Managing the Final Days + Currently

Currently I'm…

Love the 'surprise' section of this months currently.

I wanted to SURPRISE Katie from Little Warriors. If you already follow her blog then you know she is amazing.

I wanted to showcase her Earth Day activity pack, Where Does the Garbage Go, that I purchased and used this year.  The experiment in this pack is completely hands-on and really gives your little ones an understanding of the "Three R's"

My kiddos are still talking about that experiment!

Don't forget to link up with Farley!

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Ok… Now onto managing the final days of school. 

We all know that after spring break the kids are…well…a little cray-cray!  That's when it's time to up your classroom management game.

There are two things that I have been doing with my kiddos and it's working like a charm.  Most days! :)

So my kiddos this year love a little friendly competition. So to get them reviewing their sight words and earning "table points" I set up each table with a different sight word and listed the words on the board.

I change the sight words each week.  The incentive is that whichever table has the most tally marks/points at the end of the day gets to go to fun centers first. Some days we don't make it to fun centers, but they don't know that! ;)

My next classroom management tool first originated from the ladies at What the Teacher Wants.  I snagged their management freebie a couple years ago and my kids LOVED it. Now that its been a couple years, the interest in characters have changed.  So I updated their amazing management tool to meet this years group of kiddos.

Let me tell you how it works:

The ladies at What the Teacher Wants first created this tool as a friendly competition among peers.  They used Team Bieber and Team Skywalker! 

How stinkin cute are they?!

 Each student chooses which team they want to be on and they get a tag that is taped to their desk.  Throughout the day, every time someone was caught on task their team would earn a point. Whichever team at the end of the day/week with the most points earned a prize.  You can check out their complete blog post HERE.  They remembered to take pictures! :) 

My kiddos this year have been all about Frozen and Mr. Peabody, so I simply changed the characters but the game is still the same. Introducing Team Olaf and Team Peabody!

{I was given permission by the ladies at What the Teacher Wants to do so and share with you}

You can grab a free copy of this behavior management tool {here}!

What are some of your favorite classroom management ideas for the end of the year?

Management Monday...a linky!

Rachelle and Natalie are the super-teachers from What the Teacher Wants and they are hosting a Management Monday Linky Party!

Here's a peek into some fun behavior management items I use in my classroom.

{sadly this is the best picture I have of my behavior chart...how horrible is that?!  Sorry}

First up is my behavior chart/system.  Every day students start out on "green" and move up or down according to the choices they make throughout the day.  The great thing that I love about clip charts is that it makes it easier for students to move up and down and "change their color."  For instance, when I used color cards {cardstock paper in a pocket chart} many of my kids would drop and lose cards, tear cards, pull the pocket chart down, etc... It's really shocking how much "damage" occurred when I used that system! :)

I also like to give "chances" to move their clip back up if student's change their behavior around.  Of course this does not pertain to student's who created a sever offense {put their hands on others, etc...}.

I also use Sparkler's as a table management tool.  You can read all about these fun little fuzzy balls HERE!  By far my FAVORITE classroom management tool and positive reinforcer!

{photo courtesy of Ms. Lamb and What the Teacher Wants...I can't find my photo :(  }

I use Mystery Words as a behavior management tool with the whole class.  We get to turn over one letter everytime we get a compliment as a class from another teacher/adult.  I will also give my kids a 'compliment' if they are all doing a wonderful job in the classroom {working quietly} or in the hallway {walking quietly and in a nice line}.  The rewards are fun things that are just not food related.  Rewards include: "write with markers," "extra free choice," "picnic," "movie," "popscicle party," etc..

Even with all these wonderful things {at least I like to think so} some days I just don't feel like I've got it.  A handle on them that is! :)  Like today, PHEW! Day 20 felt more like Day2!

Here's to hoping the rest of the week goes a lot smoother.

For more awesome behavior management ideas click below! :)