Tried It Tuesday

It's Tuesday, so I'm linking up with my bloggy buddy Holly at Fourth Grade Flipper.  She has so many great ideas and is always willing to share....gotta love wonderful people like her.     Today I'm going to share how I handle using a clip chart in my classroom.  I know that a lot of you use clip charts and I have to say that I've tried it and just never seemed to keep up with it.  I mean it was on my chalkboard for the entire room to see and I just didn't like that part.    So since I moved to my current smaller room last summer, I knew that I wanted to use a clip chart but I had to tweak it.  How did I tweak it???  Well...   Number 1 I didn't put it on my chalkboard (I didn't have the room on my chalkboard and I didn't want it front and center).  I glued ribbon on to the back of it and hung it on a wall using a 3M hanger in what was dead space on the wall.    

Here is a picture of it hanging on the wall...before the numbers went up.  Since my theme was mystery this year, it matched that theme.

 

  Number 2 I used cute polka dot numbers, not names, that I sticky tacked to the wall.  The numbers are assigned by their class number.  I can still see who has moved up and who has moved down, but people coming into our classroom don't know who is where.    I used calendar days that were polka dotted to match my classroom.  Super cute, huh?       Number 3

 I move more students up on my chart than down.  I find that if the majority of the class is behaving nicely, all it takes is to move everyone up and instantly the whole class is being good.  Then if I have to move someone down it isn't too far down.  I also put a "special jewel" on their number when they go up on the chart and stay there all day long.  They LOVE these jewels, even the boys.  I am going to let them take home their numbers at the end of the year.

    I have all different colors that I use all year long.       Number 4 On the advice of my 7 year old son, he has convinced me to add another color going up.  He said it will make my students go up more often than going down.  I took his advice, so we will have to see what happens next year.  And if you follow my blog, you know that I change my class theme EVERY year, so instead of the mystery theme it will be a fruit theme.  

This is what the header will look like.  I'm still working on the chart itself.  I will post about that when I have finished it. 

    Number 5 I have my students color in what color they ended up on in their student planners every day.  This way the parents know each day how their child is behaving.  This has been a great addition to my behavior management.  Now if a parent acts surprised by their child's behavior all I have to say is, have you seen their behavior calendar?            Here are the ones I made for his year.  I'll be updating them for next school year over the summer.     And that is how I have tweaked the typical clip chart behavior to fit my classroom's needs.

Tried It Tuesday

I'm linking up with my good bloggy friend Holly again from Fourth Grade Flipper for her weekly Tried It Tuesday linky. 

This time I'm going to share something that is working in my class for classroom job rotation.  I made this super cute chart for my mystery themed classroom this year. 

I used to be in a different classroom where I could use a bulletin board to staple my jobs and their names onto.  But since I moved to a smaller classroom with less bulletin board space, I had to switch how I could display it.  So...here is what I came up with.

If you click on the picture, it will take you to my original

blog post showing it up on my wall.

 

I made little magnifying glasses with the student's names on them.  I have Velcro on the backs of the magnifying glasses and on the chart.  I glued ribbon on the back and used a 3M hanger on the wall.  It is the easiest job board I've ever used.  And it took up some wall space that I probably wouldn't have used before.

I change jobs every two weeks, so I just pull off the old names on the magnifying glasses and stick on the new ones.  I have a cute black polka dot bag that matches the ribbon on the chart where I keep the extra magnifying glasses.  It is so easy to change and keep up with, and no staples!

I am doing a fruit theme next school year and I am already working on stuff for my classroom.  I saw this adorable trimmer that was being discontinued from Creative Teaching Press and I thought ..oh my goodness is this adorable.  So...my new classroom theme was picked. 

I have it made already, but I don't have it laminated and put together yet.   I will post pictures when I have it cut out.

What do you think, crazy with the fruit, huh???  What theme are you doing next school year?

Vocabulary Treasure Hunting In Action - Tried it Tuesday

I'm linking up with Holly again from Fourth Grade Flipper for her weekly Tried It Tuesday linky. 

 

 

I wanted to share how my Vocabulary Treasure was working out.  If you want to read my original post about how it works, click here and it will take you there.

 

 

 

The students fill out the form when they find a new or interesting vocabulary word.  They can choose a word from any subject area.  I then choose one each time and tape it to the board.

 

 

 

Here is a close up of the form they fill out.

 



They are really enjoying this.  It took awhile for them to want to fill out the forms.  Then I decided to bribe I mean entice them to fill it out by giving them a warm fuzzy and PBIS tickets.  Now they fill them out all the time!

It was a great way to get my kiddos more involved in vocabulary throughout the subject areas.  And I actually had to tell them they cannot fill out a paper WHILE I am teaching!  :)

Tried it Tuesday

First I have to post this picture I found on Facebook this morning...

I'm linking up with Holly again from Fourth Grade Flipper for her weekly Tried It Tuesday linky. 

This time I'm going to share something that is working in my class.  This is my Wonder Wall that I made this summer.

 

I use it after I teach a new topic.  I ask the kiddos what they are still wondering about with the topic or something they learned about the topic.  I use this as a group activity.  The do a Think-Pair-Share but with the four of them that they are sitting with.  I make sure my seating arrangement includes different abilities in each group.

After each member in the group share something about the topic, they have to pick what they want to write on their post it note.  Once they agree on what to write, they can write it. 

Then we share them all with the class.  This is a great way to check understanding of the topic and to see if I need to reteach or expand the lesson.

Go link up with Holly and see some other fantastic ideas!

Tried It Tuesday Linky

I'm linking up with Holly from Fourth Grade Flipper for her weekly Tried It Tuesday linky. 

This time I'm going to share what I do for Homework.  In my school district, starting in third grade, students loose points for not turning in homework.  If it is late one day, they loose 10 points off of the assignment.  If it is later than 1 day it is a 0. 

I don't usually take a grade for homework, but I do count it for a final grade each quarter.  In other words in each subject, if a student turned in all their homework they will receive 100 % for that subject for their homework grade.  If they miss one assignment during the quarter, they will receive a 90 and so on...

To motivate my students to turn in their homework, I use Super Homework Heroes.

This is my bulletin board where I have signs up for each quarter. 



This is a close up of the poster for the 1st quarter.
 

If a student missed no assignments for the quarter, they get 5 PBIS tickets and a reward card for a prize.  If they missed 1 assignment they receive 3 PBIS tickets.  And if they missed 2 assignments they receive 2 PBIS tickets.

This is really working!  My students want to be Super Heroes, so they want their name on this board. I also send home a note to their parents with their report cards to show them how many missing assignments they had. 

I use to just use a chart to mark off their missing assignments.  Now since I put up this bulletin board I have less missing assignments.  YEAH!

Now go link up.  There are so many wonderful bloggers who share their awesome tips!  :)