Free Rewards & PBIS

Our school has adopted a program called PBIS- Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports. The idea behind this program is that you use positive reinforcement to get the behaviors you want to see, and teach expectations.  At our school we want the children to be Safe, Responsible, and Respectful.  If you see a child doing these things, you give them a Tiger Ticket, and say how they were being safe, responsible, or respectful. If they have earned a ticket each day, they are entered in a daily drawing.  With this program you are supposed to give a daily reward, weekly reward, and a monthly reward.  Last year I felt like I wasn't doing a very good job and the kids were not excited about the rewards, HW passes, lunch in the courtyard, pencils, junk, candy, etc. I also wasn't doing a very good job of passing out tickets, keeping track of them, or doing the drawing on a regular basis.

So over the summer, I thought about how I could make my program in my room run a little better.  I did some research, on Pinterest, of course, and a few teaching blogs that I follow. I decided that I was going to make a choice binder with free things.  On Pinterest  and TPT (search free reward cards) I found a lot of rewards that were already made up! Some of them were large pages, and some were little cards.  So I printed the ones I thought I would use.  Then I laminated them, and had my wonderful student teacher and paras cut them out for me.  Then I found some library pockets that were already in my drawer, laminated and ready to go! I stuck different rewards in each pocket, and labeled them with an extra card.  Then on the rewards that were whole pages, I stuck (with double stick tape) the pocket on the back.  I had a few rewards that didn't have the big pages, so I just stuck them on to a laminated piece of paper.  Finally, I 3 hole punched all of the pages and put them together with some chicken rings.

My kids were SO excited about all of the rewards! They couldn't wait to get their name drawn.  When a child wins, they select the card, and I sign the back and write their name with vis-a-vis (to prevent stealing cards as they look thru the book).  When they use the card, I can wipe off their name and my signature, and put it back in the book!

Now for some of the "house keeping"

• I have the helper of the day collect and record tickets at the end of the day on a spreadsheet. 
• Once they get 1 tiger ticket, they get to put in a yellow carnival ticket with their name into the drawing. 
• The helper of the day also does the drawing. 
• Yellow tickets stay in the drawing box, until Friday, when I draw a daily and a weekly winner. 
• Weekly & monthly winners get a prize from the office. 

I was asked to add a list of some of the rewards: 

• Skip morning work
• Use the teacher’s chair
• Eat lunch with the teacher and friend
• Homework pass
• Pick your own partner pass
• Move your desk next to a friend for a day
• Write in pen for the day
• Sit on the floor with a pillow
• Chew gum for 30 minutes
• Teacher cleans and organizes your desk
• Dibs on the Computer
• Listen to music while you work
• Pick the music to listen to
• No shoes for the day
• Sit at the teacher’s desk
• Pick a prize from the treasure chest
• Late work pass
• Sharpen your pencil at any time
• Use the teacher’s supplies
• Sit anywhere you like
• Read a book to the class
• Read a book to the principal
• Bring a stuffed animal for the day
• Lunch in the courtyard
• I also make up some of the scratch off ones, these go super fast! They love them! Scratch-off Rewards from Highlights Magazine

 The most popular ones are homework passes, sit in the teachers chair, sit next to a friend, dibs on computer, and eat lunch with a friend and teacher in the room. 

Green School

Last year for Earth Day, my students did a little Earth Day Report Card, and found that there were some easy ways to Go Green and be Earth friendly that we were not doing.  Following the survey, I had my children do some research on the top 3 that we scored the lowest on.

1. Idle Free Zone

2. Composing in the Classroom 

3. Plants in the school

After they did research, they had to write a letter to convince the principal and myself that we needed to try these things. They had to present the research and make a plan for us to follow.  Several students did research on plants. They found that plants can increase focus, raise test scores, clean the air, reduce stress, and help lower blood pressure.  Part of their plan was that I needed to buy plants to put in my room.

When I saw tropical plants on sale at Hen House for $1, I was sold.  Well, sorta.  I was on a run when I saw them, and I was not about to run home with plants.  So I waited a few days, and went back.  They were gone. I went to 3 Hen Houses to find the $1 tropical plants! I checked the Hen House ad to make sure that this sale was true at all Hen Houses.  They even had this to say on the ad, "Did you know? Keeping indoor plants not only adds a nice green touch to our homes; some indoor plant species have proven to be effective filters for pollutants such as carbon monoxide."

These little plants came in plastic, not cute, pots. So I ran to my favorite store, Hobby Lobby, and found terra cotta pots on sale for 1/2 off. Five pots & saucers cost me $5! So new plants for school & home- $10 for 5 plants!

Edit: I was so excited to put my plants up in my window sill at school. They were there for less than 24 hours.  I had the blinds down, but the windows open.  Then all of a sudden, a big gust of wind blew them over and shattered them all over the floor (in the middle of a science lesson!) I was able to save the plants, but had to buy new plastic pots and find a different place besides the window to put my plants! 

Friday Funnies

These are some of the best lines from one of my favorite students in 1st grade... I had fun digging these up and had some good laughs! I hope you enjoy!

• Miss Cremer, you need to stop drinking Dr. Pepper, because you are gettin' sexier every day! 
• Miss Cremer, do you breastfeed? I saw Kathy breastfeed once! 
• He was sitting in the hall with a friend waiting for his older sibling conference. One was break dancing, the other was singing "Teach me how to dougie!"
• Miss Cremer you look HOT HOT HOT today!"
• My dad said on my sisters birthday she is going to have a sex discussion. That means kissing, and getting married, and having babies and..... THEN I cut him off! :)
• Playing the song "Beauty and the Beast." He says, "This is a perfect song to kiss to!"
• A girl was wearing sparkle jeans a sparkle shirt, and a vest... "Wow, you look SMOKIN HOT!"
• Can I have this butterfly to give to my mom? I want to give it to her on hallelujah day! 
• He brought me this for "good luck"
• He was talking in a girly voice to a little girl, then he said....I'm sorry I was just practicing my girl talk, so I can get on girls!

And the best part of this... I could have him again next year!

Fabulous 5th Grade

This year is my 3rd year teaching 5th grade, so I think I finally have at least a clue of what I am doing! However, every year, I have had to change schools, grade levels, or pack up my room for painting. This year was no different, the summer daycare was in my room, yippee! This meant that I had to take anything I did not want touched by 50 kids who don't go to my school (read crazy yelling, bean bag throwing, drawing on cabinets, kids who would rather be outside). So that pretty much meant that I had to take down my whole room, and would be kicked out until 2 days before teachers had to report back. So I was able to work on a few projects at home. I went a little crazy with the vinyl lettering and labeling! I will do a how-to on that later! So here it is.... Fabulous 5th Grade!

My desk area

Assignment board

Photos of all of my classes!

Back bulletin board and computers

Calendar and Birthdays

Math Manipulatives 

Supplies

View from the back of the room

Class Rules

Math Focus Wall

Front of room

Carts for papers

View from front of the room

Hall display ABC's of 5th Grade

Lunch Count

My Student Teacher's Desk!

I follow a great blog, KB Konnected and they are participating in a blog hop for new bloggers over at Grade 3 is The Place for Me!!

1. What state you are in? Kansas


2. Your current teaching position- 5th Grade


3. Your teaching experience- This is my 6th(!) year Teaching. I have taught 1st, 2nd, and 5th grade


4. When you started blogging- Just this week!


5. Share a blogging tip / blogging resource- Follow blogs on Google Reader!