My Super Secret Sanity Saver

I wanted to share a new classroom management that have absolutely saved my sanity these past few weeks! They force me to focus more on the positive behavior I see throughout the day, and give me a way to calmly redirect the class. I'm so pleased with how my students have reacted and embraced our new procedures, and thrilled with how easy they are to add into our day.

Super Secret Student!

Last year I made a few bottle cap math games, and my students went nuts collecting bottle caps every day... as a result, I have approximately a million stocked up. Every student in class has a number that they use to label their papers, count off, etc., and I wrote each of their numbers on a bottle cap. Then I beautified a coffee can, which I also have a plethora of, to store the caps in. The Super Secret Student can sits on my desk, and I make a big show of pulling out one cap each morning, contemplating the number written on the cap, and then putting it in my pocket for the day. At the end of the day, if that student had a wonderful day, I give them a cute little certificate to take home. If not, I just share that today our secret student didn't have the best day, and that hopefully tomorrow will be better. Either way, the student's cap goes back into the can at the end of the day- that means they have the same chance of being the SSS the next day as every other student! 

I'm going to be honest here, I am a little sneaky about it. The first two days, I purposely picked out students who have consistently fabulous behavior and needed a little attention- we talked as a class about the great things that they did throughout the day to deserve a Super Secret Student Certificate. They felt good about themselves, positive behavior was reinforced, and we ended the day on a positive note. We also had a day when the SSS did NOT receive a certificate. The next day, they were all on their best behavior! I also 

Here's my favorite example of how it's worked so far: We are in the midst of rehearsals for our Winter Concert, and I have an incredibly chatty class. The day our SSS didn't get celebrated was because the whole class was beyond crazy and chatty on the stage, poking each other, turning around... Ugh. It wasn't only our class, but still... Anyways, the next day not a single one of them talked or messed around on stage- even when another student tried to talk to my most chatty kiddo, he stayed perfectly perfect and ready to sing. I was blown away! Needless to say, we celebrated when we returned to the classroom.

You can pick up a free copy of the award certificate by clicking here!