Promoting Good Vibes Between Students

I'll admit it: I love my class this year. We have our issues as a group (we've had to ban Pokemon cards as they caused too much fighting), but overall, I have a group of sweet, funny, interesting little ones to spend each day with. To make it even better, they like each other! They enjoy each other's company, and though they all have good friends, I love seeing how they mix themselves up with groups and partners. 

Back in October we celebrated Anti Bullying Month in many ways, but one was reward based. Students from every grade earned "Gotcha" tickets when they were spotted doing something exceptionally kind. These tickets could be turned in at the end of the week for tickets to our annual Halloween Festival. The students were thrilled that their kind deeds were being rewarded and started going out of their way to help one another. But that wasn't the best part: The started "tattling" on each other. No, I don't mean the way all of us dread, but they started coming to me to share when someone was extra kind to them. Though the ticket system has ended, the culture of noticing kindness has remained. Here are a few ways we continue to promote good vibes between students in our room:

The Graffiti Wall

Underneath the writing center table is a coveted work space for my students, but we made it an even more highly used space when we covered the back wall with chart paper. Students use this space to record the great things their classmates have done. I modeled the first when my students were extra helpful when I lost my voice (teacher nightmare), and sometimes let students know to check when I notice that someone wrote something new about them.  I love reading the sweet notes they write to each other, which range from helping to pick up new supplies, being a good partner, or someone who reached out to play with a new friend. The best part is how happy they are to be noticed for something good by their peers- seeing their happy faces brings me so much joy!

Super Secret Student

I wrote about choosing a Super Secret Student in another post, but want to share how we use this to promote good vibes. Last year, I would announce the SSS at the end of the day, and we would applaud for their great work. This year, we guess. We spend the last few minutes of the day holding a Closing Meeting, and a big part of this is trying to guess who the Secret Student was. There are rules- they have to tell why they think the person they're guessing, and it can't be a reason like, "You looked at them in line." 

The conversation tends to go something like this: "I think it was Martina because she helped me carry my books to Italian class when they were too heavy," "Well I think it was Neev because when we were partners he was kind to me even when I had the wrong answer, and helped me figure out why," "I think it was Tiara because she asked me to play with her at recess when I couldn't find my friends," "It was probably Riccardo because he was so quiet in the hall." 

Yes, it gets repetitive every day. They notice the same bunch of things. However, when one person says something great about another, they tend to reciprocate by sharing why they think the other person was actually the SSS, as well as another guess. When someone finally guesses the Secret Student, I'll say something like, "Hmmm... can anyone else think of a reason they might be it?" At this point, they know that they are talking about the real Secret Student, and everyone wants to chime in about how they knew it all along. Though the SSS feels great about themselves, everyone gets a little compliment throughout the week, and feels special that someone noticed how great they'd been. If you're wondering, NO, they don't only guess their best friends. Somehow the fact that it could be anyone makes them think about their classmates outside their closest buddies. 

Birthday Compliments and Appreciations

On birthdays, we try to make the day as special as possible in our classroom. This includes the birthday boy or girl choosing the morning meeting greeting and activity, and getting to choose a few languages for us to sing to them in (we are trying to learn the other languages of our classmates so they get to also pick between English, Italian, Korean, Spanish, French, Danish, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and Persian). 

The best part for me is "Compliments and Appreciations." We sit in our circle, and they get to call on classmates who have their hand up to give them a compliment or appreciation. A compliment is praise or admiration for something we like about the person- we talk about how these aren't physical ("You're so pretty, or, "I like your clothes"), but need to go deeper. Appreciations are when they recognize the great things about someone, or the things that they've done. Compliments come naturally, but appreciations can take time. Help them to see the distinction with daily interactions, such as, "I want to compliment all of your hard work! I really appreciate how you took the time to read each question carefully before answering," or, "Wow! You were really kind during snack time. I'm sure Bianca appreciated how you shared with her."

So, that's how we promote the good vibes in our room. It doesn't take much time out of the day, and helps the room to run smoothly. When students trust each other and feel good about themselves, they're willing to take risks and try things they might not otherwise.

This one breaks my heart. It is from one of my Korean students (brand new to English
last Spring), whose mother passed away suddenly last year. Luna "adopted" her for the
Thanksgiving lunch our school invites families to when Bella's family couldn't make it.
It gives them an outlet to share their appreciations, and let their classmates know
that nothing goes unnoticed. 

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!

Monday Made It: Welcome to the SEO

Eeeeee! I'm so excited about my Monday Made It this week, even if it's mostly an idea!

Last year I found the website PowToon and fell in love with the amazing presentations you can create. They are such a creative way to deliver content! Anyways, one of their templates was especially appealing to me, and I thought would be for fourth graders too, but I couldn't figure out how to use it. I have now, though!

I used the Mission template to create a short video that I'll introduce my students to in the first few weeks of school. It welcomes them to the "SEO" (Secret Education Organization) and explains that they're looking for a class to add to their mission team, who is in search of an important code/password. Each mission requires team work, but will ONLY be delivered when the class is exceptionally well behaved. The first mission will probably be a getting-to-know-you exercise. Maybe an application or a letter convincing the SEO to accept our class as part of their team?

I haven't officially decided on the code yet, but the plan is that for each mission students complete, they'll earn a letter. I have three ideas for what the code will be:

1. The first location to a scavenger hunt (Under the Slide) 
2. The name of a reward of some sort (Snack Outside Today)
3. Genius Hour (we'll start when they finish)

Missions will be anything I do in class, just introduced ahead of time in a fun way. They can be simple or a little more involved:

1. Determine the theme of [given picture book]; the third letter in the theme is the third letter in the code
2. Create an argument for and against using solar energy (give a letter after with a note from the SEO thanking students for their advice)
3. Find all factors of 42. The fourth factor's associated letter is the first letter in our code.
4. Reach the 6th level of Code.org. Count the number of steps you need to take. The associated letter is the 6th letter of the code.

I guess all of my ideas so far are associated letter ideas... I'll have to keep coming up with new ones :) I'm so unbelievably excited about this!!! It's just something silly, but I hope it adds a little more excitement to our days and encourages a positive work environment. I think it could work in well with STEM challenges, too!

Monday Made It! Student Planner and Monster Math

I am OBSESSED with planners. I love decorating and doodling in mine, and keep a colorful set of markers handy wherever I go for the purpose of color coding. My first year of teaching, I rewarded myself with a Erin Condren planner, and now as I begin my third year, I've ordered my third and am impatiently waiting for it to arrive (seriously, I've been tracking it for days-- it's currently in Indiana). This year I also ordered the Life Planner and can't wait to have another lovely planner to organize!

That said, I would love to pass on my need for organization to my students, but couldn't find exactly what I wanted. Usually, I give homework on Mondays and collect the following Monday. My students are so busy with after-school activities, family obligations, and travel that it made sense to let them organize their own time. However, many lacked the forethought to spread their work over the week (no matter how many times I stressed the importance of it!) and would come in on Monday with an empty packet and a, "My grandma came over on Sunday and I didn't have time!" excuse. Grrrr!!!

I think I'll use the alien cover this year!

I got the idea to make my own planner from a post by The Ladybug Teacher Files. She posted about using a comb-binding machine to keep her spelling journals, and I fell in love with the sleek look of the spiral comb (I can't stand the traditional comb-bindings! They drive me nuts!), and thought that would be a perfect way to make a planner for each student. After a few days at the computer, I created a printable planner that I think will work well for my students (it's on TPT with all four covers included). 

At the beginning of the planner, I have a few resources my students constantly need: login information (we use Kidblog, Code.org, a class website, and I'm thinking about Biblionasium this year too), a multiplication chart, and a page to record our class rules. Next come monthly calendars. We do a few big projects and usually our team prints out a calendar to keep track of important dates, but now it'll be handy with our other important dates (learning celebrations, concerts, book club dates, due dates, etc.). I think before I make copies I'll write in our school dates. I was also thinking this could be a great get-to-know-you activity if each had to ask each classmate their birthday and record it in their planner. I have a teammate who uses individual calendars with Calendar Math- her students record the day's pattern in their own calendar, and I may do the same! I am obsessed with inspirational quotes, so I put a children's literature quote on each month, too.

I love the quotes and hope my students will too!

Last but certainly not least are the weekly planning pages. These are very tailored to what I've seen my students struggle with. First, recording the date; each day of the week is pre-dated. There is a box for activities, and I'm planning to teach my students to fill this in on Sunday or Monday with their families. There is a big box for homework, but I didn't include subject dividers. My thought there is that I can use the box any way I'd like then. I can assign an exit-ticket style math problem to go along with a flipped classroom video (more to come on my idea for that later!!), a reading response, etc. and have students record directly in the box. I could display the week's homework on the board and have students individually fill out when they'll complete each assignment if I still want homework due on Monday's. I think it'll give me and my students more flexibility!

This is my organizational style- hopefully it works for them too!

I use The 40 Book Challenge in my class, and students are supposed to keep their charts in their portfolios, but a few lost theirs when they brought them home (that's why they stay at school, sillies!). In the planner I included a little box for them to record what they read, how many pages, and how many minutes. I've also included a spot for spelling words. I think if they need to record them themselves rather than me handing out a spelling list, it'll hold me more accountable for meeting with each spelling group to do a word sort on Mondays.

Anyways, I wish my Monday Made-Its were more crafty, but anything I make has to come back with me in a suitcase, so I make plans for my Made-Its, and hopefully can stay organized enough to put them together when I go back to Italy. I can't wait to see how they turn out!!

I also made a monster version of my Math Workshop Rotation Board in primary colors. My previous board was cute little love bugs in pink, purple, turquoise, and green. I'm considering changing my classroom color scheme this year, but we shall see :) This too is on TPT!

Reestablishing Classroom Community After a Break

The first day back at school after two and a half weeks of relaxation and family fun... ahhhhhh. 

If your students are anything like mine, it's a very exciting day where everyone is very excited to see each other, but also a little nutty and restless. With four students still on vacation, and a new student who arrived a week early (I already adore her- she is the sweetest little girl from Saudi Arabia!), I wanted to find a way to ease us back into school routines and expectations, while putting us back into a community frame of mind. 

At the beginning of the year we did an activity that I found on Pinterest (I can't find it again! If you know who originally posted the idea, please let me know so that I can give credit!) and will keep a part of my beginning-of-the-year routine for years to come. Before the students came in I hung posters around the room, each headed with one of the following questions:

1. Our classroom should be ___________ everyday. 
2. School is important because...
3. What should students in our class do to help our class run smoothly?
4. To reach my goals this year, I need to make sure I...
5. What does Miss Streisel need to do to help you learn and grow?

Three of the girls deciding on classroom expectations

We spent some time moving between posters independently with a marker, adding initialed ideas to each poster, and then talked about our ideas before setting our hopes and dreams and our classroom rules. 

Today I brought the posters back out and again hung them around the room. I told them about how much I love the beginning of a new year, my birthday, and a new school year because they're all times to look at where I am, think about what I love about my life, and what new goals I want to set for myself. The same is true for our classroom- a new year is the perfect time to reassess our community and our environment! This time, I told them that they could add a new idea to each poster, or they could find their idea from the beginning of the year and leave themselves a comment. After a little while, two little angel girls came over and told me that they were finished, and asked if they knew who had written certain comments and had seen them do very well on something or work hard on a goal, if they could leave them a 'good job!' message. I love these thoughtful little bambinos (bambini... sorry... I like the sound of bambinos...). Afterwards, we had a great talk about how we'd move forward this year. Hopefully in the next few months, our classroom will become/continue-to-be the joyful, fun, organized, tidy, creative, and kind classroom my students need!

Bright Ideas: When You Need Three Extra Minutes

With last year being my first year teaching, I often found myself needing a few extra minutes to read over a lesson plan, gather materials, or just pull myself together. I found a quick, easy way to keep the kids engaged and give myself those extra few minutes. 

More often than not, my students are anywhere but their desks. We usually meet on the carpet in front of the whiteboard, and when asked to meet, the first question they ask me is always, "Circle, rows, or blob?" Circle is self-explanatory, rows are facing the whiteboard, and blob is usually facing my read-aloud chair. For this activity, I have my students meet in a circle and call on one student to be the teacher. I give my teacher (with the rest of the class listening) a question to reflect on. The teacher has his or her classmates raise their hands to reflect on the question. For my more shy students (or language learners), simply calling on classmates is more than enough of a responsibility. For the leaders of the classroom, they love offering feedback to their classmates. To be considered for the position of teacher next time (this happens a few times a week), students need to behave exactly as they would if their real teacher (me) were a part of the circle. This means raising hands to be called on, staying on topic, and actively listening to their peers. Being the teacher is a highly coveted position, so everyone is typically on best behavior during this activity.

You can have students reflect on anything you want. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. What is one fact you've learned so far about landforms/inventors/explorers/what-ever-your-current-unit-of-study-topic-is?
2. What book are you currently reading?
3. What are the properties of a polygon?
4. What strategy could you use for solving a given math problem?
5. What features might you find in a non-fiction text?
6. What is your CAFE goal or strategy and how are you working towards it?
7. What did we work on yesterday in math?
8. Give one fact you've learned about the Scientist of the Month. 
9. What book are you currently reading? What do you like about it so far?

It is usually an academically based question, but sometimes is also social curriculum related. In our school, we use Responsive Classroom and focus on a value each month, so sometimes the question is based on those ideas.

1. How will you stay balanced this month?
2. What does active listening look like?
3. What went well during our last activity (or recess/art/cleanup/etc.)?
4. What are our classroom rules? Why is that rule important?

Sometimes we also use this time for peaks and valleys or compliments and appreciations. More on those at a later date!