Hello, friends!
Today I'll show you the front end of my classroom. It has a few of the most important areas in the entire room. Enjoy!
-Bucket Filling Center-
Right at the start of the year, I read the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today?: A Guide to Daily Happiness for Kids by Carol McCloud. The book explains people's feelings and self-worth as an 'invisible bucket' that every person carries around. It really helps the students to think about how their action and words affect others. After reading this, I introduced students to our bucket filling center. Up top, there is a chevron poster that I made and laminated and an example bucket slip held up with washi tape. I also used a basket from The Dollar Tree and hang it up using Command hooks. The basket holds 'bucket slips', which are pieces of paper that say "I'd like to fill ___'s bucket by saying _____. From ___." The students fill them out and then I have a small wire basket on my desk that they put them in to be checked before sorting them. The helper of the day sorts all of the checked slips at the end of the day. I allow students to write whatever they would like on the slips as long as they are positive and not hurtful in any way. Occasionally, I've had to talk to students about writing more in-depth slips instead of writing 10 to their best friend every day saying simple sayings such as, "you're nice". During pack-up on Friday afternoon, I call students to line up individually and hand them their bucket slips (glancing at each one to look for my check in a colored pen). It's incredibly simple and works very well. It's a great way to help students build self-esteem, learn how to compliment others and look for positive actions to mention, and to give them something to look forward to on Friday afternoon (and to take home to parents, which never hurts).
-Schedule-
I purchased the chart from Amazon and the schedule cards from Teachers Pay Teachers and edited a few of the cards to match my terminology or scheduling needs. It really helps to cut down on students asking me about when things are. I made sure to teach time early so that we could work on the skill repeatedly throughout the year. It really helped to have the digital and analog clocks both on the schedule and then they could compare it to our clock (that is only about 5-10 feet to the right of the schedule area). Having the cards in order also helped students who couldn't tell time yet because they could at least see the order, even with pictures. I keep cards that change in the same slot (such as free choice/P.E./art/library/music) so that they can be rotated weekly. There is also a pocket at the bottom that I use to hold additional cards (such as assemblies, guest speakers, testing, etc.).
-Behavior Clip Chart-
My district uses a behavior system called PBIS. I personally love that students all start on a neutral ground and then have the ability to clip up or down depending on their actions. It also makes the teachers more accountable for awarding good behavior. It's nice that students already know how they system works if they were in our district, so behavior systems are consistent and well understood by students and parents at the start of each year. The chart on the left was the original chart that was made of construction paper and laminated and left in my classroom for me. I decided that it needed an upgrade during the year and found a very cute one online for free! I'll try to find the link for you. I printed the pages on regular printer paper, cut them down a bit, pasted them on coordinating construction paper, and then glued them all down to a thin poster board to help make it a little bit sturdier and to really keep the different colors together. Our student monitor laminated it for me (but she had to put it through the machine three times in order to make it stick - bless her)! I punched holes in the top corners and use push pins to hang it to the cork board behind the dotted fabric. I also made it skinnier so that students wouldn't hit the chart when they use the pencil sharpener in the morning.
That's it for today! What behavior systems do you use in your classroom? Leave your answers in the comment section below.
Until next time,
Ms. Frisch
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