Ask and You Shall Receive...a FREEBIE!!

Remember when I posted about how I use Class Dojo in my classroom and I shared my Class Dojo Rewards Menu (pictured above)? Well if you don't, you can find that post HERE.

Well anyways, my pin of my Class Dojo Rewards Menu BLEW UP! At least, that's blowing up to me. See below:

Well since that post, I have had TONS of requests to make it editable. Ask and you shall receive, people! I finally got a free minute to make an editable version of my rewards menu! And I'm going to give it to you FOR FREEEEEEE!!!

In this freebie, I offer you two varieties of my Dojo Rewards Menu that you can edit to fit your needs! The first version is a completely blank chart (except for title) where you can add your own text. The second version has the point values added in and all you have to do is add the reward to correspond with the value. 

If you are wondering, the font used on my original menu and used on the values on the editable file is from my all time favorite font artist (is that a thing?), Kimberly Geswein! It's called KG Miss Kindergarten and you can download it for free HERE. 

To download the editable file, click the picture above (you'll need PowerPoint to edit it)! I hope you LOVE it!!

I know it's been a long time since I've posted and I promise I have a lot of posts in the works that you are going to love!! Be on the lookout for more fun posts in the coming weeks!

Happy Back to School Season, y'all!!

Summer Series: Beautiful Behavior and a FREEBIE!

Today I'm linking up with Delightfully Dedicated to talk about behavior management! Make sure to check out all the other fabulous teachers that have linked up!

 My behavior management plan grew a lot after my first year of teaching. I learned pretty quickly what worked and what didn't work. This is what I did last year:

First and foremost, I used Whole Brain teaching's classroom rules. I read the book before my first year of teaching and fell in LOVE!!

Whole brain teaching has 5 class rules: 

1. Follow directions quickly.

2. Raise your hand for permission to speak.

3. Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat.

4. Make smart choices!

5. Keep your dear teacher happy!

I just love these rules because everything falls under one rule or another. "Keep your dear teacher happy" and "make smart choices" goes a long way! 

Plus, the rules have fun hand-motions to go along with them and my third graders LOVED THEM! Seriously, I really recommend reading this book if you haven't yet.

I used Stephanie from 3rd Grade Thoughts' posters to post the rules in my classroom. Check them out HERE!

When I wanted the attention of the whole class, I used the 'Class-Yes' callback from Whole Brain Teaching. It works like a charm every time! I add a little extra incentive to doing the callback right the first time. Because I was departmentalized and had 3 classes, I created a little class competition which my students loved (inspired by Whole Brain Teaching)! If they all responded quickly and quietly, the class got a happy face. If they didn't respond quickly or quietly, the class got a sad face. At the end of the day, I would tally up the class points and record it on our class competition chart. At the end of the month, the class with the most points got a reward (usually extra recess or a homework pass). Below are my charts that I used for class competition!

This picture ties into my next aspect of behavior management: Class Dojo! Now, I'm sooooo obsessed with Class Dojo (as were my students). Class Dojo was especially helpful for students who couldn't seem to get it together with just the class rules. 

Class Dojo is a fun little tool that allows you to create an avatar for each student. If a student is misbehaving, you can give them a negative Dojo point. You can customize the behaviors you want to use!

 If they are going above and beyond, you can give them a positive Dojo point.

 I liked to keep my Dojo points on the positive side so I rarely ever gave negatives. Usually all I had to do was say, "I just love the way Sally is sitting so quietly waiting for directions. I'm going to give her a positive Dojo!" This would cause little Johnny who is swinging from the ceiling fan to pop to attention in his chair so that he can get a positive Dojo point, too!

The cool thing about Class Dojo is that it gives you a handy chart to track students' behavior. This chart was awesome for RtI meetings and parent conferences!

I added a little incentive to getting positive Dojo points in my class. I created a Class Dojo rewards menu so my students could trade their points in every other week. Students could either save their points or trade them in for a treat. I was so impressed with how many of my students saved their points for larger rewards! Teaching responsibility and money-saving skills early!

And now, I have a freebie for you!! It's my Class Dojo Rewards poster! You can hang this in your room and allow students to trade in their Class Dojo points! Click the picture below to download it!

*******UPDATE*******

After many, many requests, I have created an editable version of my popular Class Dojo Rewards Menu! You can find it HERE! Enjoy!

Well, there you have it! My behavior management plan in a nutshell! How do you manage behavior in your classroom??

Maintaining My Sanity During the Last Few Weeks of School

Summer Lovin'....

...had me a blast!

This will be my face on the last day of school:

OH.MY.HEAVENS.

Summer is so close I can almost reach out and grab it!!!!!

We have 9 more school days (with students). NINE!!! SINGLE DIGITS!!

The end of this school year is a pretty big deal for me because we are moving to Little Rock as soon as school is out! On to new adventures!

AND...

We're expecting our first child in August!!!

It's going to be a big summer for us!

Now to just maintain my sanity for 2 more weeks!

One way I plan to do that, is by making class funny. I love humor. Who doesn't?? It makes me feel better.

Last week I found this meme and showed it to all three of my classes and told them that I didn't want to have to be Grumpy Cat. Some laughed. Some were scared. HA!

Now when I give kids this face for talking while I'm talking, some smart aleck always says, "Oh! You just got the Grumpy Cat."

I then give them the Grumpy Cat. And try my hardest not to laugh. It never works out.

So on with my plan to save my sanity during these last two weeks.

The biggest part of my plan...

KEEP THOSE KIDS BUSY!

I learned last year that if the kids aren't busy, they turn into gremlins that you fed past midnight.

Rookie mistake, I know.

That will not happen this year! No way, no how.

First of all, we are going to continue doing our Early Bird morning work until the.very.last.day.of.school.

Yup. We totally are. It keeps them engaged with a productive activity during the morning and it's good review for language! Never would I have thought that my Early Bird Work would serve as a classroom management tool but it totally is during these last few weeks! 

We'll also be doing a ton of activities out of my End of the Year Activities Pack! 

Seriously. Like every activity. We're doing it. 

We're gonna do word searches, letters to our future teachers, letters to the incoming 3rd graders, making words, acrostic poems, a big fat memory book, and so much more!!

I may have already started my own memory book to share with the kids...

#notashamed

Also saving my life during these last few weeks...

Class Dojo!

Now if you don't know what Class Dojo is, it is a classroom management tool that allows you to create little monster avatars for each of your students. You can then reward them for good behavior with positive dojo points or you can punish them for bad behavior with negative dojo points. I like to use the positive points more (keepin' it positive, y'all).

I can honestly say that my students have not lost interest in Class Dojo once this year! They are so in love with getting points! When they start to become little wild things, all I have to do is take out my iPad and say, "I'm going to give so-and-so a positive dojo for not running around like a little wild thing." And immediately, they all get super quiet, sit up straight, and stare straight at me. LOVE IT!

And then the last bit of wonderfulness that is going to save my sanity during these last two weeks...

GONOODLE!

Now if you don't know what GoNoodle is, you need to come out from under your rock and check this website out! Seriously. Everyone uses it and blogs about it and instagrams it because it is awesome! It's a website completely dedicated to brain breaks for the classroom and they are FABULOUS!

Pretty sure my students and I both could Pop See Ko all day long if I allowed it...

And there you have it folks.

How I plan on not losing my mind during the few weeks before summer!

And in 9 days, this will be me...

We're in the home stretch guys...

YOU CAN DO IT!!!