FREE PRODUCT ALERT

 My blog is SO new! It’s undeniably a work in progress… If you happen to stumble upon this blog and think it might have some potential, give me a “shout out” on your FACEBOOK or Twitter to receive one **FREE** item from my TEACHERS PAY TEACHERS store of your choice! Your shout out must include my URL. Good until 1-9-13. Please comment below with your e-mail and the product that you would like!

Happy Teaching!

~Tara

Positive Behavior Stars



     Color/clip charts may work well for some teachers… but not for me. Last year I taught in the inner city and behavior management was huge...I mean way more important than it had ever been for me in my classroom. The school I was in had a universal behavior management system…a color/clip chart! In my experience, the kids who REALLY needed a behavior management system were the ones that it didn’t work for… You know that moment when you move his/her clip down and it totally escalates the problem! UGH! I had a lot of those! Not fun and not effective!
      This year, I was called back to my old school (yay!) and so I decided to completely change up my behavior management and be much more “love and logic.” I needed a positive route. In turn, I did away with my “clips” and “set in stone consequences” and moved to “Good Job Tokens” and “I’ll think about what will be an appropriate consequence.” Now, half way through the year, I can report that it is working great! This works for my kids and not just as a system but as a motivator! It’s simple… kids work to gain tokens. After 6 tokens they chose from my “prize box.” Kids can earn as many as I see fit in a day. I always make sure that my students receive a token at least once a day unless there is a good reason why they shouldn’t. If a child is making some not-so-good choices, I no longer say, “You’re on yellow. Yellow means warning. You’re on red. Red means time out.” Now, I say, “Why don’t you take a seat while I think of a consequence that seems fair?” They never really know for sure what their consequence will be but it will always fit the “crime.”
      Another aspect that I didn’t even think of is how it naturally incorporates Math concepts. My kids started saying things such as “Mrs. Seegert! I have one more token to get and then I’ll have 6!” WOW! Teachable moment? I think so! Even half way through the year, filling up their stars is an exciting event for them! I love that not all children fill it up on the same day. Doing the whole “prize box” thing is quick now-a-days!”
     Oh and one more thing, I NEVER ever put the tokens on their stars for them. They have the privilege of sticking the token on their own star themselves. They take the ownership!
      Everyone has a different teaching style. This system fits mine:) If you think this might fit yours, I have included a free template for the Stars. You can copy onto brightly colored construction paper and laminate. Don’t forget you will need sticky back velco. You can reuse the stars for years to come. The tokens were bought at the teacher store. I just added Velcro to the back—easy!

Happy Teaching!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Behavior-Management-Star

 

Google Quck Search Tip for Teachers!

Hello! Welcome to my blog! I invite you to check out my About Me section, Freebies/ Products and the Inspiration section at the top of this page! 

For my first post I just have to share a tip that I found extremely useful! I learned this tip from the wonderful Mrs. Earl!  It is a Google Quick Search Tip! A few weeks ago, I was looking and looking and looking and LOOKING for any sort of Kindergarten online game that I could do whole group with my class on our Interactive Whiteboard….NO luck! If only I had known this tip.Search for filetype!

 If you want to find a game, there are hundreds of games that people have already created using Shockwave.  All you need to do is tell Google that you ONLY want to see games in your search! Type in what type of game want to search for or what you are teaching (sorting, verbs,addition), leave a space,and then type filetype:swf. Don't forget your colon and no space after the colon either! By typing in “swf” you are telling Google to only find Shockwave Flashplayer games! I tried this with sorting and found a good one. The link is below!We did this as a whole group and sorted the Living and Nonliving things. After that, they did a sorting activity of their own.

Filetype:____ works for any type of file.

Looking for powerpoints? Use “ppt” You could type in shapes filetype:ppt and see what you get...

You can use doc, xls,pdf and any other filetype that you can think of.

Questions? Comment below and happy QUICK searching!