The best ideas for staying on top of everything.

Hey y'all! Over the past couple of weeks I've had some questions from teachers about how I use Class Dojo in my classroom and utilizing my Class Dojo Super Pack. I had done a blog post back in February when I first ditched the clip chart, but I've changed a few things since then and didn't quite explain it all clearly the first time, so I'm back to try again! In the past, I've kept all my behavior charts and/or Class Dojo materials on the closet door at the back of my room. This year, I've moved it to one of the square bulletin boards at the front of my classroom. Here is my new bulletin board: This Class Dojo bulletin board houses pretty much all of our Class Dojo "stuff". In the bottom left corner, you'll see my Dojo Store. I chose 12 items (tangible rewards and experiences) that my kids will have to choose from at this time. I will change these out every few weeks - take some off and add some other rewards - there will most likely be some that will stay for at least 2 "cycles" in a row, if not more. The reward tickets were printed and are housed in regular sized library pockets. The library pocket covers fit just over top of the library pockets and I used some velcro dots to attach them to the library pocket, as well as put a staple on each side of the pocket cover so that it would lay flat. My plan for the tickets is for the kids to bring them to me when they want to purchase that item/experience so that I know what they are purchasing as well as take it off of their Dojo Credit Card balance. I will then put the tickets back in the pocket to be reused later (saving some copies!). Above my Dojo Store, I have my Class Dojo Leader of the Week. Each Friday when we are packing up, I will see which child had the most points during the week and they will get to be the Leader of the Week for the next week. I have printed out little Class Dojo monsters from Class Dojo's online resources - the Leader of the Week will get to choose one of these monsters and I will use a sharpie to write their name on this monster and add it to our bulletin board. The Leader of the Week also gets a Brag Tag and a certificate - if they are LOTW multiple times, they get a brag tag each time they are LOTW! Going up the right side of the bulletin board, as well as kind of taking over the top, is my Class Dojo point club. This is something new that I'm adding this year! Every couple weeks I will check on my kiddos' total points in the Class Dojo Reports and use printed mini Class Dojo monsters to show which club the kiddos belong in. For each level of the club, they will also receive a Brag Tag! 100-1000 point club certificates (printed on colored paper) and brag tags. Their Class Dojo credit card is a laminated card with their name on the front and their signature on the back - like a real credit card. I have them sign their cards before I laminate. Since it is laminated, that allows me to use a sharpie and a Mr. Clean eraser to write their balance and erase to change the balance as they add to or take from their balance. When I give my kiddos their credit cards, I explain to them that this is like a real credit card that their parents may have and that they have to be responsible to take very good care of their card. I explain to them that if they lose their card, they can't just "get" another one. There is a penalty for losing their card. I know this isn't quite how it works in the real world, but they have to learn some responsibility sometime! When I find credit cards laying on the floor in the classroom, I take them and hide them from the student until they come to me and ask for their card. When I give them their card back, I explain to them that it is very important to take care of their card and that there is a monetary penalty for losing their card and getting it back - I usually take 10-15 dojo dollars for returning credit cards. Call me mean - but I want them to treat their credit cards just like real money. I also only let them spend the money that they have loaded on their card - no racking up a big credit card bill! **Note - Clipart on credit cards IS NOT included on the set in my TPT store. You will have to download the clipart and add to the credit cards if you want the look I have above.** Q&A: When do your students cash out their Dojo points to add to their Dojo Credit Card? I have four tables in my classroom and I have assigned each table one day of the week that they are allowed to cash out their points. I allow them to cash out their points during morning arrival and morning work time and then again during lunch (we eat lunch in our classroom so this works for me). So, I should have around 6 students cashing out each day. When they cash out, I quickly add/subtract the points they have on their behavior graphing sheet, total them up, and use a sharpie to add this amount to the back of their credit card. This takes about 1 minute per student, so it really is not taking up much time during the day. If a student (or myself) is absent, I either use our extra day during the week, or let them cash out on a day other than their table's assigned day. When can your students purchase items from the Dojo Store? I let them purchase items/experiences any day of the week - but it has to be during morning work time or lunch time. I don't want this to be interrupting instruction, so I restrict it to these times of the day. If your kiddos stay in our room during dismissal in the afternoon, you could do this during that time while they wait for their bus or car. Why do you reset your students' points daily? This is something I have always done. Previously, when I had my 7-layered clip chart, my kiddos would start out each day on green. Once they had 3 positive points they would move up to blue, 6 points they would move to purple, and 10 pink. So, I would reset to 0 daily because of this. I also like the idea of a fresh start each day. I know that all my kiddos aren't going to be perfect and there are going to be some that are not going to have a great day once in a while. If they leave with negative points, I want them to come in the next day with a fresh start back at zero. Otherwise, they already feel defeated before stepping into my classroom and that is NOT how I want them to feel about school. Class Dojo is all about noticing the positive things that your kiddos are doing rather than just focusing on the negative, so I try my best to do that as well. If you reset your points daily, how do you check their totals for the 100-1000 Club and Leader of the Week? Class Dojo is super great for reports! First, click on the Reports page at the top of our Class Dojo screen. That will take you to this page. Then, you'll want to change the date to your desired date. For LOTW, I change it to that current week. For 100-1000 point club, I choose All Time. Then you'll want to go over to the student column on the lefthand side and use the drop-down box to choose Highest Combined. This will take into account both positive and negative points and will sort them from most points to least points. This way you can see who is the Leader of the Week each week and check the total points for each student for the 100-1000 point club. How do you get your parents and students to set up online accounts? You may (or may not) know that Class Dojo will send out weekly reports to your kiddos' parents each Friday to parents who have set up an online account. Fortunately for me, I am at a great school with lots of parental support. This year, I had every parent set up an account. Did all of them monitor the accounts on a regular basis? No, probably not. All but one of my kiddos had their own account as well. It was much easier to get the kiddos to set up an account because they want to be able to personalize their monster and that is the only way they can do it. I also encourage my parents to set up accounts and will pester email them until they do so - haha! They don't have to set up an account online, but it is very beneficial for them to be able to track their students during the day and get the weekly reports - in addition to seeing their child's daily graph that I send home in their COLLEGE notebook. Yes, I've had parents who monitor their child's behavior during the day and send me messages on Class Dojo messenger about what their child is doing and messages that I need to relay to their child to straighten up! What other questions do you have? Please ask them below and I'll add them to the blog post! How did you get the Class Dojo Monsters on all the items you have pictured above? The set you have on TPT doesn't have the monsters? The set I have listed on TPT includes editable parts. I had to remove the monsters from the set after I originally posted it because of copyright, so I made the set so that you can add the monsters if you wish. There is a set of pages in the pack on TPT that does not have the monsters and then there is an editable file that has space on the items to add pictures directly from the Class Dojo website. The link to these items is included. So, you have the option to add the monsters or not. Now, I'm giving away one of my Class Dojo Super Pack sets to one lucky reader! Complete the Rafflecopter below to enter! a Rafflecopter giveaway Be sure to check back on July 21st, August 1st, and August 5th! I've teamed up with Class Dojo to share some new features that they will be releasing on these three dates - they're going to be great!!

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Classroom Management: Using a WOW Board No comments Classroom Management, student recognition, WOW board Have you heard of the WOW board? This tool is not a brand new idea, but I only started using it last year. And, I intend to keep using it! Using a WOW board is a great (and super easy) way to recognize individual students and reward their choices, achievements, and efforts. It is also a great way to boost self-esteem too. What is it? The board is simply a table that is printed onto poster sized paper. The table is labeled with letters along the bottom, and numbers along the side, creating cells. It is laminated so it can be used again and again. I printed my board using the standard poster size setting on our poster maker. I know that some schools may not have a poster maker, but there is no rule that says your WOW board has to be poster sized! How do you use it? When you see a student making a smart choice, setting a good example, making gains, or whatever you feel should be recognized, they add their name to the board. They can choose any space they want and write their name in the selected space. Many WOW boards have 100 spaces, but I like for it to fill up quickly, so my board has only 25 spaces. Since I use other means of recognizing students, like reward tags, I didn't want a board with 100 spaces. Since the board is laminated, students can use an Expo Vis-a-Vis marker to add their name. This makes it easy to erase and start over when we're ready to do so. What do you do when the board is full? When the board is full of students' names, I choose 5 students to receive a "prize." Really, they get to choose a classroom reward coupon. Prize buckets and I don't get along (#clutter). The classroom rewards cost me nothing and the kids love them. You can find all sorts of classroom reward options on TPT. Then, I erase the board and we start filling it up again and the cycle repeats. How do you choose the winners? I usually just pick five random cells and write them on a sticky note, without looking to see whose names are in those cells. For example, I might write down A3, C4, B5, D2, E1. I call out the cell number and identify the name of the student written in that cell. They're a winner! You could write all your cells (i.e. A1, A2, A3, etc.) on color tiles, small slips of paper, or anything else you can fit into a small bucket. Then, when it is time to choose your winners, you just pull a tile, slip of paper, etc. out of the bucket and match it to the name in that space on your board. Using a Wow board is just another way to recognize your students and motivate them to do their best. If you'd like to give it a try, you can download my free template. If your school doesn't have a poster maker, don't dismiss the idea of using a WOW board. You could easily print this on regular paper and just use a smaller sized version. The kids will still love it! DON'T FORGET IT, PIN IT! Share It:

If you're tired of digging into your own pockets to find ways to motivate your students, you need to check out these FREE reward coupons. You can even use the editable option to add your own coupons.

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Massive list of classroom jobs for elementary students in preschool, kindergarten, first grade, or second grade - such great ideas for classroom jobs!

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When I started at my new school last year, I came into a new reading program. I was used to doing almost all of my reading instruction WHOLE CLASS, but my school uses a guided reading model all the way up to 5th grade. I definitely had to rethink my reading block! I had done centers in the past, but wanted a really clear way to maximize the time and make the transitions clear for the students. Here's how I do my guided reading block! ROTATIONS We have Guided Reading/Centers Monday-Thursday from about 1:10-2:00 and I rotate through four groups. This means each center is 12 minutes long, with about 30 seconds for a transition. 12 minutes can fly by, so the students have to work on getting those transitions DOWN. I found a FANTASTIC resource by my friend Kristen of Chalk & Apples, and it has made centers SO easy. There are tons of different icons that can be easily swapped out on different days or weeks. I change mine up all the time! In a typical week, I do guided reading with leveled passages on Monday and Wednesday, and we do literature circles on Tuesdays and Thursdays. GROUPS My students are grouped according to DRA levels, because that is what my school uses. You might use AR, Lexile, or another measure. I have four groups: Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid, and High. Each group has a number, but I assign the number randomly so it doesn't match up to skill level in any way. I have 24 students in my class this year, so there will be 6 kids in each group. If you have a larger class, you can still make it work by having your higher groups work on their own while you work with a lower group and just check in! GUIDED READING I LOVE this close reading resource from Fifth in the Middle. I bought the entire bundle so I have TONS of options. Each reading comes in four reading levels, but they are on the same topic and look the same so students don't notice. There is also a paired text that I try to use for morning work toward the end of the week. There are several pages of activities for each passage, and I often have the students start these at the table with me after we've read the passage out loud. When it is their turn for guided reading, the students come to me at our back table with a pencil and a highlighter. I give them their sheets for that day and discuss what we will be looking for while we read (unfamiliar words usually) and we begin reading. I like to make sure each child reads, so however I have to break it up to make that happen. After reading through, I ask them to scan through again to find specific information. This changes week to week, so one time it might be looking for transition phrases, and another it might be looking for dates to create a timeline. Then, we talk about what everyone found and work on putting together the information on the worksheet. I, of course, provide a lot more scaffolding and support to my lower readers, while my high readers are able to do the activity on their own. LIT CIRCLES On the days that we have literature circles, the students still come to the back table with me, but this time they bring their lit circle book (which varies) and their lit circle binder. In their binder, they keep all of their jobs and their reading schedule. I have used about a GAZILLION resources for lit circles (including online blogs), but this one from Pocketful of Primary is my absolute FAVORITE: It is SOO easy to adapt to groups of different sizes and I found it very user-friendly for both the kiddos and for myself! I organize the jobs using a hanging file I found on Amazon. You can find it here: THE OTHER CENTERS So what do the kiddos do during their other blocks of time? Here's some options I cycle through: STAPLES: Partner Reading Each student has a partner from their reading group that they meet up with for this activity. I typically use "I Survived" books or similar short chapter books. I stock up through Scholastic! I have 6 shared books for the entire class, and I place a sheet inside the front cover so the students can write their names and where they ended each day they read. I always have new books ready to go for the students who finish. I do this strictly for fluency, so I don't do quizzes or worksheets. Silent Reading (KBAR) In my class, we call silent reading KBAR- Kick Back and Read. When we do a whole class KBAR, I sometimes take it outside. Spelling (Spelling City) I typically use Spelling City for centers, but sometimes do a worksheet instead. Vocabulary (Quizlet)Quizlet is AMAZING. I love using this for vocabulary! The students really enjoy it as well. Keyboarding (KWT) This is a tough one since monitoring the students' finger placement is so important. I don't do this OFTEN as a center, but throw it in now and again. Writing If we are working on a longer project (such as the state report), I have the students use this chunk of time for that. Otherwise, I sometimes provide a prompt or allow them to free write. Here's one of the resources I use: NoRedInk If you've never used this site, CHECK IT OUT! It's one of the best ways to get some extra grammar practice into your day! Be aware that the initial set up takes a bit of time because the students have to select a bunch of their favorites from different categories: books, tv shows, movies. What's neat is the site uses their preferences and their name + their friends' names when building the practice sentences. The kids get a kick out of it! Task Cards (small group) Students work with their reading group and record their answers on individual answer sheets. I have a huge selection of task cards that I keep in one of these bad boys from Michael's: Cursive (Can Do) I love that my school teaches cursive, but in fifth grade, we don't have a lot of specific time for it. To keep the kid's practicing, I assign pages from our cursive book during centers. Reading Comprehension (Reading Plus) We use Reading Plus, but there are many online reading comprehension sites. Use whatever your district provides or what works for your class! Games I will occasionally throw in a review game for the kids to play with their small group. The key is they have to be short and not too loud! Comment below if you have other questions or want to add some advice on running smooth ELA centers with Guided Reading!

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