Rewarding Awesome Behavior...The Easy Way (& some freebies)

Last summer after reading about some great ideas from other teachers, I created and shared my Behavior to Roar About Catalog.  It replaced my prize box this year *AMEN* and my firsties LOVED it.  I loved it too, but as with anything, it needed a little *tweeking* to make it just right for what I needed.  My problem this year was keeping up with who had earned their trip to the behavior catalog and when.  My firsties have a behavior calendar in their homework folder that is color coded based on the day they had.  BUT, it meant they or I had to count up their days.  To earn a trip to the behavior catalog they had to have 8 good days (not consecutive, but all together).  So.....this year after doing a little blog researching and my favorite Pinterest, I figured out what I am missing to make my life easier.   I am going to use a punch card system this year and when students earn 8 punches, they can go to the behavior catalog.  And let me say, the world stoppped in first grade when we went shopping in that catalog last year.  Even though they usually knew what they wanted (stinky feet was always a favorite), they had to browse the catalog just to make sure.  :-)  I will be posting pics later today of the punch cards and they can be downloaded FREE.  I also wanted to revamp some of my catalog, so it now has a new look with the adorable KPM Doodles clipart.

Above are some of the new images of my behavior catalog.  I also revamped some of my choices and am up to 27 choices for my firsties to choose from!  (And almost all free to me, no treasure box!!)  To further organize myself and my firsties in my never ending battle at organization, I have created reward coupons that match the behavior catalog choices.  See below.  After punch card is full, shopping in catalog is complete, they will receive a reward coupon for the prize they chose.  Two reasons for this - They can hang on to it and redeem it when they want.  Sometimes this year they wanted to do stinky feet, but wanted to do stinky feet with a friend who hadn't yet earned their trip to the catalog.  This way they can wait until they are absolutely ready to use it.  Second, I can put it in their homework folder to go home to show their parents the prize they earned.  They will be laminated.  Another idea is to use them in the clear name tag necklaces to wear when they use their coupon.

So, with all that, I hope it makes sense!   If not, ask me a question!!  :-)  Click on any of the images to see the catalog & coupons in my TpT store.  They come together in a set.  Anyone else's head starting to spin with back to school stuff!?!?!  Now it's back to legos, Thomas the Train, & Hotwheels with a cute 2 year old!   Enjoy!

Click on the picture below to see the punch cards in my TpT store for free.  I would love your feedback if you're using them! :)

Mega Word Work

I ventured into my classroom today with my 2 year old.  I actually managed to get quite a bit unpacked and put away with him playing with his cars and trucks and wanting to take out magnadoodles, blocks, markers, books, everything!!!  I am excited beyond words to be moving into a bigger classroom.  My wheels were turning today as I pictured where I wanted everything to go.  Especially my word work center because I just finished wrapping up how it will be organized this year.

  I am going to print, laminate, and hole punch each task card.  They will be held together with a ring.  **Sorry, no pictures, haven't had time to put it together with a 2 year old running around**.  I will create a separate set of task cards for each of my reading groups, based on ability.  I plan on spending A LOT of time at the beginning introducing each task card along with expectations.  I created recording sheets for some of the task cards.  I actually think I will be using a word work journal this year to cut down on some copies.  You can check out the task cards and recording sheets, from my TpT store.  I would love to hear from you if you download them, along with any suggestions for more activities.  Follow my TpT store for more fun stuff to come.  What other awesome ideas to you have for word work??? Enjoy!

***UPDATE***

Now posted in my TpT store are Writing Center Task Cards.  I wanted the set to be versatile for throughout the year.  There are 132 task cards! WHOA!!!  Some cards have writing topics on them like a rainy day, a time I was excited, the beach, my family, etc.  There are topics for creating lists, recipes, newspapers, poems, and stories.  I figured I would just knock them all out at once so I can pick and choose throughout the year.  I think they will work great for an anchor chart bulletin board to give kiddos topics to write about, as well as being hole punched and on a ring in the writing center.  Check it out in my TpT store!   

Math Vocabulary Cards....TaDa!!!

Whew.  Let me just say that these math vocabulary cards have been a labor of love!  I started creating/working on them LAST SUMMER (ha) and have just put the finishing touches on them.  I used a majority of these cards in my room this year on my math word wall.  My district has adopted Common Core standards, so I have been adding more words that align with Common Core.  My district provided picture cards for us to print and use, but can we say, colorless and b-o-r-i-n-g!  I wanted something very simple and clean, but jazzed up in fun colors and clipart.  Viola!  Below is a preview of the end result.  104 vocabulary cards for a quick reference in your room.  Click on the images to go check them out!  

Tomorrow, I am venturing back into my classroom and will start taking some pics.  I have moved to a nice, big room with lots of storage (YAY) and while I don't even want to think about summer ending, I do get excited thinking about decorating and setting up for a new year and new firsties!!