Let's go to The Store!

I’m so sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, friends!

I’ve been super busy and excuse, excuse, excuses...

In the Nook, I have to have a way to motivate the students to try their best.

Sadly, my kiddos lack a lot of intrinsic motivation and need something in their little hands.

My first year of teaching, my teammate told me about “The Store”. 

“The Store” has trinkets, tchotchkes, and well, junk for “sale” for the kids. The kids have to earn their buying power by having good behavior and trying their best.

The kids earned points by just coming to school daily, could earn points by following the rules, and could lose points by not following the rules.  They would flip cards to show they lost points and give themselves cards to show they gained points.

I was eager to see how the student’s reacted to “The Store”, and I loved the reaction!

THEY LOVED IT!

The kids coveted the junk no one else could possibly ever want.

I used this method for my 1^st two years and I now use it, but with the twist of a clip chart!

I use the clip chart  from a Cupcake for the Teacher.

Every day the students come to school, they automatically get 4 points. They can go up or down based on their behavior and work ethic while in the Nook.

Although the chart visually goes from 0 to 8 points, I have given 12 points on rare occasions. I believe that if they work for it, they should get it!

The behaviors chart in my room is just for my room. They don’t have to go back to class and get a second punishment, but trust me; clipping down is a hurter in the Nook! They want those points!

On Friday, and Friday only, “the store” is open for business.

They trade their points in for prizes and love it!

They have the opportunity to save points for bigger ticket items as well.

If they have a particularly awful week in my room, their classroom, or the school, they can lose the opportunity to go to the store. I tell them that whole school is a team and they need to treat all their teammates with respect.

I normally buy my prizes from the one spot at Target. You can also find good deals in the back aisles of Target! 

I love "the store" as a management technique! 

Currently April 2015

Listening

I recently started watching The Real World. Let me tell you people, I’ve been missing out! I just got time to catch up and finally watch the final episode. I love just relaxing and catching up on things that matter… like TV. LOL!

Loving

Spring break ALWAYS comes at the perfect time! Kids are over it; Teachers are over it; Everyone’s OVER IT. I took a short trip down south and I am ready to smash myself into the couch and enjoy my last two days!

Thinking

I’m in grad school and I really need to do some work for my classes.

(Enough about that!)

Wanting

I love, love, love the Divergent series. I really want to see Insurgent before Spring Break is over! I can’t wait!

Needing

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I love Target! I haven’t visited my favorite store in about a week! Eeekk! I just know there are deals waiting for my cart!

EGGS-plain Your Name

I am a Special Education Teacher. Normally, the Special Ed. Room is called the “Resource Room.” Well, some people have had the luxury of having an actual room. I’ve never experienced this. I’ve always been given a small space to work in. This is a blessing and a challenge. The blessing is that my kiddos and I become a family quicker because of the limited space. The challenge is that I keep getting more and more kids with behavioral difficulties. We need cool down space! However, I love my nook!

Visit Oh Boy Fourth Grade toes other great Currentlys! 

Spring Teacher Blogger Meet Up!

A few Fridays ago, The Brown Blogger, the school secretary, and I trekked our way to French Lick, Indiana.

Let’s be real here: Never have I ever heard of French Lick until this specific event.

  I did not know what attractions the unknown held, but I heard a few stories about casinos, sulfur springs, and a nude beach.

With all this in mind, I still went…crazy, huh!?!

We drove through the rain, dense fog, and the darkest streets in all of Indiana. At about 11 at night, we made it!

We were in awe by the grandness of the West Baden Hotel. It was gorgeous! There is a light show and people sit in the atrium area for hours watching the dome and sipping on “Grown-up Juice”.  Our room was also amazing! It was beautiful and extremely spacious. However, we weren’t there to hang out at a hotel, we were there to be inspired!

The next morning, we went over to the French Lick resort via shuttle and extremely hilly Indiana land.

The #SpringTeacherBloggerMeetUp2015 was fantastic! We were inspired, given great information, and got some Ah-mah-zing freebies!

Scentos Fun!

Erin Condren!

Creative Teaching Press!

We even had a favorite teacher tool exchange, but more on that in another post. =]

As luck would have it, a non-winner (me), actually won a 1-year subscription to Brain Pop! That was such a shocker!!!

On Saturday night, we had a fabulous PJ party with help from TPT and Go Noodle. Both of these companies are great and we had a great time!

Overall, it was a great time with teachers, friends, and the employees of Kmart (that’s another story)!

Not only is this a Linky Party, it's also a giveaway! Enter below to win all the SWAG we received! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

Teacher Tool Gift Exchange Linky!

One of the most exciting events at last weekends Spring Teacher Blogger Meet Up was the teacher tool swap!

To begin, the group was split into 4 groups based on grade level. Since I do not teach a certain grade, I got to choose which group I would go to. I chose to go to the 4th and 5th grade group because the majority of my caseload is 4th and 5th graders. 

Once in our groups, Amanda Pauley read a super fun 'left, right' story. Basically, when she said left, you'd pass the gift in your hands left. When she said right, you'd pass the gift in your hands right. 

After all the hoopla, I ended up with this gift! 

First of all, I loved the bag! What teacher doesn't love a new bag...or two...or ten (I might have a problem!).

Inside the bag, there was a green container, super cool Weird, But true! books, colorful duct tape, cookies, decorative file folders, and binder clips! 

I loved everything! I can use the binder clips for organizing IEP's. The folders are perfect for easily identifying important information on my messy desk! My kiddos love the Weird, but True! books already, so I know they will be ecstatic to dig into these as well. The duct tape will help me to jazz up my room when I have to fix something. I can always use another container and who doesn't love cookies?!?!

Thank you so much for this fabulous gift, Luckyfrogs Lillypad! 

An InLinkz Link-up

St. Patty's Day Fun!

Hello!!

Not only was today St. Patrick’s Day, it was also my first day of no state testing in two whole weeks! Woo-Hoo!

Boy, am I exhausted! After these non-teaching days, I always have a difficult time getting back into the routine.

Today, I had my 4^th and 5^th graders work on Fact Fluency Cards:Luck of the Irish Edition by Hello Literacy.

They love, love, love Fact Fluency Cards and I love them too! Students are not only working on fluency, but they are working on comprehension at the same time. As a bonus Jonas, students have to write!

For my lower kiddos, we used this pack.

There are poems, fluency phrases, a game, and even reader's theaters. 

SO GREAT!

Have a great day!