Behavior Management

I have seen all kinds of creative ideas for classroom behavior and management, but ultimately I think the teacher has to decide what works best for them and their classroom.  For me, I always feel like around the holidays, things get the CRAZIEST!!  That's when I like to throw in a bit more motivation to be good.  Since Easter is about a month away, I decided to use the same idea that I came up with last year for my class.  I filled an Easter bucket with Easter eggs and as I see good behavior, I tell a child to come pick an egg.  Not only do they get to keep what's inside the egg, but also the egg itself (which for some of my kids is as good as the prize! LOL)  So what's inside the eggs?  All kinds of fun surprises.  Pretty much anything that will fit inside.  There are stretchy lizards, bouncy balls, tops, mini highlighters, sticky frogs, erasers, and an occasional token, which is part of our school wide behavior program.  Last year I also included eggs filled with candy, but I decided this year that since that get enough candy here and there, to leave that out.   

 Like I said, I like to change things up depending on the holiday.  For Halloween, I have a pumpkin patch.  Basically I stick die punched pumpkins on the side of my cabinet and tell a child to go pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch if I catch them being good.  On the other side of the pumpkin is written what the child has earned.  You could change the prizes for your kids based on the age and appropriateness of your classroom.  For me, I chose to write things such as:  1 piece of candy, 1 ticket (part of my weekly management system), 1 token, pick from the prize box, etc.  The kids go wild for this stuff and do just about anything to get noticed and get picked for behaving well.  Works like a charm.

So how about you?  What magic tricks do you use to keep your students working hard, even during the craziness that the holidays sometimes bring?

Personalized Hand Sanitizer

If you are a teacher or around kids very often, one thing you are sure to know is that they always have germy little hands.  So what is better than giving a teacher some custom hand sanitizer for teacher appreciation!?!  Cute and very practical!
This first picture is courtesy of Adventures of Room 129.  To make this, she used clear avery labels and if you stop by her blog, you will see that she has included a free download for this label.  Thank you Mrs. Harris!!

This next hand sanitizer comes from How Does She?  She chose to use vinyl on her sanitizer.  Check out the link to see the tutorial on how to make this...

This last way involves a soap dispenser instead of hand sanitizer, although that would probably work with this method too.  You will use an overhead transparency sheet.  Basically print your saying and print it out on the sheet.  Cut it down to size and slip it in the bottle.  The more detailed instructions I had saved on my computer, but I didn't have where I found this from so I am sorry for not having the link.  If this is your idea, please let me know so I may give you credit.  Thanks!

Personalized Soap Dispenser

Needed:
Soap container (Item #B3222 at Industrial Container)
Pump topper (Item #DP111E at Industrial Container)
8½"x11" paper with individual templates for copying or printing
Transparencies with copied templates
Paper cutter
Wire cutters or heavy duty scissors
Clear hand soap

Directions
Purchase soap container and pump toppers at Industrial Container. Together, they cost $ .83. Using wire cutters or scissors, trim the pump topper so that it will fit in the container.
Create a template for each container on your computer. First create a text box (3.2"Hx2.5"W). In several different fonts, type the words to the "hand text." (See picture) There will be some blank room below the text. That will help the text show up in the correct place when trimmed and placed in the soap container. Copy the text box and paste several next to each other. I fit 9 on a page. At the top, you can put the name of the teacher.
Print or copy templates onto transparencies. (Using a laser printer or copy machine.) Cut out each text box, trimming to just over 3 inches high by 2 ½ inches wide. Roll up and put into the container. Fill the container with clear soap. Screw the pump topper on top and decorate with holiday ribbon. (You can give this alone, or add a hand towel.)

Yes/No Game

Everyone sits in a circle (on a chair). The person in charge begins asking yes and no questions. (ie: I have been to New York, I like ice cream, etc.) For every no answer, stay in your seat. For every question that you answer yes to, move one seat to your left. (You may end up on someone's lap!). The first person back to their original seat is the winner.

Memory Game From Recycled Lids

I just found the best idea for recycling those Gatorade bottle lids. Check out what My Little Gems decided to make as a fun and cheap Halloween game. I know Halloween is over, but I thought I would share anyway so that you can keep the idea in mind for next year. Besides, the concept could work for any occasion or holiday. Just change up the stickers! You could even place letter stickers underneath and have the kids match upper case letters to lower case letters. The possibilities are almost endless.

Spook-tacular Chocolate-Dipped Pretzels

Dipped in melted chocolate chips and decorated with a variety of spookalicious candies, these festive treats are a frightfully fun way to celebrate the haunting night ahead.

Wax paper
1 1/3 to 2 cups NESTLÉ TOLL HOUSE Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, melted according to package directions in 8- or 9-inch microwave-safe dish
1 bag (10 ounces) pretzel rods
A few NESTLÉ CRUNCH and BUTTERFINGER Fun Size Candy Bars, chopped
WONKA Halloween Candies such as Spooky NERDS, NERDS Giant Chewy Bumpy Warts and SweeTARTS Skulls n' Bones *
Line baking sheet with wax paper. Place each candy on separate sheets of wax paper.
Dip pretzel rods halfway into chocolate; shake off excess. Roll rods in candies (one candy type per pretzel rod); place on prepared baking sheet.
Place in refrigerator for about 30 minutes to harden. Once hardened, remove from baking sheets and store, covered, in cool place with wax paper between layers.
Makes 30 pretzels.

Estimated Times
Preparation Time: 15 mins
Cooling Time: 30 mins refrigerating

*found in bags of WONKA Halloween Assorted Candies.

Nutritional Information Per Serving (1/30 of recipe): Calories: 130 Calories from Fat: 35 Total Fat: 4 g Saturated Fat: 2 g Cholesterol: 0 mg Sodium: 130 mg Carbohydrates: 23 g Dietary Fiber: 1 g Sugars: 14 g Protein: 2 g

(Recipe and photograph are the property of Nestlé® and Meals.com, used with permission. Recipe found HERE. )


*I have also seen a variation to this idea. Same concept, but dip the pretzel rods in green Wiltons candy melts (or white and add green food coloring) and add a almond slice to the tip of the pretzel. This makes a great witch finger! Or you can view HERE at allrecipes for a cookie recipe with the same concept.

Change up the color of the chocolate and add candy/sprinkles according to the season and these work for every holiday!

**Wilton's candy melts can be found at JoAnn Crafts, Wal-Mart, Robert's Crafts, Michaels, online, and I am sure many other places. These are just the places that I have found them before.

St. Patrick's Day Shirts

Last night the 2 older kids and I made shirts for them to wear for St. Patrick's Day. Thankfully my 3 year old fell asleep before we started the project, otherwise it would have been very difficult to have done! If you would like the tutorial on how to make these cute shirts and templates for the shamrocks, click HERE. The project took us about 1 1/2 hours from start to finish, including blow drying to speed up the process. My daughter thought it would be fun to make a shirt for each holiday (eggs for Easter, pumpkins for Halloween, etc.) We will see if we get that crazy!

As an activity I did with my kids on St. Patrick's Day, I created a treasure hunt for them. I started by taping an envelope to their bedroom door that told them not to open until their room was clean. (I know...mean mom!) My daughter told me that if they could have a treasure hunt every day, their chores would be done in two minutes...tempting. LOL Anyway, here are some of the clues I used (there were a total of 10 or so)

Way to go now there’s no time to talk,
Go look in the thing you use to take the babies on a walk. (stroller) - In the bottom of the stroller was a bag of skittles for each kid (rainbow) with the next clue.

You found the rainbow, so the gold isn’t far, run outside and jump in the car.

The car is nice so you can go faster than a snail, now hurry up and go check the mail! - In the mail box was a note that said Happy St. Patrick's Day with a small bag of gold chocolate coins for each child.

Math Help

If you have a child (or know one) that could you a little extra push in their math skills, there is a website that can help. The greatest thing is that it is FREE and does all the thinking for you. You've got to love that right? All you need to do is click on the area that your child could use help with and a printable worksheet appears. LOVE IT! My kids have been working on their multiplication, but there is help with fractions, money, adding/subtracting, powers of ten and even special holiday math worksheets. (You know...to make math seem fun!) Check it out...

Conversation Heart Relay

Divide the kids into two teams. Race one kid against another from the teams, carrying a conversation heart on a spoon. Carry from one side of the room to the other and have the students place the hearts in a bowl. See which team can fill their bowl first or reach a preset number of items in their bowl.

* This game could be adapted to fit any holiday. (Halloween - candy corn, Easter - egg, OR M&M's or seasonal candy could work for any of them!)

Candy Count/Estimation Jars

Fill a jar (or several) with candy or items relating to that holiday. For example, if it's Halloween you can fill a jar with spider rings or Valentine's with heart erasers or heart shaped candy, etc. Let each student guess how many items are in the jar. The student with the closest guest wins the jar! If you are using this game in a classroom with younger children, it makes a terrific counting game also. Gather the children and let them help separate the candy into piles of 10. Have the entire group count the piles by 10s – educational and yummy!

As a side note, my son's 2nd grade teacher had a sign-up sheet at the start of the school year for parents to take part in this monthly activity. At the start of each month, the teacher sent home the designated estimation jar to fill. The students looked forward to having the estimation jar filled each month and being able to take part in this fun activity.