Pinterest New Year's Activities

I won't greet my students until January 8th, but some teachers will go back to school as early as this Thursday.  Therefore, I wanted to go ahead and share some New Year's activities that I've collected on Pinterest.  I have about 13 activities pinned, most of which are geared to 4th-5th graders.  Feel free to check these out by clicking HERE to access my New Year's board on Pinterest.  The best thing about these activities--they are all FREE!  Enjoy! 

New Year's Resolutions: Teacher Edition

Happy New Year!  It's 2013, but I don't really think of it as a "New Year."  After all, my year starts in August! 

At this point, I am halfway through the 2012-2013 school year, but I thought I would create some goals, or resolutions, that I can focus on for the remainder of the year.  This has been the best year for me, professionally.  I have learned SO much through my Twitter PLN, had the opportunity to visit the Ron Clark Academy (a dream of mine since college!), received recognition for my work (on a local level, I was named "Teacher of the Month" in October), and have had no discipline issues in my classroom (Hallelujah!).  Even though it's been a great year so far, I know I still have much more learning and growing to do. 

For the remainder of the school year:
1.  I resolve to listen more intently to my students.
     -My students looove to tell me stories and one child in particular has a story to tell me every single day, first thing in the morning.  I get so annoyed with this, but try to never let it show.  I usually continue getting ready for the day while she speaks, listening half-heartedly, and occassionally interjecting an enthusiastic, "Mmh-hmm!"  I should be flattered that this child wants to share things with me!  From now on, I'm going to listen more carefully and show her (and my other storytellers) that I care about what they have to say.

2. I resolve to teach my heart out.
     -I want to finish this year strong.  Teaching is my dream job and I want to step into my classroom every day with passion, energy, and excitement and get my students fired up about learning!  I want to do whatever I can to help my students become successful and enjoy their last year in elementary school.   

3. At the same time, I resolve to avoid burnout.
      -I spend most of my time thinking about school.  I constantly read and research and plan and grade. I think about what I can do better...how I can make my lessons more engaging...how I can do a lot with technology even though I have access to little...the list goes on.  This is exhausting!  I need to take some time for myself.  It hit me that I'm becoming a little obsessed with school as I was standing in front of the copy machine in our main office on Christmas Eve, prepping materials for when I return from break.  I am not "Superteacher".  I need to stop trying to be!


Today, I am linking up with two other teacher bloggers:

 Diane from Teaching With Moxie:

and Amanda from Teaching Maddeness:

Happy 2013!

My Behavior Management Plan

I have used a "ticket/class auction" system for managing behavior in my classroom for several years now and it's been quite effective.  In addition, my students love it!  Let me explain how it works:

Every Monday, I give my students ten of these tickets (I usually order them from Oriental Trading, but have also seen them at Wal-mart and Target):

(image from Google)

 

As you can see, each ticket represents $1.00.  If a child breaks a rule, I say, "I'm so sorry, but that will be $1.00" (or more, depending on the severity of the offense).  The child then gives me the number of tickets I ask of him and I quickly mark the misbehavior on a chart.  I use the chart to determine conduct grades at the end of the grading period. 

At the end of the 9 weeks, the students turn in their tickets for play money and we hold a classroom auction. 

The students bring in garage-sale-type items from home (they are NOT to go out and buy anything) and bid on them using "money" they have earned.  Whatever money they don't spend, I add onto the next 9 weeks' auction.  For example, one child was absent on the day we did our first 9 weeks' auction, so she had over $100.00 to spend in addition to the money she earned this 9 weeks.

With this system, the students also have the opportunity to earn more money.  If they get a compliment from another teacher, are caught doing something kind for others, etc., I may offer a couple of extra dollars.  The students are not allowed to ask for money; extra tickets are given at the teacher's discretion.

The second 9 weeks' auction is the most anticipated because students want to buy presents for their family members.  I encourage them to bring in items for all ages.  Here are a few items from last week's auction:        

And in case you're wondering, I've perfected my auctioneer chant!  "Next item up for bid--a cute little stuffed monkey!  Would be a great toy for you or a gift for a younger sibling.  Raise your hand to bid...and here we go...1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10?  Can  I hear 12?  15?  SOLD!  For $15 to Johnny!"  Even though I'm not as fast as actual auctioneers, I can spit out my numbers pretty quickly!

While I am the auctioneer, I assign one child to be the "banker."  This child gets to sit at my desk in my fancy swivel chair, collect money, and give change.  Boy, is this a special job!  Those 5th graders covet this position.  After all, only 4 kids out of the whole class get to do this since there are only 4 nine weeks.  I choose students randomly by pulling their number out of a hat, basically, and no student is allowed to have this position twice.

This system works great for me.  Instead of getting mad or frustrated about a child's behavior, I simply say, "That's inappropriate and it will cost you $2.00."  If they give me attitude (which rarely happens), I up the ante and require more money from them.  They are the ones losing and they realize this.  They like to keep as much money/tickets as they can!

I know this system may not work for every teacher, as some may teach in low socioeconomic areas and the students may be unable to bring items in from home.  I just wanted to share an idea that has worked for me.  My students and I love the ticket/auction system!

Christmas Crafts

Each year, I guide my students in some sort of Christmas craft.  In years past, I've done elaborate and time-consuming crafts that required more effort from me than my students.  Forget that!  This year, I wanted to do something that was less work for me but still enjoyable for the kids.  I found this ornament decorating activity from Pinterest and it was a hit in my classroom.

First, I started with clear glass ornaments:

I removed the tops:

We squeezed drops of acrylic paint inside the bulb.  Be sure to cover the inside completely:

After some gentle swirling, we ended up with a marble effect:

I turned the ornaments upside down and placed them in Dixie cups so they could drain overnight:

I replaced the tops and we tied a piece of ribbon (not shown) on them:

Voila! 

My 5th graders loved the fact that this craft was customizable.  They selected their own colors and could choose as many colors as they wanted.  And I'm one happy teacher--this year I didn't have to pull out the glue gun or tie a million bows or twist a million paper clips.  Ahh!  I love student friendly crafts that are actually cute. 

Teacher Tip #5: When your schedule allows, GO!

When a student invites me to his/her recital, game, performance, whatever, I feel so honored and try to make every effort to go.  The teacher's attendance builds good rapport with the family and shows the child that you care.  They feel so special when you actually show up to an event they invited you to.  Whenever your schedule allows, I encourage you to go to public, outside-of-school functions that the student or parent invites you to.     

Election Project

I don't teach civics or even history, but I wanted to do something special for the 2012 election.  In early October, I decided that my students would learn as much as they could about the upcoming presidential election, including the voting process and where the candidates stood on certain issues.

My class has a global connection with another Christian school in Lima, Peru, so I wanted to somehow bring that 5th grade class into this project as well.  I communicate with the 5th grade teacher in Peru via email, so we sent messages back and forth and agreed to collaborate on an election project in which each class would teach the other.  My students would learn about certain aspects of the U.S. government and then present to the students in Peru and they would, in turn, teach us about the Peruvian government.  By the way, did you know that it is mandatory for people, 18 and older, to vote in Peru?! My students were shocked by this.  Anyway, I knew this task would be challenging for my students because, unfortunately, American government isn't really taught in our elementary school.  The children learned a little about the three branches of government in 4th grade, but nothing in-depth.  This makes me sad because we live in the capital city of our state; my students should know more about the government (both locally and nationally).  Well, they definitely know more now than they did three weeks ago!

I presented the project idea to my students and they were so excited about becoming "experts" in order to teach their peers in Peru.  The students came up with a list of questions that the children in Peru might ask.  Then, they decided to research the questions using a variety of sources.  Soon, we received an email from the students in Peru with their own questions--and, boy, did they come up with some great questions!  My students realized they needed to learn a lot! 

I checked out every book that dealt with government that I could find from the local library and read aloud as much as I could.  What I couldn't read aloud, I kept in our reading center for the students to peruse.  One day, we even did Switcharoo Reading (I just made that term up) in which each child got a book, read as much as he/she could in 3 minutes (and could even take notes if he/she found any "funky facts"), and then, once the time was up, I yelled, "SWITCHAROO!" and they would pass their book to the person on the right and time would begin again.  I showed BrainPop videos and my students took notes.  We learned about democracy, political parties (and their origins), political beliefs, primaries and caucuses, presidential power, presidential elections, and voting.  We graphed voter turnout since 1972 (the first election in which the voting age was lowered to 18) and my students even conducted a poll at car pick-up time to see how many adults were registered to vote and how many of them were planning on voting in the 2012 election.  We then graphed those results.

Once I felt that the students were prepared to work on their own, I split the class into two groups. Each group had to focus on a topic that they wanted to present to the children in Peru. Their task was to create a 3 minute iMovie on their topic(s). The students came up with their own ideas, topics, scripts, and plans; I just monitored.  One group decided to focus on voting, the Electoral College, and the roles of the President and Congress by creating an informative newscast.  The other group focused on political party beliefs (Democrats and Republicans) and the differing views of the candidates, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.  They also created an informative (yet entertaining) newscast called "Presidential Sports" in which one team was trying to beat the other...and they left the audience wondering, "Who will win?!"  As for the differing views, the students focused on education, healthcare, and military spending.  I wish I could show the videos here, but I don't have parent permission.  The students did a good job, however. 

On the day of the election, I set up my room as a mock polling place.  The students had to fill out a registration form in one area in order to be able to vote. 

I only had one privacy carrel, so some of my students had to wait a while.  I told them, "You may have to wait a little while before it's your turn to vote.  Be patient; this is exactly what it's like at some polling places!"  ;)  Geez Louise, in the 2008 election, my hubby and I waited in line for an hour and a half!

Once each child voted, they dropped their ballots into the black box and I made sure they were taken to a local place after work to be counted for the Kids Voting USA program.

The forms looked quite official, eh?

After their vote was cast, each child received an "I Voted" sticker to wear for the day. 

Throughout this process, my students and I kept Election Journals (from Scholastic), where we recorded information on the candidates, debates, etc.

There was also an electoral map included in the back.  The day after the election, we colored in the red and blue states and saw how Obama won the needed number of electoral college votes (even though there was a LOT of red on the map).  I didn't color mine in: 

The morning after the election, my students and I discussed the events from the night before.  I stayed non-partisan throughout this project and had told the children Tuesday afternoon, "No matter who wins the election, do not come into this classroom tomorrow with a negative attitude."  The next day, I could tell that some students were really disappointed, but no one said a negative word about the results. 

 

You may recall from THIS POST, that my students and I pray for a country around the world each morning.  Well, on November 7th, we prayed for our country.  We asked, in Jesus's name, for God to give President Obama wisdom as he makes decisions on our behalf and continued protection over our land and those who are serving in our military in other lands.

 

As I said before, I don't teach civics, but I'm going to continue to talk to my students and pray with them about our government and current events.  I hope this 2012 election project has sparked their interest and they continue to learn about civic duties. 

Florida Caverns Field Trip

We are studying geology right now in science and recently took a field trip to Florida Caverns State Park. We were led on a tour of the caverns...

 (Here, the students are touching a column--this was the only formation they were allowed to touch.)

After our guided tour, I gave the students the "Mrs. Bowman Tour" and led them on a trail to a special place I found out about several years ago--a cave that typically houses bats: 

 We found so many bats in the ceiling of this cave--including these baby bats huddled together:

A few bats were hanging pretty close to our heads:

But most were deep in the crevices of the cave:

 We had so much fun searching for bats!

 The other 5th grade teacher and me:

After the bat cave, we ate lunch at a picnic area in the park and let the students run and play: 

5th grade's first field trip of the year was a success!