Class Dojo as a Classroom Management Tool

Hey ya'll!  I'm Deniece from This Little Piggy Reads.

If you're reading this I am assuming that you're at least familiar with a computer and that you're looking for new and/or innovative ideas to use in your classroom.  Today I want to give you my opinion on using Class Dojo in the classroom.  This is purely my opinion and I did not receive compensation for this review.  

My Rationale

Last year my teaching career veered off into a direction I didn't foresee.  I was given the opportunity to follow my dream and teach Gifted & Talented students. My students are bussed to my classroom for enrichment.  As you can imagine there are a few kiddos whose behavior is less than perfect because they are not on their home campus.  

I couldn't find the original source of this picture.

Last year I tried to send home a daily behavior folder, but 9 times out of 10 they would forget it.  It's not entirely their fault, I'm simply not a pencil/paper kind of person.  So this summer, I began looking for a way to increase parent-teacher communication and a way to hold my students responsible for their behavior when they are away from their home campus.   

Meet Mojo

For about two years I've heard a lot of my teacher & bloggie friends mention Class Dojo.  I mean, who hasn't seen that cute little green karate monster? With more research I found out it will help me manage behavior and increase parent communication!  Win-Win! 

Dojo has added a few things to make your job easier! 

*You can invite parents via e-mail or they can download an app/go online and enter a parent code. 

*You can share students with other teachers.  This is great for pull-out programs, specials teachers and departmentalized teachers.

*You can mass message all of your parents a "blast" reminder.  

EX: Remember, Thursday is School Picture Day.  Wear your Sunday's Best.

*You can also private message parents with concerns or notes.  If you have to keep a parent communication log, this would be easy to print out & staple into your log.

*There are plenty of videos to help you introduce Dojo to students, parents and fellow teachers.  

From a Parent's Perspective

My daughter is a Kindergartener this year and her teacher uses Class Dojo.  This was my first real experience with Dojo.  When I picked her up on the 3rd day of school she said, "Mom can we change my monster?"  I immediately said, "Does your teacher use Class Dojo?"  At first it seemed a little strange that a Kindergarten teacher would use it.  But....it is FABULOUS!  

My daughter loves getting points.  She also loves changing her monster once a week.  My husband and I can easily track our daughter's behavior and learning habits.  Her teacher sends out weekly blasts and keeps parents up to date!   

My students begin their enrichment program on Monday.  I am excited to implement Class Dojo and hope my students enjoy it too!  

Do you use Dojo?  Are you thinking about giving it a try?  

Shopping for books anyone?

Hello there teacher friends!

This is Laura G. from Where the Magic Happens Blog and Where the Magic Happens TpT store.  I hope you guys have already started the school year in full sail, and  you are loving your kiddos as much as I love mine.
If you remember well, I teach in a year-round school and have been  in school since July 27th. Let me just tell you... it is painful to come and start to set up your classroom in the middle of the summer. It is so worth it though. Last Tuesday, for example, the radio morning show lady was just announcing the first day of school for everyone else and I was oh-so-glad that I had already crossed that bridge!

If you do the Daily 5, then you probably  are building some serious stamina and teaching your kiddos all about I PICK and such.  When I first started teaching at my current school, all the other teachers already had book boxes  in order for their students to store their "read to self" books and materials. They look like this:

They are cute, sturdy, functional, and EXPENSIVE! I could not afford 24 of these beauties for my classroom!!   Sadsville. 

You can buy them by clicking here!!

Well... I have been in my little classroom for three years  now and have not had the guts to buy them. Still. I have thought about writing a grant to get them,  but  at this point I am so settled in my classroom that I cannot find the space to put them.  So I had settled for reusable shopping bags from my local grocery store. This year my sweet teacher friend from across the hall, went and got them for me.

They were not functional or pretty at all! When it was time to do read to self, the kiddos basically took their shopping bags from inside their desks and found a comfy spot to read. They looked so messy and lame. 

That is until one of my wonderful classroom volunteers (who BTW is an instructor at the local fabric store) told me she had an idea:

How is this for plain genius??

These are the steps when making these shopping bags:

1. Cut one of the handles in half, and cut the other one completely. Measure the back of the chair.

2. Sew.

3. Add Velcro to the center of the reusable bag.

You are done!

 Practical, functional, inexpensive, and so easy to make! 

Thank you the lovely and talented Mrs. Shurtleff, I will use your idea for years to come. 

 I hope you are feeling crafty.  Until next time...

I'm Telling on You!

Hello hello! I hope you've all settled into the new school year! I've finally caught up on sleep!

I was fortunate to head to Vegas this past summer for the amazing I Teach 1st and Teachers Pay Teachers conference.  Hands down the BEST session I attended was Pat Pavelka's Creating Independent Writers. 

One of Pat's big messages was to get kids writing! It doesn't matter if they are writing notes to friends, in their journals or even tattle notes! 

Tattling drives me bananas! So, I absolutely fell in LOVE with the idea of tattle notes! I direct the kiddos to this corner when they have a problem to "throw" out! 

Click {here} to grab this freebie! 

I hope you'll pop over to Lucky to Be in First and say hi soon!

When Form meets Function: Classroom Decor

Decorating a classroom isn't just about decoration it is an opportunity to create an environment for students where form meets function and helps define the culture of your classroom.

When I think back to the teachers who were the most influential to me, it is always the teachers who had the most passion for their subject. I still remember Mr. Lindquist reading Shakespeare, face glowing, gesturing with his arms and voice ringing through the room. He was kind of a geek, really, but we all loved him. He made us want to learn Shakespeare, it couldn't be that bad if he was so excited about it, right? I remember posters of Shakespeare and inspirational quotes posted throughout his classroom.

What better way to communicate to your students your thoughts, your beliefs, your expectations, your passion than with posters and pictures of things that are important to you?As an Art teacher, it's easy to decorate my classroom with student artwork, but classroom decor should reach past just decoration and actually create a space where students can feel at home and ready to create. As an English Teacher books will be a key component to their classroom. There is a Math teacher in our school who has large dry erase boards hanging from every wall in his room. It is the perfect example of form meets function.

Classroom decor works best when it also facilitates learning, regardless of what subject or grade you teach. Here are some photos of my classroom. I will post some of Math, Science and ELA later today, I also encourage you to share photos of your classroom.

I teach Art and set up carts for each of the classes I teach. Because I have a different class every period this is essential to keeping myself organized and it helps the students know where to go to get the materials they need to do their work.

Because I teach so many subjects and assignments are large I have green bins that I label with each period for students to turn in their work. This helps me stay organized and students cannot say they turned something in when they didn't. I also have supplies that we use in all classes on this cart.

This is new for my classroom. I set up an area where students can go to grab an object to draw or paint. I included shells, buttons, bones and wooden blocks. I'm going to add sticks and stones and other stuff as the semester progresses. There are also magazines for collage work.

Over the computer area I found posters on Michael's and some cheap frames and hung them on the wall. I like painting that aren't too tight so students realize they don't have to paint as if its a photograph.

 
To get you started I just designed some posters with the secondary teacher in mind. The posters below are free and will work in your classroom regardless of the subject you teach:

Click on the photos below to download them!

I hope your new school year is off to a great start! Have fun decorating your classrooms! If you have photos or ideas please share them below!

Thanks,
Sabrina

Behavior Clip Chart ~ How To Assemble

Printing on contact paper!

Hi everyone!  It's Debbie from K is for Kinderrific!  I hope your school year has started off well.  I've been back for about a month, so we are moving right along!!

I wanted to let you know about a little trick I learned that has made me happy, happy, happy!

YOU CAN PRINT ON CONTACT PAPER!!!!

Who knew??????

Yep! It's true.  You can actually print on contact paper.  It takes a little bit of preparation, but it's well worth it....especially if you have colored or patterned contact paper.

This is the contact paper I've used the last couple of years. 

 I love primary colors so I was super excited to find these colors at my local teacher store.  

In order to print on it, you'll want to cut it into the size of a regular piece of paper (8.5" X 11") leaving the back on.  Do not remove the backing until you are ready to stick it on.  

Because it's a little flimsy, I taped my contact paper sheet to a sheet of card stock in order to make it more sturdy.    Warning:  if the contact paper is not taped flat it may get stuck in your printer and this would not be good.  

Then you simply run it through your printer like a normal sheet of paper.  I did notice that the ink took longer than normal to dry on the contact paper, but that could have just been my printer.  

Here is my teacher toolbox that I labeled using colored contact paper that I printed on.  I think it turned out pretty cute and it's held up over the past year really, really well!  

      

Apple Tasting

Hey everyone! I'm so excited to share with you that I now have my own blog called Tickled Pink in Primary! I took the plunge into the blogging world and am loving getting to share my ideas with you. I'd love for you to check it out and follow my page! 

 

Can you believe it's September already? September is always a fun month in Kindergarten because we get to learn all about apples! I know many teachers are moving away from themes. However, I think you can still do your old themed activities AND incorporate your common core standards. Having a theme can also tie in all of your academics throughout the day. This post will just be a small portion of what we do when we learn about apples. 

We were working on sorting during math, which naturally leads to learning how to  graph what you sorted. I brought in red, yellow, and green apples. First we sorted the apples by color, then by size. We also discussed how they were similar and different. Students predicted what each apple would taste like. Then, I cut up the apples and let students have a few minutes to taste them all. 

They were SO happy to get a snack and compare with their friends how they tasted and which one was their favorite! We are also working on descriptive words in class. I asked them to give me some ways to describe what the apple tastes like, and they couldn't say "good".  Here are some of the words I got: yummy, slimy, awesome, tasty, mushy, crunchy, delicious...

After the apple tasting, I handed out this graphing worksheet. We went around the room and asked each kid what kind of apple they liked the best. I always have to remind them to say how they really feel and not just what their friend picked. :) After each student answered, we colored in our graph to match their answer. As you can see we had to make an extra box since 11 kids liked the yellow apples. 

After graphing our results, we then answered a few questions about the graph. I noticed many students looking at my color posters to see how to spell the colors words. Very resourceful!! As you can see while doing this simple apple tasting activity, we were able to fit in many math and writing skills. 

The worksheets above are included in my Apple Literacy & Math Activities bundle which includes 12 activities that work on reading, writing, math, and science. It's a great way to incorporate common core while still having fun! 

Do you still use themes in your classroom or just units of study?