ClassDojo Awards Ceremony

A few years ago, I came across a wonderful classroom management tool: ClassDojo.

For those of you who don't know, ClassDojo is a FREE app for Apple and Droid systems, it's also a website, that helps teachers with classroom management. Students can earn (and lose) points throughout the day based on behavior and classroom achievement, and parents can follow along from their phones or computers.

I love it. My students love it. My parents love it. Basically, there's a lot of love going on.

Well, today I decided to award my students' hard work. It's been a long time coming, I just didn't have the materials to follow through.
So, what's a teacher to do when she wants something done, but doesn't have the materials? She makes them herself!

I'll be the first to admit that, as a teacher, you get used to 3 things: begging, borrowing, and stealing (mostly ideas and staplers, but I've been known to attack a coworker's chocolate stash).  I did use Dojo clipart that another Dojo user had created and shared when creating my Dojo buttons. Thank you,  fellow Dojo user!

I created Dojo "Belt" badges.

Starting with White Belt, all the way to Double Black Belt (Ninja). Not being acquainted with martial arts myself, I was counting on others' knowledge of the belts when I created the buttons.

In order for my students to "Belt Up", they had to achieve 90% or higher for an entire month. For each month they achieve 90% or higher, they will earn the next level of belt! We did this retroactively, so I counted up from September.

I made sashes out of sentence strips to glue the badges on. Students were "belted" by our Assistant Principal, Ms. Anthony. (I even had her wear my kimono! It just seemed right.)

Here are my ClassDojo Belt Earners!

White Belt

Yellow Belt

Orange Belt

Green Belt- so many I had to take 2 pictures!

I'm so proud of my little Ninjas-in-training!  To show off their fabulous-ness, they will get to wear their belts all day Monday! I'm sure everyone in the building will be totes jealous. :)

I also had some students who earned 100% positive for an entire month. They got an extra award!

I know what you wondering- Where are the pictures of Ms. Anthony wearing the fabulous kimono?
Well, she had pictures made with each Team. She's super proud of my kiddos!

Team 1

Team 2

(Side note- my student who isn't wearing a belt in this pic is new, just joined my class 3 days ago. She has a great first week and I'm sure she'll earn a belt at the end of the month!)

Team 3

Team 4

Team 5

I also have my students' levels posted on my wall. (You can find the Belt Level Posters HERE)

Their avatars are labeled and will move along the wall as my students earn their belts!

 

I can't wait till next month when we can do this again! 

Congratulations, Soldiers! 

Keep up the good work!

p.s. I'm a proud ClassDojo Mentor this year! Award for me too!

Compliment Party: Pillow Fight

Part of my classroom management plan is having my students earn class parties. We earn these parties by earning compliments from other teachers, administrators, and visitors to our room/ building.

If you see us in the hallway and we're all in a good looking line- give us a compliment!

If you visit our room and we impress you with our brilliance- give us a compliment!

Over the years, my students have earned pizza parties, ice cream parties, nachos, popcorn and movies, pajama days, and even a nap party. That's right- NAP. My students got to bring a small pillow and/ or small blanket and we had hot chocolate and read a bedtime story during the last 20 minutes of the day.

This year my students came up with another first- a pillow fight. Of course we had to come up with rules.
1. No head shots. Body shots only.
2. No ganging up on one person. (Unless the person asks for it. I had a few volunteers for "chase me!")
3. Watch out for holes in the ground. The last thing we needed were sprained ankles.

So, at 2:15 on Friday we headed out to the field next to the playground, my students found their starting positions, and off they went! They had a blast!

I even got video! ( I had a 4th grade helper)

I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Science Tubs: Made with Units in Mind

This past Monday I had the pleasure of taking a Professional Day to go do something I've wanted to do for at least a year now: take an inventory of science tubs at Barger Academy.

It was a dream come true! (Yes, really!) It all started when I attended the Hamilton County science PDs. (Professional Developments) I also started attending an extra PLN (Professional Learning Network) for elementary science teachers. Susan Dorsa at Barger Academy allowed us the use of her room and equipment.

She has tubs. For everything.  

Great, big tubs full of wonderful science magic and happiness!!

 She would bring a different tub to each of the sessions; each full of materials organized by topic of study. And these tubs are available to the Barger teachers to borrow and use whenever they need. Simply wonderful!

So, my idea was to inventory these tubs to see what makes them so magical, then take the inventory back to my building to see what we can recreate. I know we have the materials floating around the building, it's just a matter of getting them in a central location for classroom consumption.

Below are pictures of what Mrs. Dorsa had. Some of the tubs were for large units, some were for mini lessons, and others held random materials for different lessons. If you'd like a PDF of the materials list, you'll find a link at the bottom of the post.

Space

Sound

Light

Electricity and Circuits

Rocks and Minerals

Bird Beaks: Animal Adaptations

Cell Making

Chemical Reactions 

(This tub was bought, not created. The PDF has links to where you can find the Student Manuals and other activities)

Sea Turtles: Adaptations and Conservation

(The PDF has a copy of a game you can play with your students.)

Food Chains and Food Webs 

(You can find a link to a Food Chain War Game HERE! Leave a comment on this post and I'll send it to you for FREE!!)

Heredity 

(PDF file has link to printable activities)

Inherited vs Acquired

(PDF has a printable version of the game included)

Extra Materials

(full list of extra materials included in the file)

She also had a Magnets tub, but 3rd grade had checked it out. 

I was like a nerdy kid in a science candy store. It was wonderful. I can't wait to share my findings with my school. I would love for  my school to have these kinds of easy-to-access materials. (And I'm just the Type-A personality to get it done!)

Thank you, Mrs. Dorsa for allowing me to invade your space! 

I had a wonderful time!

Want a guide to help you make science tubs? 

Click HERE for a PDF!

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Catching Up

Here we are, starting a new school year, and I'm just NOW blogging my first post! Shame on me!

To be fair, I did start a little late. My first day was right after Labor Day, which is a little funny since I started late due to some hard labor. :)

She's pretty cute though. Totally worth it.

But now I've been at this school thing for a month and I know you're wondering what we're up to. Allow me to catch you up.

We created math equations using popsicle sticks in PE. Here you see the winning team!

We created a new Text Talk poster- "The better to make connections with, my Dear." (Make a text-to-text connection!!)


We did a Mystery Matter experiment! While studying physical properties, I found some liquids that we could describe without being able to use one of the physical properties- color. Students used toothpicks to help them examine the liquids.

 Here you see students filling out their graphic organizers. 

They had to use their 5 senses, yes, including taste, to be able to describe the liquids. I told students that none of the liquids would hurt them, but not all of them were truly edible. In other words, you can take a lick, but not a drink! I had students dip their toothpicks in the Mystery Matter and put it on their fingers, then they could lick their finger. 

 This was our first Mystery Matter that I modeled for the class. It's clear Karo syrup. 

Here's how we described the Karo Syrup.

 Our chart- ready for our observations!

1. Sprite

2. Vinegar

3. Baby Oil

4. Water

 My new batch of Soldiers had a great time and did some great work. I think they'll be able to do some more experiments in the future. :)

Keep checking back to see what we're up to! I promise to get better at this posting stuff this year! I might just make you look at some cute pics of my baby though.