Today I am linking up with Miss V and Mrs. D for their Back to School Blogging. :)
The topic this week was classroom management. This is something that has taken me a long time to "perfect", but then every year when the class changes it needs to be tweaked. It is also something that I feel that no one can "teach" you. It is just something you learn and adapt what works for you and your personality as you start teaching! However, THIS year I am doing something COMPLETELY different though since I will be teaching middle school, so details on that to come. :)
I wish that I had pictures of everything, but I don't. Boo. Anyhow, I used a classroom economy. I had a clip chart, and students earned stickers on their clips every day that they were on outstanding.
Another thing I implemented with the clip chart was if they were NOT on outstanding at the end of the day, they could ask me why if they felt that they WERE outstanding. This worked well for me because sometimes it just gets so busy in a school day that it's easy to not always remember to keep clipping up.
For every 10 stickers that they earned they received a reward. For example, 10 stickers earned them a necklace. Every 10 stickers after that they earned a character trait charm which I ordered from Fitness Finders. They also got to place their fully stickered (that should be a word) clip on their necklace, too which was like bragging rights. Also, once they hit big milestones like 50 days or 100 days they earned something big. For example, 50 days was a little trophy for their desk. I also rewarded them with Bird Bucks.
I made money called Bird Bucks (since our classroom theme was owls-I have also used Sand Dollars and Critter Cash in the past), and the students could earn them for ALL sorts of things! They saved them up all week and on Friday's they could make purchases. They kept the list below in their H.O.O.T. take home folder so they could look at it to decide what they wanted to buy.
The list is on my TPT website for FREE, so just click on the picture above if you would like to take a better look. :) Best part about most of them is they don't cost me ANYTHING!
If students end up choosing to break a rule I use a thing called a "think sheet" which makes the students reflect on the rule that they chose to break, why they chose to, and what they can do differently next time. I like this because it also leaves me a paper trail!
I also am BIG on going over the rules and procedures at the beginning of the year, as in taking a week or more to really make sure they know the expectations, and PRACTICING things that they don't do the correct way. For example, if it's time for recess and my students don't line up quietly, we do it again. It sounds kind of mean, but it really only takes once or twice to practice before they know you mean business. :)
I also have my STUDENTS teach each other about the classroom procedures, and THEY make the student handbook. I just give them a question such as "what is the procedure for..." and they finish it. This will be available in my TPT store sometime early on this week...as always I will Flash Freebie it first to my Facebook fans, so if you haven't headed over to my page, PLEASE DO. :) So far it's up to 30 pages, and I am still making sure I didn't forget anything! It's the same one I've used in the past, but I have needed to fancify (yet another word that should be a word!) it before I share it. Even though I won't be in fourth grade next year, my hubby will so he can use it, too!:)
I hope that this gives you some new ideas to try!! I can't wait to read what every one else has to share!
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