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Sunday, September 30, 2012

Parent Conferences

It's that time of year again.  You know, when every committee meets, there's a meeting everyday after school, Open House is a few days away and it's time to have Parent Teacher Conferences.  That's right ladies and gentlemen...October is here.  Ready or not. 

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore my job but each and every October sends me into a frenzy.  sigh...It's always great but it's always hectic. 

What's really stressing me out is I'll be out for the first time this for an all day science training Monday and Open House is Tuesday.  First time with a sub and also the first day after school clubs are starting.  Lord I hope everyone gets to the right spot.  I'm freaking out about it.  I was as detailed as possible in my sub plans about who goes where so hopefully it all works out.  Open House is going to be just fine I just get worried about cleaning up the room.  I'm also planning our school's first Bluebonnet Stomp that night.  I'm really excited about it!  Each student will get a cup of Bluebonnet seeds (our state flower) to help stomp/plant on a hill outside our school entrance.  In the spring our students will drive by it at drop off/pick up.  It's also a Texas tradition to take pictures in the Bluebonnets each spring.  Now we'll all have a place to do it without having to pull over on the side of the highway.  That is...if they bloom! haha

It's been a pretty big undertaking as the date totally snuck up on me.  Thank goodness I have wonderful parents and 2 Texas State interns this year who are super helpful.  Two moms alone filled the cups with seeds for the entire school!  Whew. 

So what should be on my mind is what I'm going to pass out and say at Open House.  But, I just can't help myself this weekend.  I've been obsessed with uploading things on my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Click the link below to take a look at my handouts I'll be using Tuesday to help parents sign up for conferences.  If you are freaking out about making something for your room maybe this will save you time. 

Parent Teacher Conference Packet

              

Thursday, September 27, 2012

Math Centers



Here's how Math Centers work in my room.  I started using them last year and oh my word, it's totally changed my life.  I meet with my small groups while the kiddos are busy with their tubs.  It's one of those rare times you get to target instruction for you low babies.  I can't believe I ever taught without them.  Well, yes I do.  I just didn't do a great job at teaching back then.  I mean you can't teach reading without guided reading, so you can't teach math without guided math, right?


My amazing, beloved co-worker Katy found this chart system on Pinterest or somewhere.  You use numbers for math tubs and letters for literacy tubs.  Genuis!  I was making it waaaay too complicated.  I have to admit this poster is not up to my cuteness standards but it does the job.  Once October madness is over I hope to revamp it. 
 The kids' names are moved with the help of velcro and the little stickers are just there to help them find their group faster.  They are grouped with by levels of course.  (lows and meds, meds and highs)

Here is the math tubs shelf.  The numbers were made with my new bet friends...poster numbers/letters purchased at Wal-Mart on the arts and crafts isle.  Why didn't they have these when I was in school? Love them!



What's inside the buckets?  The activities rotate with subjects we are studying in math.  The idea is to supply activities that review/reinforce learning. 
Bucket 1: Number Words

I got this fun little activity from the one and only Cara Carroll of First Grade Parade.  It was in her math centers packet on Teachers Pay Teachers.  The students match the number to the number word and record both on the handout. 
 
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Bucket 2: Roll a Learner

Also, from Cara's Math Packet.  The kids roll a dice and add the corresponding item to their drawing.  Eventually the picture will reveal a learner.  :)

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Bucket 3: Comparing Numbers

This is an activity we practiced last week in math.  The students compare 2 numbers of their choice in standard form, written form, and modeled on a tens frame. The students also compose a comparison sentence using the two numbers. 
 
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Bucket 4: Estimation Jar

This handout is from Cara's Math Centers Packet.  The students first estimate how many objects are in the jar.  Then they count and record the actual number.  Last the students compare the estimate to the actual number.  I got the jar from Dollar Tree.  I pan on putting cute seasonal objects in it when it's time for a new number.  We started with cubes but October will have candy corn, December will have peppermints, and so on. 

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Bucket 5: Calendar

Cara's Calendar Companion Packet has blank calendars in it.  My kiddos are using her amazing math binders.  They LOVE them.  I really promoted them to be really big kid stuff.  They are so funny with them.  One day when we were using them to do number of the day I said, "Man you guys are so smart!  Do you feel smart?  My sweet little guy helpd up his binder and said, "I feel powerful!"  Best moment of the school year to date.  I cried a little.   

So, in this center they complete the calendar for the month we are currently in and add it to their math binder. 
 
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Bucket 6: Pattern Block Creation

Here's another handout from Cara.  The students use pattern blocks to create a design.  At the bottom the students record the number of each type of shape used.  The mats are laminated so that the students can use vis-a-vis markers and then wipe them off for the next group. 

 



Check out this sweet pupppy one of my kids made. :)


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Bucket 7: Numbers Packet

I have no idea where this packet originated from or I would totally give them credit.  It's pages have the students working with numbers 1-20.  The students trace the number, write it, write it in words, and circle the number in a scramble. 



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Bucket 8 (Last One): Pattern

Students use the laminated templates to make animals and other designs. 





So there they are in all their glory.  They are working out beautifully.   




Saturday, September 22, 2012

Science- Freeze Experiment



Now that we've established what melting means in science it's time for freezing.  Our poem of the week was "Apples"

Apples
Apples, apples what a treat.
Sweet and tart and good to eat.
Apples green and apples red
Hang from branches over head.
And when they ripen
Down they drop
So we can taste our apple crop.

Before I told them what we were doing, I asked them to design an experiment for our class.  I asked this question to get them going.  If melting means we give a lot of heat to a solid, what would taking the heat away mean?  After a few times repeating that and some agonizing wait time one of my babes shouted out Freezing!  (They won the smarty pants award for the day)  We talked about times in our lives when we freeze things. 

*Science Tip*
I learned in my science training coop with UT that it is important to explain you are taking heat away to freeze.  You cannot give something cold.  You can give something heat or take that heat away. 

Next, I asked them what kind of liquid we could use in our experiment that would go along with our poem of the week.  Apple Juice!  We listed materials we would need on the board.  Then I told them I just happened to have all the materials ready to go.  They were so excited! 

We used some little plastic cups, Popsicle sticks, and apple juice.  The kids labeled their cups with a sharpie. 

We started Friday morning with this activity so they would have plenty of time to freeze.  We used the freezer in the Life Skills classroom and made some extras for those kiddos as a thank you. 
Here's the before pictures:

Next, we talked about how this was another experiment they could do at home.  You can try any liquid you like.  They brainstormed other liquids they might try.  We also looked around the classroom for other liquids we might find.  We found Dr.Pepper, water, and coffee.  (I wanted to make a salt water solution to connect to the ocean, but I didn't have any salt!)

Speaking of not having materials...shout out to L.H. and J.H's mom for saving the lesson.  I asked her to go to  the store and pick up some juice because I totally forgot to bring it to school!  What would I do without my amazing parents?????

While my kids were at PE I picked up their Popsicles.  They were waiting at their desk for them when they walked in the classroom.  You would have thought it was Christmas morning.  lol  They ate them for Fun Friday (last 30 of the day we just do fun stuff if they are done with all their work)
Here's the other frozen liquids.  I also mad a cup without a stick and one cup with a bunch of sticks just so they would know the stick has nothing to do with the freezing. 




EEEWWWW One of my little darlings who is really going to work on being impulsive just couldn't help his self with the sharpie.  He tried his best to color the entire stick before I stopped him.  Sigh....It came off in his Popsicle. Note the weird color.  Good thing I made an extra one.  Although I totally made him sweat it out a bit that he wasn't going to get to eat one because he didn't follow directions.   
It was another great day and a great lesson. 

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Science Experiment-Melting Crayons!


I don't know if you have seen the amazing videos on YouTube for melting crayons to make art but oh my word..they are awesome.  This one happens to be my fav probably because of the Ellie Goulding song playing with it.  I didn't notice the terrible language in the comments until just now!  Mercy YouTube can be tricky to work with in a classroom.  The f word with crayons?  C'mon!

I was looking for a way to amp up my science lesson this week.  We are working on melting and freezing.  I also made a goal for myself over the summer to do more science experiments so what a perfect fit.   I totally teased the kids the day before by telling them, "You cannot be absent tomorrow.  We are going to do the most amazing science experiment!  There were dying to know what but I didn't give in.   



These are the crayons I used to the left.  Notice that it doesn't matter if the paper is on or off.  I tried it both ways.  It also doesn't matter if they are brand new or old crayons or Crayola or cheep-os. Everything works.  I just hot glued them down onto a piece of poster board matching up the ends.  I saved a pizza box from over the weekend to prop the poster board up and catch any mess. 

I moved a little table to the front of my carpet and covered it with black butcher paper to make it look like a real science lab.  I also borrowed the science lab goggles for the kids to wear.  I wish I could post the video of those precious babies in their goggles.  Since I don't have every parent's permission for that I'll post these precious angels.  that would be my baby on the left, Mateo and my nephew on the right Carter.  Ha!  I love it!



Back to the lesson.  I stood at the table and held the hair dryer.  I projected a timer onto the whiteboard behind me so we could see how many seconds it took to start melting. I told the kids if it didn't work we'd stop after 5 minutes.  (trying to build the suspense) It only took about 35 sec. and boy did they LOVE it.  They were so stinkin' excited!  I was repeating that vocabulary like crazy and they were eating it up. 


After the melted wax cooled back down into a solid (do ya like how I threw that science knowledge in there? hehe)  I let the kids touch it.  I added some labels with a sharpie and this beautiful work of art is now hanging on our science wall.  Now how's that for a vocabulary card?  I don't think they'll forget what melting means. 

It was such a success I even had a student teach her parents how to do this experiment that night and they brought it in to show me.  Today another little one did the same thing!  It just makes my heart sing to know they loved a lesson so much they want to do it at home. 

Science + Fun experiments = one great day! 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Science- Cloudy With a Chance of Precipitation



A huge concept in first grade is getting students to understand what precipitation is (rain, sleet, snow, hail- all made of water) and where it comes from (clouds).  After we sang The Precipitation Song.  I showed a YouTube video of another classroom singing a version of this song and showing their work.  I can't seem to find it now that I'm at home.  But, I'd be happy to e-mail it to you if you'd like to use it.  firstgradecircle@gmail.com
Once we understood that precipitation comes in different forms but is always made of water we read the silly classic Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  
We talked over and over about how this was fiction and true precipitation must be made of only water.  While I read the story to them the students worked in their science notebooks on the carpet.  I have them a sentence stem, " I wish it would"  to glue into their notebooks to get them started.  The students completed the sentence with a form of precipitation: rain, sleet, snow, hail and the type of food they wish would fall from clouds. 



Here's one of my kiddo's wonderful work.  He said I wish it would rain burgers and a chicken noodle soup tornado.  How creative!



This little lady said, "I wish it would hail Popsicles."  For my higher babies I challenged them to use a form of precipitation that would match the temperature and shape of their food.  She totally got it!
So, there we have it a fun day of science incorporating vocabulary, total physical response learning for ELL's, and differentiated instruction for those higher darlings.  Hope you like it.  Let me know if you use it :) 

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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Behavior Tip: 4 questions

I thought I'd share this amazing behavior tip with you as it has totally saved my life today.  I learned it from my amazing behavior specialist Sarah who should be world renown.  She shared this with us at a faculty meeting yesterday. 

You use these 4 questions to address a student's negative behavior. 

1.  What are you doing?
2. What are you supposed to be doing?
3.  Were you doing it?
4. What are you going to do about it?

The goal is to say them in a very boring way.  You want to be super enthusiastic when praising your little ones and totally robotic when redirecting.  Now let's be honest, not being emotional with bad behavior is incredibly hard.  So that's why this script works so well.  You don't have to think about what to say you just rattle off these questions.

Let me tell you....they work.  It just so happens I am fighting a sinus infection right now from a few weeks of allergy struggles.  Uggghh I feel completely awful.  It also happens to be that I have a little guy this year who needs constant repetition of expectations.  Well...today....I'm just not feeling like repeating myself.  I definitely don't have the energy to be emotional about it.  So, I tried using these questions and lo and behold.  SUCCESS!  He stopped and I didn't get stressed out.  I have them up on my board for me so I don't forget to use them.

Try it, I think it will work for you too. 

For all you allergy sufferers out there.  I feel your pain . I think this is this worse season ever!  I am praying for rain to wash out these infested skies. 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Science Lesson- Cookie Observation

MMMMMM Science...

It's that time of year again where we have to model how to make a good observation.  Ever had that kid who draws a tree with a blue marker?  Well here's the cure in a super fun lesson.  Yeah we could get our kids to observe a cloud or a leaf but why not use cookies?  That's way more engaging right?  Yeah I thought so too so, that's exactly what we did.  It was super fun and the kids kept talking all day long about how fuuuuun science is!  Yay.  Hope you like it.  I have everything you need (minus the cookies! $1.98 at HEB)  on my Teacher Pay Teachers store.  Cookie Observation Lesson  The explanation page can be plugged right in to your lesson plans. 
Here's one of my babe's before pic.  Pretty decent I gotta say.  It is brown and I can tell it's a cookie. 

Here they are tracing their cookie to show it's exact size.  Size is an important property to include in observations if possible. 


Now then.... Would you look at this observation!   WOWEEEE now that's a cookie.  Check out that description at the bottom.   It feels bumpy and smells chocolatey.  Way better that it feels  _______(blank) and smells good.  

Science should be fun and today it was.  I hope you'll try this with your kiddos.  Please tell me how it goes in your room or if you have any modifications. 

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Teachers Pay Teachers Store


Please check out my TpT store. I've been working on adding my weather stuff for you.  There's lots of free stuff. 
 

Reading Lesson- An Alliteration Picnic

Katey's bringing Kool-Aid.  Meagan's bringing marshmallows.  Jessica's bringing jelly beans.  :)  Can you think of a food that starts with e besides eggs?  Well, one of my little ladies thought of egg rolls!

In reading this week we are learning about alliteration.  We read the book The Z Was Zapped.  The kiddos tried to guess what the word was for each letter.  They were pretty good considering these were some tough words! 

Next, I spread out a blanket on our carpet and placed the basket in the middle.  I asked, "What is an activity you could do with these items? A picnic!  To come to my picnic you have be able to follow the rule and.. you have to guess what the rule is.  I held up my index card pre-made and said my card follows the rule.  I'll read it to you and see if that helps you guess what the rule is.  Here we go..."My name is Katey and I'm bringing Kool-Aid." 

Raise your hand if you think you have  something to bring to our picnic.  It took a few times of saying really nicely, "I'm sorry you can't come to the picnic just yet." before the wheels turning and answers started rolling in.  There were about 5 little sweeties who just didn't get it so I walked them through it and helped them brainstorm foods that started with the same letter as their name. 


On an index card the wrote their name, what they were bringing and draw a picture.  Once they read it to me they got to place it in the basket and relax on our picnic blanket with their shoes off. 

We sure had a great time! 

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Lose a Shoe, Get a Fish

Well what an interesting day.  You just never know what's around the corner.  I lost one of my favorite shoes at recess.  A little one in a big hurry to line up annihilated my right heel breaking the strap of one of my most favorite sandals.  :(  Waaah.  I guess I'll just have to go shopping now.  haha
Luckily I had an extra pair of flip flops hanging out under my desk.  Whew!
So long side-walk sale friend. 

On a lighter note.  My kiddos filled up their fuzzy ball jar to class treat yesterday.  Their reward?  A class pet!  I thought my arms were going to fall off carrying him in this morning.  I was trying so hard to not shift any rocks or his cave.  I was worried he might get pinned against the glass.  Probably ridiculous but that's how my mind works.  Sorry about the lame pictures.  Apparently he's camera shy.   I even stuck a pencil in his bowl and moved his cave around but he would not come out for a pic.  But, I'm sure you've seen a Beta before so just imagine a blue and purple one. 


I gave each kiddo a post-it and they wrote down their idea for a name to give him.  We voted and although I am super disappointed they didn't pick Mustache, I am happy to introduce to you Buddy the Beta.  I had to veto the idea of naming him Ms. Ebner.  My reasoning...we already have 2 Isabels, 1 Isabella, and 2 Kaylieghs.  We are not going to have two Ms. Ebners! Ahh the life of a teacher.  :) 

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Science Lesson- Cloud Cover




 



One thing you should know about me... I LOVE teaching science! 


 Today we learned the vocabulary words cloudy and clear.  We started by observing today's sky.  It happened to be clear.  We talked about how that would be easy to draw in our science notebooks and I drew an example on the board.  The only thing we need in our sky is the sun.  Next, I asked how would my picture change if it was cloudy?  I added clouds until the sun was covered. I asked questions to get rid of misconceptions like are clouds made of cotton balls?  smoke?  cotton candy?  No, they are made of tiny drops of water.

 Is the sun still there even though we can't see it?  Which is closer to us the clouds or the sun?  It looks like the clouds are covering the sun but it is just because we are so far away from the sun.  We modeled this idea of perspective using the lights on the ceiling and our hands.  Our hands were the clouds and the lights were the sun. 







We read the book Little Cloud by Eric Carle.  On each page we talked about cloudy vs. clear.  How clouds do not actually take or move by themselves. 




Next I told the kids they could draw a picture in their notebooks like I did but...it'd be way more fun to make a flip book!  So we did.  Here's what 2 looked like.  Each student got 1 piece of construction paper, 2 suns (copied from google images) and some scrap white paper.  They folded their paper in half to create 2 skies.  One clear and one cloudy.  The students colored the sun and labeled with markers.  The students cut out clouds from the white paper and glued them down to cover some or all of the sun.  You can't see the front but the students wrote the title, "The Sky Can Be..."

Pretty quick and painless and a whole lotta fun.  Hope you like it.  Let me know if you use it or if you have a way to change it to make it better.  I'd love to hear from you.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Behavior- Using CHAMPS



I thought you might find it helpful to explain a little more on how I'm keeping track of my student's behavior.  I showed you some posters on my previous post "Classroom Tour" explaining the color system.  I mentioned that I use CHAMPS and a clip board with my student's names on it.  Here's the page I use.  It lasts me a week.  I carry this around everywhere.  The kids can come check how they're doing whenever they like and I almost always tell them when I'm writing down a tally and why.  Tallies can be "erased" (Never erase, just cross it out.  It's good data to keep) I'm fairly certain my dear sweet colleague Meagan made this in Excel.  I posted a copy from one of my former years.  I keep these all year long.  You'd be surprised how many times I need to reference the.  Parent conferences, behavior specialists, giving out special awards, all kinds of stuff. 


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/CHAMPS-tally-sheet



Speaking of special awards.  Last year we, as a grade level, went through our Tallies pages and found the student who had the least amount of tallies for the six weeks.  We named this kiddo the CHAMP of the ____ Six Weeks.  They got their picture taken with the principal, a special certificate, a cool sticker, and some 15 tickets.  It was a BIG deal.  I turned the picture into a magnet by mounting it on a die cut of a school house.  We hung the magnets on the door frame outside our rooms.  At the end of the year all CHAMPS from every six weeks in all 4 1st grade classrooms got to have a special CHAMPS lunch with the principal and assistant principal.  We decorated an unused classroom for them and even played "We Are the Champions" when they walked in!  They LOVED IT!



Monday, September 3, 2012

A Little More on the Tour

 
 
 
 

My space.  Let me be perfectly honest.  My desk will never be this clean again.  So I just had to snap a picture and send it into forever so that everyone can see that on this day my desk had this much wood showing.  Fact is I just don't spend a lot of time here so it tends to be a sorting pile destination.  With my little man at home I like to do as much as I can from home and while I'm teaching I just about never sit down, you know how that is I'm sure.  I am going to make an effort keep it cozy this year so I broke down and bought some fancy fabric at Hobby Lobby this year.  I also found this sweet little Count You Blessings sign at, of all places, HEB plus!  I thought it would be sweet to hang it above my former students' heads.  I put my ugliest classroom run under my desk for my toes. 


And this would by my to-do list board.  Oh where or where would I be without a to-do list ? I'll tell you where in an asylum!   

Here's my door.  Nothing special yet.  Except that notebook see him down there?  One of my students is has a parent that works at our school.  This first week has been a little tough for him to adjust to.  He knows she's here and wants to see her immediately.  Makes sense.  I tell ya now that I'm a mom I'm way more sensitive to these things.  So, when he's missing his mom he writes and draws pictures for her in their special notebook and then returns it to the door.  When she finds a second she'll cruise by our room and write him back.  It's been working for a few days now.  So if you have a sweet little "teacher kid" and they're having trouble.  Try this!
 
Venturing out into the hallway.  If you're like me and you spent the summer scouring pinterest, you were bound to find something to copy.  Mine were these little name tag clips.  Funnies thing:  while I was on my Hobby Lobby crusade for supplies to make these I kept running into dead ends.  They were out of boards, out of chalk board paint. Got me wondering, how many other teachers were here before me making the exact same thing?  God bless pinterest.  I got the caricature from the State Fair last year.  It just makes me smile. 
 
 
 
Last thing totally random.  Tower of Tissues!
Why the heck do I always have a million Kleenex boxes?  Why oh why can't it be dry erase makers?  I really wish we could individualize our school supply lists.  It's a nice dream. 
 
 
 
 

Behavior and Rewards

Ticket Rewards-
I'm sure you've heard of many teachers using tickets as rewards. It totally works for me. I put some in my pocket each morning and give them out with appropriate behavior or participation. Students put their name on the back and turn it into the basket on my desk. The beauty of the tickets is I can hold as many drawings in a day as I want. I don't ask the children to save them up and cash them in. Waaaaay too complicated for me. As soon as the ticket is pulled it is thrown away and the winner can choose a reward from the poster. I created most of the rewards and left some space at the bottom for student's ideas. Another little gem with these is you can totally rig the winners! It's like magic for you most struggling students to win with the first sign of good behavior. Talk about positive reinforcement. Last year my kids came up with the idea of putting a "Whole Class" ticket. If that's pulled everyone gets a ticket reward. You can also pull a ticket and wait to announce the winner when the lesson is over or supplies are put away. It's a great way to get kiddos down to the carpet quickly. I just can't say enough about ticket drawings!
We created our class rules together the first week of school. The kids brainstormed rules and I guided them into fitting our school's code of conduct.
 
 
Classroom Colors- We use a color system in the classroom.  Everyone starts on green.  If they are not following CHAMPS rules the drop to yellow.  If it continues the move to blue and parents are called.  If the problem still progresses students are on red and we involve the principal.  All of my other years of teaching we've used this system in tandem with a stick.  Each child has a clip with their name on it and we carry it around with us.  This year our Positive Behavior committee decided it is not appropriate for us to be broadcasting our student's colors to the school by carrying around a stick for all to see.  So the colors stayed but the stick is dead.  May he rest in peace.  Makes sense.  I agree with their thinking but I'm having some adjustment to not having the stick at all.  I'm going to give it a fair shot.  I do still use my CHAMPS sheet on my clip board but I'm worried about not having the visual for my little guys.  We'll see....it's gonna be fine. 
 
 
Now if the kiddos make it a week with greens and/or purples they receive a prize from the treasure box on Friday.  It's a big deal.  My little nephew Carter had a pirate birthday party last year and my sister ordered this pirate treasure chest from Oriental Trading Co. to use as a cooler.  I of course snagged it as soon as the last drink was gone.  A must for my classroom.  I was worried about it being inflatable and lasting more than a week but we're going on year 2...fingers crossed.  :)   
 
Items in the treasure box, hmmm I guess I should really be calling it a Treasure Chest!  lol  It started as a box I decorated just so ya know.  Anyway items can be anything from rings to silly bands, stickers to books.  I got soooo mad at my class last year when they complained, "There's only books left."  ooooooohhhhweee you did not want to be in the front row that day. 
 
I'm going to hope for lots of parent donations to keep the treasure chest stocked this year. I seem to have a rockin' group of parents so I think I'll be okay.  
 
The treasure chest is sitting here with our student computer.  See those labeled colorful solo cups?  They will soon be hanging on the pretty blue wall to be used as bucket fillers.  This was my first send home parent request.  I passed this amazing momma a bag of cups, post-its, tape, and a sharpie in morning assembly and she returned these beautiful "buckets" by dismissal.  Amazing!  Now if I can only remember to ask others for help this year.  One of my personal goals for 2012-2013
 
 
 
 Fuzzy Ball Jar- Use for compliments from other teachers.  Most originate in the hallways.  There are 2 sizes of fuzzy balls regular sized for teacher compliments and "big momma" fuzzy balls for principal compliments.  See how full it is with "big mommas?" We had a fire drill on Friday and our principal was so positive when we walked by.  Yay!  They are super close to filling up the jar to the first line: class treat.  This will get them something like a fancy sticker, pencil, eating lunch in the classroom etc.  The top line is class party.  Now I know we are not supposed to say "party"  but you know that really is just for the kids to get super excited.  They will vote for a popcorn, Popsicles, ice cream, bubble gum, etc. sssssshhh...party!
 
 
What do you use for your rewards?  What kind of behavior tricks do you have up your sleeves?  Please share or leave a comment on how you might alter mine.  I'm all ears :)