Classroom Discipline

 I had somebody ask me about my form of discipline in my classroom.  I have several things going on it my room so we will start with my clip chart.  Last year, I created this system using a worm.  My students received a ticket every morning for getting their agenda signed.  Then at the end of the day they got to get a sticker from my treasure chest for keeping their ticket.  The ticket served as a warning and if at the end of the week they had all 5 tickets the could go to the treat drawer.

This worked fine for my first year but I quickly realized that my behavior worm only monitored bad behavior instead of both positve and negative behavior.  By mid year, I had added an apple for my kids to clip up to which really changed the behavior of my classroom.

So this past summer, I sat and thought what I could do for the upcoming year.  Although I loved my worm, it was not exactly what I wanted.  Then I was blog stalking and saw a post from Jodi over at Fun in First Grade where she had created a clip chart on Vistaprint.  I thought....how GENIUS!  I could actually create EXACTLY what I wanted and make it EXACTLY how I wanted it to look.  So here is what I am using this year.

It is PERFECT!!  My kids have responded so well to it too!  My chart is a large banner from vistaprint.  It is fairly big but I think it is a good size.  My students can clip up or down however once they pass the yellow/friendly reminder they cannot clip up anymore.  I have not had any MAJOR issues with behavior (knock on wood) so far this year. 

I also created a sort of money earning system in my classroom as well.  I bought small paws of four different colors.  Each paw is worth a different amount: 1, 5, 10, and 25 (sound familiar??).  My students can earn paws throughout the day for positive behavior and I can take paws for negative behavior.  Then at the end of the week my students can shop in our classroom store (just a shoe organizer full of goodies).  I forgot to take pictures of it but my students LOVE it!  It really encourages them to stay on task as well as to be on their best behavior.  Each students receives a paw first thing in the morning for having their agenda signed and if my students clip up to red or orange they can earn extra paws.  It is a GREAT system.

These are the paws I used to create the "money" for the store.



Also to encourage "Paw"sitive behavior we use a "Paw"sitve push pin chart.  Students earn push pins if I see them doing something I feel is positive for themselves or others.  Then the students can earn passes once they reach 25.  There are three different passes to earn: computers instead of morning work, rolly chair for the day, or lunch with Mrs. Walker.  They try VERY hard to earn them and it encourages very positive behavior to one another.

  Last but not least we have a "Penny Pizza Party" jar (sorry no pictures).  Instead of brownie points, my class can earn pennies for a pizza party.  They have to work together in order to earn pennies.  It is a class effort not and individual effort.  I give pennies for various things throughout the day.  Once we reach the pepperoni line my students will earn a pizza party.  They cannot wait!  I will try to post pictures this week.

Classroom Tour

WHEW!  What a first month of school!?!?

It has been extremely busy around these parts and I have neglected my blog something horrible.  Lucky for all of you, my hubby is playing golf today so that means I have time to catch up!

I just wanted to start out by giving just a few pics of my classroom.

Welcome to my "Panda"monium....

This is a picture from my desk looking towards the door.  I forgot to do from the door to my desk (imagine that!).  The BIG cut outs on the wall are anchor charts for us to add to throughout the year to teach synonyms, antonyms, compound words, pronouns, homophones, and multi meaning words.  I also have a GIANT question mark on the wall that has all of the "question words" on it.  These work great for a constant reminder to my kiddos!

Here is a look at our birthday cupcakes.  The candles have their names and birthday on them.

Here is our calendar area.  It is not as fancy as some I have seen but it works for us. 

This is our word wall and I just LOVE it because of all the little pandas everywhere...lol!

This is our bathroom door that we use to display our work on.  The kiddos love seeing their work around the room.

Above our door is a cute little set of friendly reminders about using our manners.

I created this challenge corner for my early finishers.  It has several different extra practice sheets that have been previously taught.  The students can complete three of these challenges during their extra time to earn positive push pins for the chart (see post here).

Our class rules are listed on the paws....

This is my reading board I created using all of the cute animal helpers.  It sits right behind my kidney table so I can refer to it daily when we read in small group.

 That was a quick little tour around our room.  Nothing fancy but it works.  

WOWZERS!!!

Oh my sweet teacher friends, I am so sorry to neglect you.  I have been OVERWHELMED with school and getting organized.  I am planning Math this year and we just adopted a new curriculum so I have been a little busy.  BUT thanks to all of these awesome blogs I have gotten so many great ideas.

  I was just wanting to let you all know that the hubby will be playing golf on Sunday so I will be able to catch up...be prepared for several posts as well as freebies!

Thanks for following!

OVERWHELMED with gratitude!

  I am overhelmed by the responses of my giveaway...thank you all for being so interested.  I have sent out all of the packets to everyone who left their email addresses.  If you realized you left a comment but forgot your address just leave another one with it.  If anyone has had any trouble opening the file please email me at firstgradepandamonium@yahoo.com.  Thank you all so much!  Stay tuned for some classroom pictures and some ideas I received from my past two days of training!

Enjoy what's left of your summer break!

Tick...Tock!

I cannot believe how many new followers I have!  It is fantastic!  Almost at 100 followers...maybe I can think of another giveaway soon!  Anyways,  I have sent emails to everyone who has commented as long as you are between Trina and Ash.  Remember to let your friends know midnight is the deadline for this giveaway...so they better hurry!!

Also,  some of you have commented and did not remember to include your email address.  Please double check your comment to make sure you included it.  Thanks for following!

The moment you all have been waiting for....

First off, let me just apologize for the length of time you have had to wait for this giveaway.  I have been away for vacation as well as having visitors stay for several days.  So besides all of that and crazy school starting, I have found some time for this giveaway for my faithful followers.

  Last year, I had several high readers in my classroom.  Therefore, I created book clubs for them to do in small group and well they LOVED it!  This fourteen page book club is a basic "stay on track" as they read kind of thing.  I have the pages in the most random order just because I would be working on one page and thinking of something totally different on the next page.  All I do, however, is print all of the pages off and then put them in the order I would like them to go in.  (Sorry for the inconvenience)

  So, how do you get this FABULOUS packet????  Three simple steps....

1.  Make sure you are a follower of my blog. 
2.  Blog about this giveaway on your blog.
3.  Leave one comment letting me know you follow my blog and post a link to your post about my giveaway. Be sure to leave your email address so I can send you the packet.

Pretty easy, right?  I hope so!

Please be sure to leave your comment between now and Monday, July 25th at midnight.  After that it will be too late! 

Thank you all for being FAITHFUL followers!  I promise there is more blogging to come!

25 Followers...WOO HOO!!

WOW...25 followers!  I am so excited!  I have a freebie for you all but I will be M.I.A. for a little bit.  So I promise once everything gets settled I will be sure to hand it out.  Please, stick with me!  Thanks for your patience and for following my blog!