An "economical" approach to Classroom Management & Behavior!

Who isn’t motivated in their actions by money?  After all, it’s the reason most people have jobs.  We do work in exchange for money in order to meet our wants and needs.  Hmmmm....starting to sound like economics?  Well, that is exactly where I pulled my current behavior program from!

In my classroom, my 4^th graders work on what we fondly call, the Polar Pride system (we are the Polar Bears).  It is a system where students “earn” polar cash for a set amount of required tasks throughout the week, budget how much they will need for current and future wants and needs, and spend some of their earnings on rewards throughout the classroom.

Our “polar cash” is the main part of this system.  At the beginning of each year, I copy and cut out multiple sheets of our polar money template.  We just use a one dollar denomination to make things simple.  I also introduce students early on to our “polar pride” weekly sheet.  This provides a place for the students and I to see exactly where money is being earned/lost throughout the week.  Here is an example of the sheet:

 As you can see, the majority of a student’s earnings come from the two main areas at the top: homework and behavior.  I give each category a total of 5 points per day.  Every point translates to one dollar so students have the chance to keep 5 dollars in the homework and 5 dollars in the behavior section daily.  If a student neglects to complete a homework assignment or breaks a rule after a warning, I mark on their sheet in the appropriate place where the infraction occurred.  Usually a missing assignment or minor infraction just results in 1 point/dollar being taken away.  However, if an entire homework packet is missing or a major rule has been broken, I have the option of taking away additional points.  I like the fact that every student begins the week with the same possibility of earning $50 polar pride dollars.  From there, it is their responsibility to complete their assignments on time and behave in an appropriate manner.  They are well aware that this sheet also serves as a weekly communication with their parents, as there is a place for a parent signature to indicate they are aware of their child’s weekly progress.

At the bottom of the sheet, I also have a section where additional points can be earned/lost.  If students have immediate needs that must be met in order to be successful, I want them to have that opportunity.  However, they need to learn that an “opportunity cost” also exists.  For example, if a student needs another copy of an assignment or needs to return to their locker, they are deducted a point but allowed to have that need met.  In addition, I have extra opportunities for students to earn money throughout the week.  I hand out the “cash” I have prepared throughout the week to reward good behavior such as lining up quietly, asking a good question, winning a review game, bringing a grade up, etc.  Seeing cash being handed out is a big motivator!  I give each student a baggie “wallet” to use to collect their cash throughout the week.  I also have a weekly job that students can earn an extra $10 for as indicated on the sheet.  (Students might have a job twice a month, so this is like a bonus!)

I run my “week” Friday through Thursday so that we can have our payday every Friday.   This means that every Thursday night, I set aside some time to go through and add up what the students have earned or lost during the 5 days.  I have a specific amount that I feel the students need to earn in order to be successful.  As long as a student is able to reach this amount, they are eligible to use some of their earnings (usually $15) to participate in a weekly reward activity.  This can include an extra recess, a bonus movie, free art time, free computer time, board game time, etc. that I set aside time for on Friday afternoon.  If a student is not able to participate because they didn’t meet the dollar amount, I use this time to provide intervention in either academics or behavior.  Prior to this activity, we set aside some time every Friday morning to work on our “polar pride” sheets.  Every student has a savings account where they make a “deposit” of part of their earnings every week.  They have to add any cash that they have saved during the week along with their homework/behavior point dollars. This is the part  that the Social Studies teacher in me loves!  Students need to plan ahead for how much money they need to save or have extra to spend.  I have a quarterly activity that every student is working towards which costs a large amount of money.  (The activities range from carnival day activities, movies, dances, obstacle courses,  art & craft activities, themed days, etc.)  I have a “budget” sheet that the students use in order to judge how much they can afford to spend on our weekly rewards but still save for our quarterly goal. 

I know this might sound like there is a lot involved.  But THIS PROGRAM WORKS!  Once the program is up and running, you will be amazed at how well it works to motivate your students to do their best on a daily basis!  Plus, they are learning important lifelong lessons about budgeting, making deposits, determining wants/needs, money management, making consumer decisions, etc.  Your students will definitely have the economic portion of their Social Studies standards covered thoroughly!  Here is what one teacher had to say after being introduced to this program:  "O.H.  M.Y.  G.O.S.H.......I love this!  You have some great ideas included for being responsible classroom citizens!  Even though I just got this, I am going to implement this until the end of the year, to see how it works!  Then....full on next year!!!!  I am SO excited!! Thanks!"

I use this program in partnership with my 3 teaching teammates which allows us to do some even more creative things!  The opportunities for this program to evolve and change are endless.  Please feel free to ask additional questions or comment about how you use similar behavior/reward systems in your own room.  If this is something that sounds like you might want to try in your own classroom, please visit my store for a great “starter” kit that includes all forms, templates, directions, labeled materials, etc. that you will need to get things up and running!

Click Here for complete Behavior Program!

The importance of spiraling in Social Studies!

It’s true that every student learns in their own unique way.  However, I feel that one constant that remains the same regardless of individual learning styles or strengths is the idea that the more something is presented and practiced, the more likely it is to “stick”.  This idea is nothing new to the world of education.  Math topics are always being reviewed with taught skills being presented in a variety of different ways.  The same is true for reading and writing as comprehension and vocabulary skills in language arts build upon a spiral foundation.  However, finding this similar practice in social studies or science can be more difficult. 

Since there is so much content to cover in these types of disciplines, teachers are often forced to use their time to present and assess a topic one right after another, leaving little time for revisit or review.  I would argue that in a subject requiring large amounts of information to be absorbed and understood, the idea of spiraling review items in that particular curriculum would be a no brainer and essential for optimum learning.  Too bad that it’s often not the case!  Since I found myself facing these challenges in my own classroom, I decided to create something to meet this need.

To begin with, I took a look at the 24 learning standards present in the current Ohio Social Studies Model curriculum.  I broke them apart chronologically in the way I approach them in my instruction throughout the year, while also noting the four main strands they were being pulled from.  My yearly social studies layout looks like this:

  

September:        Economics (budgeting, entrepreneurship)  (Gov't)

October:            Map Skills, Ohio's environment  (Geography)

November:         Innovations (T. Edison unit), pri/sec sources (History)

December:         Historic Indians, explorers  (History)

January:             Early colonization and the 13 Colonies (History)

February:           American Revolution  (History)

March:               Constitution Development, civic rights (Gov't)

April:                 NW territory, War of 1812, Immigration  (History)

May:                  Sectionalism and the Underground Railroad  (history)

Because my economics unit on budgeting, wants & needs, and money management provides the underlying base for my yearlong classroom economy that I use as part of my behavior/reward program, I certainly didn’t just want to spend a few weeks learning those skills and then forgetting them.  I decided to create a short form that would assess and review the key points associated with that particular topic and then present them to the students periodically throughout the year as I felt a review was necessary.  This turned into my QUICK CHECKS.  In addition, I wanted to create something similar that I could use to touch on each of the four strands weekly as a way to provide a constant review for students.  This became my SOCIAL STUDIES STRETCHERS.  I really feel that these two simple strategies have helped solidify and deepen my students overall understanding of social studies and how all of the parts can be connected.

Here is a quick sample of both of these spiral review activities that I have shared in my TPT store.  Please feel free to check them out and to see if they would be useful in your own classroom!

          Click here for a freebie!

      Click here for a freebie!

Language Arts-the subject that just keeps going, and going, and going!

Language Arts teachers have a lot in common.  We love books, we love words, and we love to make connections with all forms of our language.  But I think another thing we have in common is feeling overwhelmed at times with all of the different components that make up our subject when it comes time to teach it!  Grammar, reading, research, handwriting, vocabulary, spelling, writing, fluency, expression....the list just keeps going on and on.  How can a teacher possibly fit this all into a 6 hour school day when there's also math, science, and social studies to teach?  And lunch to eat?  And recess to attend?  And music to be sung?  You get my drift.....

This very issue used to be a source of frustration for me every year.  I would start to lay out my yearly plan for language arts, and just not be able to physically make everything fit in!  Or, if I did manage to squeeze all of the different above mentioned items into my day, it was a chaotic, choppy day of mini lessons just skimming the surface.  That's when I knew I had to come up with a better way of covering what needed to be taught in a more connected, systematic way.  And that's when my "Daily Bites" were born!

I basically sat down and brainstormed 5 main categories that I wanted my students to focus on independently throughout the week; attacking 1 area each day.  The five areas that I decided my students needed the most intensive practice with were as follows:  WRITING (informative, persuasive, and narrative), KEYBOARDING AND TECHNOLOGY, READING COMPREHENSION SKILLS, GRAMMAR & VOCABULARY, and SPELLING.  Once I had my categories, I began gathering materials that would help my student reinforce and practice the skills associated with each area.  I kept in mind that I wanted this time to be an independent work time.

I decided that the best time to implement my Daily Bites would be at the very start of the day.  I found out early on that it is a life-saver to have something for the students to work on right away upon arrival time in the morning.  Between the morning greetings, checking in, collecting notes and homework, sending attendance, taking lunch count, listening to announcements, etc., this time can become very hectic.  However, by putting a consistent routine into place, both my students and myself look forward to this time instead. 

I developed a simple rotation by placing a red, blue, yellow, orange, or green color sticker on everyone's desk.  Next, I placed 5 bins of the matching colors on my table in a row at the front of the room.  Above the bins on the chalkboard I hung up 5 signs that label my categories.  Next to each sign, I place an apple cut-out in either red, blue, yellow, orange, or green.  I put the materials for each activity in the corresponding color tray.  As soon as a student arrives who has a yellow sticker on their desk, they know to go to the yellow box and get the activity for the day.  By glancing at the title signs, they will know whether they are going to be focused on writing, keyboarding, spelling, etc. for the day.

By dividing my class into 5 groups, I can easily check what needs to be accomplished for each task.  Since about 4 or 5 of my students will be writing in their journals, I know that I will need to set aside about 3-4 minutes to conference with them during my 45 minute work time.  If a group is working on the spiral review sheet for reading, I can easily check their work as their completion times will be naturally staggered.  Keyboarding and spelling activities are self checking.  I may collect a vocabulary or grammar cut and paste for a formative grade.  But again, since only a handful of kids are completing each task each day, it makes for simple, focused assessing!  The rotation is very easy to maintain.  I simply take each apple and move it down to the next sign at the beginning of the next day.  ( I attach magnets to the back.)  Then I just move the activity papers to the appropriate new color bin and we are ready to roll!

In a nutshell, this simple morning routine allows me to cover 5 key areas in an independent manner each and every day.  I can connect it to my lessons and stories that we are doing throughout the week.  So even if I don't have a main lesson that contains something to type, by having a “daily bite” keyboarding activity in my rotation each week I know my students will still be getting the opportunity to practice this important skill.

I hope you will consider trying this systematic, highly effective and time saving routine in your own room.  I think you will be happy with the consistent results your students will produce.  And it will free up valuable class time to dive deeper into the heart of your language arts program!

For a closer look at some of the many materials I have created to use in my Daily Bite stations, please check out the link below to a FREEBIE! 😄

Daily Bite Station Bundle