Free Calm App Subscription $60 Value!

Ok fellow teachers this is a great one!

Calm (the app) is offering a free subscription to teachers (which is a $60 value) and all you have to do is fill out a form!

I won't say to much about the app as you can download the free version and check it out for yourself first if you'd like but if you are looking for ways to introduce mindfulness or ways to calm a class down this could be beneficial to you.  

I tried to apply for the free subscription as a substitute teacher... unfortunately I did it the first time a while ago but I tried again a few days ago and I hoping I hear back from them.

Did you apply for the free subscription?

How do you plan to introduce and use Calm in your classroom?

Update:
It took at least a couple of weeks but I got my free subscription (for as long as I have the app).
Thanks Calm!

This Week At School

This week at school I was in a couple of new to me classes

One of them I walked in and saw this....

For those of us that aren't aware... this is in Spanish

I do not speak Spanish

So I did my very first day of Spanish immersion!

Luckily it was grade 1 and 2 and there were only 12 students... so we spoke in English this day.

This isn't my first time "teaching" something that I don't know.  I've been a French music teacher, high school computer teacher, guitar teacher, and violin instructor.

Later in the week I was also a nursery/kindergarten teacher at a school I haven't been at this year yet.

I went back to my old school from last year and taught grade 8 as well.  The kids were not the greatest and I'll often use this as a reason not to come back to that particular class.  BUT, in this case (and likely only a handful of others) I did tell the teacher I would come back.  Why?  Because I've been the one with a class that no one would want to teach that likely would have been nearly impossible to find a sub for (luckily, I never needed one) and so I decided to offer my services again (so long as I'm not already booked elsewhere)... plus I know a lot of those students from last year and I do think they are capable of improving their behaviour.

But to finish things off... I finally was in a classroom with class pets again!

It's been a looong time since I've seen some class pets in a classroom!

Tech Decks

In case you were wondering I was recently informed that there is a new toy that has only just recently come to Canada.... and it's called Tech Decks and no this is definitely not the same skateboard toy we all were familiar with from when I was in elementary (or maybe middle) school.

Or... Just kidding... it definitely is... it's a small skateboard that you can jump from wall to wall with using your fingers as a persons legs on the skateboard. You can also do super cool jumps on your desk with it and you can continue to do them over and over again far after your teacher has asked you to put it away and get ready for music (for like the 3rd time).

So, in case you were wondering... tech decks are still alive and well and considered "brand new to Canada" by a grade 2 student.

This Week At School

T'was the day after Easter and all through the school

Not many creatures were stirring since it was Easter Monday

So Miss Penner in her cardigan

and no one else to help her : (

Set up a scavenger hunt..

Claiming it to be "Eastery" since you know... Easter egg hunts

This week at school I learned something.

If you want your students to take good science notes make it a scavenger hunt!  

I'm assuming this works for other subjects as well.

Basically I printed off questions that they had to answer and then the answers were all on numbered yellow pieces of paper hidden around the room.

Some of them were easy to find but a bunch of them required clues that I wrote out on the board so that they would find them.

In the end everyone had all the notes written out and everyone learned a bunch of new and interesting things about the human body.

And those that didn't make it to school for our lovely scavenger hunt?

Too bad, so sad.

We also got our aboriginal dot art up in the hallway (it's been getting rave reviews)

Before spring break we FINALLY finished reading The Westing Game (my students LOVED it) and I put up their wanted posters for the characters that I had given them at the beginning of the novel study (not all of them are up because these things apparently take time).

In math we started guided math groups and it is like the storm cloud that had been hanging over my math class lifted and a bunch of sun shine has just been shining down on us.  It's been lovely.   Here is the website that I went to for information on them (I believe I actually googled "how to teach math in a split class" and this came up).  It was a HUGE help and it isn't nearly as daunting as I thought it would be.

Our grade 4-6 play is in less than 2 weeks!  

I'm incharge of costumes... please tell me these look like fish... sort of?

This is going to be Pinochino's nose (size medium - I still have to figure out how to get something to stick onto it so that it can be bigger yet).

I'm not sure I told you all about this lovely little box.

I was getting so many grievances after recess' that I was going insane.

So I glued wrapping paper around a cracker box and told them to put their problems in here and I would deal with them later... it has been empty since we came back from spring break!

My favourite thing about this week?

I didn't bring a single school thing home with me!

Pink Shirt Day (round 2?)

I'm not sure what's going on here... because I looked it up and Pink Shirt Day was on February 25, 2015.  

But now I've gotten an email from someone at my school saying we are taking part in Pink Shirt Day which is on April 8, 2015 (tomorrow)

So here we go again...

We already did our Pink Shirt Day poems so I think I'll just show them a video that also came with the email and do some talking about it.  

And of course... wear pink

Here's the video we were instructed to show our students

And here is a link on some information about 

Conflict Vs. Bullying

I like that on the 2nd page it gives examples on when you can use conflict resolution and when it wouldn't work.  We will probably go through some of those after reading the first page... but that will likely be it for us.

and finally, here is the link to the website for the 

International Day of Pink

If you want to see what my students did back on February 25th here is a link to that post: 

Pink Shirt Day

Classroom Management

It's spring break over here but alas, I'm continuing to work (my next science unit is done which feels great!) and of course that little cough and illness that has had me feeling kind of meh is being extra persistant now that I have time off.

But ANYWHO...

I have a confession

I don't think I'm very good at classroom management.

I know I have to give myself SOME credit.  I have a pretty needy class this year and the angels that I brought with me from when I taught grade 4... well they have all grown up a bit over the last few months and are now preteens.

We have been doing Ruleopoly in my classroom which the kids LOVE.... though I'm no longer much of a fan.  Some of them don't care that they get their names flipped over when they don't turn something in and if a lot of them are still facing the correct way at the end of the week the process of playing Ruleopoly can take 15 minutes away from our day (which I suppose isn't SO bad).

We also created a class constitution that we all agreed to and signed.

But I'm starting to think of next year and what I could do instead (whilst crossing my fingers that I get a job for next year).

One of my coworkers was telling me about My Classroom Economy and it sounds like something that would be right up my alley.

Before I get into what My Classroom Economy is I'll give you a warning... it requires a bit of set up time at the beginning of the year.  BUT once it is set up and running and assuming you've got a class of reliable and happy workers then it should run relatively smoothly after the first couple of months.

I've been looking into the grade 4/5 version of it and the grade 6 version (because I'm teaching grades 5 and 6 this year).  BUT they have it for grades kindergarten to grade 12!

So what is it?

Here is the really quick version of it because I'm just going to trust that you are going to be so hooked on My Classroom Economy that you go and click on that lovely link above to check it out for yourself.

1) Everyone in your class gets a job and every job earns a salary over the course of the month.  Some of the higher paying jobs (like the banker) require the student to apply for it with recommendations (possibly from their teacher from last year).  But ultimately it is up to you to decide who gets what job.  They even give you a list of examples that could be jobs.

2)  Everyone has to pay to rent their desk for the month.  I think in the grade 6 one the rental fee was $1000 for the month.  There is just one problem... no one earns a salary that is $1000.

3)  Students can earn extra money for getting good grades on assignments, getting compliments, or handing in their assignments on time.

4)  Students can also be fined for handing in assignments late or not keeping their desks tidy (as well as other things I'm sure - like not following the classroom/school rules)

5)  Some students will be raking in the moola while others may not be.  Those that have quite a bit saved can buy their desk for $3000... this means that they no longer have to pay the rental fee every month.  They can also buy others desks from them so that they are earning an extra $1000/month.  It's really quite the system.

6)  Students can buy insurance (I don't remember if this is something that they HAD to buy).  They buy insurance to cover something happening to their desk.  What could happen to their desk you ask?  While likely nothing.  Unless, of course, you are like the story I heard where a teacher dumped their desks over and made a big mess.  Those that had the insurance the teacher (or the bank) paid the students for their losses but those that didn't have the insurance had to pay more money.

7)  After everything has been paid for the month students have the chance to participate in class auctions.  Basically, the teacher gathers some gifts together that the students who are left with money can bid on (students can also choose to save their money).

8)  There is also a bank that students can keep their money in.  If they choose to keep their money in the bank instead of in their desks they earn interest (I'm sure this depends on the grade level you look up).

9)  Remember the jobs the students had?  Well, if a student decides one day that they don't want to do their job or someone has a messy desk but doesn't want to clean it... they can post a classified job on the classifieds board in the classroom advertising the job and how much they will pay.

Or basically, it teaches students how to be responsible with their money.  We all know of someone in our lives that is not responsible with their money.  They likely have a nice car, wear all the latest fashions, eat out all the time.... but at the end of the month they aren't putting anything away to be saved.  Those people need a lesson like this.

They give an approximate amount of time that it will take at the beginning and end of the year... I think an hour at the beginning to explain everything (this likely doesn't include signing up for jobs) and possibly another hour at the end of the year (though I didn't quite get that far in my readings to remember why)

OH,

and best of all

it's

FREE

You can download everything you need to run the program (other than the prizes) from the website.

Here is the link again for My Classroom Economy

I'm thinking that I'm going to try this one out next year.

So... now it's your turn to chime in.

Have you tried My Classroom Economy?

What did you think of it?

Or, what do you use in your classroom?

Or maybe you use nothing at all... why?

Pink Shirt Day

Today (February 25, 2015) was the day we wear pink shirts to take a stand against bullying.  

Because bullying (I would likely rather call it teasing) has been a HUGE issue in my classroom this year my class participated in this by wearing a pink shirt today (well most of us wore pink).

I kind of planned it all last minute when I discovered this resource was free on Teachers Pay Teachers (you should probably go and get it for next year... or just use it on another day this year).  It was perfect for my grade 5/6 classroom but you could alter the poem to be shorter for a  younger grade.  

I saved doing this until the end of the day which is when my grade 5 and 6's get split up for discovery time (basically a religious class).  I didn't plan it to happen that way and I wish my class would have been all together for it but I had forgotten it was Tuesday (which is the only day this religious class happens) but I digress...

I put the words "bully", "bullied" and "bystander" in a cup and had them pick a slip of paper without looking. Later when someone said theirs was so hard we talked about how a person who is being bullied doesn't get to choose to be bullied and so in this activity no one got to choose which role they would take on either.

Some of the words they came up with to use in their poems were amazing.  One of the "bullies" said that she felt "powerful" when she was one (as in this girl wasn't actually a bully in real life... just for this activity)

We ended the day with me telling them to all wear a pink shirt the next day (today) if they could and having to come back to school this morning with a good copy of their poem on a pink piece of paper ready for our wall.

Then, today I found this article about the campaign and gave each student a copy of it and we read it together.  Afterwards I had them summarize what the article meant to them in a couple of sentences and then had them finish the sentence starter "Some ways a bystander could help someone that is being bullied could be..."

We talked about how it is ridiculous for someone to make fun of another person for what they wear... what someone wears does not affect anyone else (normally) and we discussed that wearing pink would not actually stop bullying BUT it would show others that we are taking a stand against it.  

On the way to work this morning I heard on the radio that 3 out of 4 adults will be bullied at some point in their lives so we also shared about how if you feel like you are alone and like you are the only person ever getting bullied that you aren't... and that most people unfortunately have to go through it.  We did decide that we could try to lower that statistic however by not bullying others... here's hoping they remember that tomorrow.

Obviously I forgot to take pictures of their poems but I did snap a picture of me in my pink shirt this morning.

my students told me that it looked like I was going to a cross country event... probably because I was wearing jeans and runners.  Actually, a lot of people commented on how casual I looked... I guess I normally get dressed up a little more.

Anywho, I'll try to remember to snap some pictures of our poems tomorrow and update this.

UPDATE:

here is our hallway display with most of our shirts and poems

Ruleopoly

I would like to start this post off by saying that none of the ideas in this post are my own original ideas.  I did not come up with any of them on my own and will not take credit for them (however, I did come up with the name "Ruleopoly" so that I will take credit for!).

I hummed and hawed about what to do for a behaviour incentive thing.  I wasn't sure if I was going to do anything for a while (although I did know that I wasn't going to do what the previous teacher was doing - only because I did not understand the colour chart at all).

In the end I channeled me 5 years ago and decided we were going to play a rule version of Monopoly.  Basically, if the students follow the rules of our classroom for the week (they are allowed slip ups but they must prove within a reasonable time that they have learned their lesson to earn the right to play again) they get to roll a dice and move their name around a giant game board that is on the wall.  When they don't follow the rules of the class I turn their name over and they don't get to play. 

This week I had multiple names turned over at Ruleopoly time and I saved those players for last and we had a discussion about what I want to see as an improvement for next week before letting a couple of them roll the dice and a couple of them didn't get to play because I had to talk to them too often.

Anywho, without further ado, here is our game board

Inside the game board on the left is the rules to play the game... basically what some of the spaces mean and how they get to play.  On the right inside the game board is a short version of our classroom rules - the rules they agreed to follow in order to play.

Their ames are currently all near the beginning/middle of the game.  I think all their names are turned the proper way right now because they get a fresh start at the end of the week... but when they misbehave their names get turned the wrong way so you can't read them until they can prove they have learned their lesson.

For example, I had one student who wasn't raising their hand the other day.  I turned their name over and told them I would turn in the proper way when I saw them raising their hand instead of talking out of turn.  The student did start raising their hand by the end of the day and was able to play.

The computer room and chance cards are just jobs that I would have my students doing in the classroom anyways (like emptying the compost, being my helper, line leaders and enders, etc) and then things like running a class madlib (or other game), reading to the class, or teaching us all something.  I gave them a warning that just like in real Monopoly the chance card or computer lab cards are not always good things.

When they land on math question or spelling question I give them a math question from something we learned that day or a spelling question from their list.  If they get it right I give them a candy and there is no penalty if they get it wrong.

Below is our classroom constitution.  They all signed it on the lines on the bottom and it is up in our classroom.  I highlighted the important parts because it is a little wordy.  But it was a great lesson in descriptive language!  

At one point recently I was just tired of the way some of the students were leaving the classroom at the end of the day so I left them a note on our whiteboard...

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Want to play "Ruleopoly" in your classroom?

Homeworkopoly is where I got my idea from (including the board)

Do you believe in incentive programs (last year I didn't use one and the year went mostly okay so I don't feel the need to necessarily use one)?  

If you do use one what do you use?