times you might need to make a new friend, etc.

To end we played Quiz- Quiz Trade. The game came from my new assistant principal and she was kind enough to share the directions and sample cards with us. Here's how the game works:

Website

Hi all,
Many of my links were to my school website, but last week the school system decided to use a new website provider. This means my old website is gone =(

If you need anything just send me an e-mail and I'll be working hard on a brand new school site.

Using Loyalty Cards!

Last year I discussed the idea of branding your program. It has been a huge success for me. Not only do I have fun, but it's a great way to subconsciously show just how school wide my program is. One of the cheapest, easiest resources I have used is Vistaprint.  They are fast, cheap, and have lots to choose from.

I especially love their loyalty cards. You can do so much with them. See:

Each individual student I see gets a reminder card. I put them in the teacher's box so they remember too!

In the first blank box I will write the date of the first meeting. Then at the end of each session we write the date for the next time we will meet. Doing it at the end helps them remember the meeting date and helps me if there is a last minute date change. They also use it as a hall pass to see me.  

This is one of my favorite uses. I use it with all ages. My favorite way to use it is through consultation with teachers. It's fantastic for student's whose behavior isn't ideal, my ASD, ADHD students, etc. I use it as a punch card. I encourage the teachers to create by in by punching the card every time they see the students do anything great the first few weeks. Ideally they can complete an entire card in say three days. The early success helps with the buy-in as we make the goal harder and harder. They may get anything as a reward: gum, certificate, note home to parent, whatever. Then we make it harder and harder and the goal more challenging so eventually they are used weekly. You won't spend more than $20 on 250 cards so don't worry about running out.