Be A Good Listener

From:  First Grade Fever

This past week I have been mainly working with the first graders at my school.  First Graders are so honest, even to a fault sometimes. We have several students who struggle with listening during instruction and following directions.  

So I came home today thinking I would come up with some lessons on being a good listener and make a card for them to keep on their desk as a reminder to listen.  I LOVED  the Good Listener Banner that I found at First Grade Fever a couple of years ago and I refer to often throughout the school year when my class has the case of the wiggles.  I want to keep that language and build from there.  

I was looking up some good resources to use with this group of students because I do not think my favorite book Listen Buddy by Helen Lester is going to work, at least not yet. 

I came across this book Howard B. Wigglebottom Learns to Listen. I was so excited that I could ordered it on my Kindle account so I will have it for tomorrow however when I downloaded it a pop up said it was not compatible with and ipad. Now I am out $4 dollars.  

However I got lucky and found the story on youtube.    

Youtube Link

   










As I was searching around on Pinterest I found Erica Bohrer just posted about Whole Body Learning and she has two wonderful FREEBIES a lesson and a card for the desk and now I don't have to make anything.  Thank you now I have more time for reading!

Compliments

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, a honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around."

Leo Buscaglia

One of the hardest things I find throughout the school year is getting the students to treat each other with kindness.  They are great at finding each other's faults and mistakes however building each other up and being positive is very hard for them.  I often talk about what it means to compliment someone.  What is a real compliment verses a fake compliment?  

That is something that is so hard to teach.  The past couple of years I have had a wonderful bunch of children.  They worked well together, however one of their faults was they were very social.  I would encourage them to work together to earn compliments from myself and from other teachers.  Real compliments.....in fact the other teachers did not know the deal I had with the children.  

When the class earned a compliment from another teacher they could put a sticker on their reward chart. This was hard to do.  It meant we had to walk quietly in the hallway, line up quietly, they had to be the quietest table in the lunchroom and walk into a speciality classroom and sit down quietly and be ready to learn.  These are not easy tasks to do.  Many times the speciality teachers would say, "They were the best behaved class of the day."  

All these compliments were real and well earned.  It took the children a long time to earn the stickers as you can see.  We did not get a sticker every day.  However we did make it to 100 by the last day of school so we could have all the extra fun.  

My thought is....we are going to have some kind of party anyways...why not make it something they can get excited about it and earn it.  It will be more meaningful to the children if they had a say in the planning and earning of the reward. 

BTW--The children make it to 100 twice a year.  

If you decide to go this route let the kids pick the rewards they love being part of the decision making process.   

I'm Done.....What should I do??????

I hear it all the time......I finished my work what should I do know.  Well it is February and I think (knock on wood) the kids can finally figure it out.

In my first grade classroom I have a system.  It starts every time we do an assignment.  In their desks each student has a red folder, that is where they put work they do not finish throughout the day.

When they find themselves with a free moment they start with their red folder  and finish their work.

The next step is to move to their challenge folder.  Each month I create 16 challenge assignments from the help from other bloggers.
They have incentives to complete the activities correctly.  My students must complete one challenge activity before they can have "free choice"  in the classroom.

The goal is to get four in a row to earn a ticket.  Tickets can be used to get coupons.  

Click Here for the Freebie

Activities
#1  Addition Love Bug Game 
#2  Mixed Up Animal Sentence
#3 Find, Tally and Graph
#4  Letter for My Valentine
# 5  Money for My Valentine
#6  Valentine Word Problems
#7  Adding Up Postage
#8  Valentine Word Search
#9  Sweet Nouns
#10  Double the Fun Game
#11  Read and Write
#12  Valentine ABC
#13  February Reading Challenge
#14  True and False Spin Math
#15  Solve, Cut, Paste It
#16  Sort Math Facts

Morning Check In

Morning Check In

Each morning when my little ones come to school they have five responsibilities for morning Check In.

1.   Put your water bottles in the kitchen area.

2.  Put your folder on my table.

3.   Put your backpack on the floor of your locker.

4.  Hang up your jacket.

5.   Sign in for the day.

Sign In for the day is very important.  It is a great way for my little ones to practice writing their names. My little ones put their names in this pocket chart each morning.  It is a quick way for me to scan and see who is here. 

The top slip is the first day of school sample and the bottom slip is the ninth day of school sample. 

You can already see some improvement from some of the mini lessons we have had so far. The purple marks you see are my corrections.  I try to correct in front of each child and talk about how he/she can improve one thing each day.  

Each Quarter the Check In process changes:

Q1:  Practice printing first name

Q2:  Practice printing first and last name

Q3:  First and last name and phone number

Q4:  First and last name

       Phone number

       Address 

Working with What I Have

Job Chart

Every kindergarten class needs a job chart.  Well my chart was looking a bit……sad, sorry, lame, unloved! 

However I love the bear and I love that I can redecorate  the window during the different seasons. 

So I decided to give my Job Chart a Makeover.

Of course I went to my graphics folder to see what I had for this project.  KPM Doodles came through again, Kristen has these wonderful classroom helpers.

So I did a little work and combined them with a font and a box and put them together to makeover my chart.

I will print out a second copy at school as well because I like to tape my job helpers to my classroom floor where my little ones line up.  That way we know who will be helping us as we leave the room.  Bonus...... there is no pushing at the front or back of the line because everyone there has a job.

If you would like a free copy of my job chart labels go here.  Remember to say thank you by providing some feedback. :)

Please  vote this week.  It is a bit tricky  you have to go to the comment section and then hover over the +1.    Look for The Very Busy Kindergarten  towards the bottom.  

Secret State Password

Yesterday I went to a workshop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on "What Does A Balance Literacy Classroom  Look Like?" The presenter was Adria Klein from California......great speaker ......btw....

She had lots of great ideas.....the one that I want to start the year with is a classroom management technique.

In order to get her students attention she says a name of a state and they repeat the capital.   Now keep in mind she teaches 5th grade.

I teach kindergarten......but I think I can still do this idea.  Here's my plan:

Each morning as part of The Calendar the Star Student will pick the Secret State of the day from the jar.

Then we will put the state on the puzzle with velcro.

As part of The Calendar I will read some facts from the cards:

Then throughout the day when I want the children to pay attention I will say the name of the state and the children will repeat the capital.

My hope is when my students go home each day and their parents ask them about their day..... and they will say the secret state is Wisconsin and the capital is Madison.  

PS   Here are two views of what my classroom looks like today.....YIKES!!!!