Sparking Student Motivation after the SNOW-MAGEDDON!

I am linking up with Joanne over at Head Over Heels for Teaching for Sparking Student Motivation Saturday!

If you live in the south, you probably can't remember the last day you had school! Our district closed last Wednesday in anticipation of the Snowmageddon storm, and we haven't been back since! Thankfully, we were already closed Friday and Monday! To make up our missed days we have some bank time, some teacher workdays that will be turned into school days, and other options to explore. The teacher workdays will be turned into school days, and we will have to have an "at home" workday on Saturday....which is basically what most teachers do every Sunday! Although the snowstorm disrupted our instruction, Valentine's Day party, and about 1,000,000 other things,I was happy to have it come when it did. My Aunt has been in the hospital, and I live within walking distance. (Only about 3/4 of a mile to a mile there from my house). Even though my 4WD truck was STUCK in our driveway (when they plowed the road, they blocked my truck in with about 3 feet of snow!!)- I was able to walk to the hospital to be with her and my family. 

So, now the question becomes HOW to get my students motivated when we return on Tuesday! We are in the MIDDLE of our fraction unit in math and our habitat unit in science! Two of the largest units taught all year!! I WAS on pace with our county pacing guide until missing several weeks of school due to snow! So now, my students and I must really work hard to catch up with where we should be. My motivational trick for my students is money! Now -- before you all have a heart attack and freak out -- I'm talking about CLASSROOM money. I have been teaching for 7 years, but have been frozen on step 2 on our payscale, and my hubby has not started his new job and has been unemployed for a month now. We are B-R-O-K-E. However, I started a classroom management system earlier in the year that revolves around MONEY! My students came up with consequence and rewards - or payments and penalties based on the idea that being the best student they can be is a JOB. The basics are: 

1) Students earn 5 cents each day they are present. If they are sick and have a doctor's excuse, they can still earn their pay for that day. 

2) For each "mark on the chart" (My weekly behavior chart is a freebie that you can grab here!) students must pay a 5 cent penalty. They also lose their pay for that day. 

3) If you go all week without a mark on the chart, you get a 25 cent bonus, AND earn extra recess. 

4) For progress reports and report cards, As, Bs and Cs earn bonus money. Ds don't earn any money, but they don't have to pay a penalty either. Ns (what our district calls Fs) must pay a 5 cent penalty. This was my STUDENTS' IDEA!!!!! They said that with all the help everyone has access to, there is no reason why anyone should fail. And you know what -- participation and grades have both INCREASED since this went into play. 

Now - to keep all of this straight, I just pay my students at the end of the week on Friday. It takes about 10 minutes to pay everyone and sign their planners for the day. I complete this during their AR time. It has been AMAZING. My group of students have learned to quickly count their money, and to trade coins for larger coins. They all LOVE to earn $1, because that allows them to shop in the prize box! $2.50 is lunch in the classroom with the teacher and a movie (usually Magic School Bus -- on Halloween we watched an Addams Family cartoon). $1.50 buys a homework pass, and $2.00 buys an extra 10 points added to an assignment. 

So, when my students return on Tuesday, with Valentine's craziness, and snow on the brain, I know that I will be giving out "bonuses" for students who are on task and focused. My teaching partner Joanne actually started the money system after she saw my classroom behavior improve and we compared scores on counting money and making change. The economic lessons are SO powerful, because my students really treat their learning as a job they must do. We have great parental support for some of our students, but not all, and this has taught my students to self motivate, and to give themselves some confidence. They feel like more of a classroom community -- each person has to do their own part,or it will not work! 

I am looking forward to reading some more motivation tips (I already read one about having a mystery student to watch during review-- and if they do well the class gets candy...I'm SO going to adapt that to money and my classroom!) 

I'm going to include some pictures of my 4 legged babies enjoying the snow. This was Wednesday evening, we only had about 6-8 inches. Once we went over 12, the dogs didn't have nearly as much fun playing in the snow because our youngest dog was just too short and chunky! Once Angel ran some circles and flattened the snow out - they continued to run and play! 

Here's the hubby playing with the dogs-- they were SO excited-- we don't get much snow! 

Hope you all enjoyed!! Don't forget to check out the other awesome entries on the linky! :)

Don't Be A Hallo-weenie!!! Tips for Surviving the Halloween week and a Freebie! !

We all know that one teacher who HATES Halloween. Don't get me wrong - I don't love the jacked up kiddos that invade my classroom this week, but I LOVE Halloween. I learned a few years ago - if you can't beat them - join them! I theme things in my room around Halloween and put all that energy to good use!! This is my 5th year at my current school, and my seventh year teaching, and I have put together some survival skills for surviving the week of Halloween and the day(s) after!

1) The Candy Man..........The first two years, I thought I would never get through all the candy days that followed Halloween. I didn't want any candy in the classroom, but at the end of the day I would find candy wrappers all over the room! They were sneaking the candy at their desk during art, music and guidance!! My solution now? Let them eat candy! Say what, crazy lady?! Yes -- let them eat the candy. Two pieces. THAT'S IT! I tell them on Halloween right before we leave, "If you want to bring in some candy tomorrow to eat, you can bring two pieces to enjoy during lunch." No more wrappers, no more gorging of candy, and I usually get a snickers or two out of the deal :)

2) Costume Stories..... My cousin's brother's sister's friend and I were going down the road......If I listened to every child's Halloween story, I would be stuck at school until Thanksgiving!! My solution - November 1 letters! Students practice their friendly letter skills by writing a letter to someone in the room (we use one of our partner systems) explaining the great night they had. They get to tell ALL about their story, and you practice writing letters! I've also done journal entries - but letters are more fun, because you can exchange them!

3) Excess Energy - Two Words -- Lysol Wipes. It's cold and flu season y'all. Seriously. Too much energy? Set the timer.... I say the phrase, "You have __________ minutes to finish" about fifty million times a day. I set the timer. When the timer goes off -- we are DONE. If you didn't finish, you have to keep working while those who are finished cleans the room! This gives those fast finishers somewhere to put that energy. We clean keyboards, whiteboards, chairs, desks-- ANYTHING that we touch gets the wipe down. Students who need more time have it, and your early finishers aren't driving the other kids crazy.

4) I like to move it move it....... Let your kiddos MOVE! Move around the room. Seriously. Doing a two part assignment? Turn in one part at one table, pick up the other part at another table across the room. Let them move around, and get some of that energy out.

5) Halloween Themed Things - Want them to pay attention to your lesson that you're teaching when all they can think about is Trick-or-Treating? Make your lesson Halloween themed! I know that on Thursday my kiddos won't want to be even THINKING about our money unit - so I created this AWESOME worksheet packet that has all kinds of money word problems!

One LUCKY reader will win this worksheet pack for FREE!! To enter to win, leave a comment about your favorite Halloween thing to do with your kiddos!! (This is a sample page -- there are 4 pages of problems!)

You can also purchase the product on my TpT account here!

Hope everyone has a happy and safe Halloween!!! Our school is hosting Trunk-Or-Treat, and 3rd grade is performing for PTO -- wish us luck!! :)

Editable Back to School Organizing Papers- Freebie!

As we are all getting ready to go Back to School, and think about getting ourselves organized and ready to start a fresh new year! Right now on my blog I only have 2 followers, and I'm going to celebrate that with some FREEBIES!!!!!! The better news -- when I get up to 20, I will do another FREEBIE AND a giveaway! Today, I am offering not 1, not 2, but 3 Freebies!!!! Each sheet that I have for you today is in a Google Doc, but if you choose File----> Save a Copy, then you will have a copy to edit and put in your students' names.

Today, I was thinking about things I have done in the past that make my life easier, and my classroom run smoother. The first, and my favorite, is my behavior sheet! I changed this one to be one sheet for the whole week, although in the past I have done one sheet per day. To use the weekly sheet, each day a student breaks a rule, you write down the rule number under the day. To use the sheet as a daily sheet, write each subject or time block down in the spaces, and write down the number of the rule they break and where. This is GREAT documentation for RTI Behavior Plans, and to notice patterns in your children's behavior. Are they misbehaving only during reading? This will track that for you!

 Behavior Sheet 

The next sheet that I LOVE is my Child Information Roster. Parents fill out information on Back to School Night, Open House, Business Day, or when ever you sit down for your first meeting. This is one document to keep in your Teacher Binder that contains the child's name, mom and dads name, birthdays, health problems, and anything else about your students you might think is important. It keeps me so organized because I don't have to run to the office to get a phone number! This preview snapshot is only the first page, be sure to click on the title to download!

Child Information Roster

Gradebook

The last freebie for the night is my Gradebook. I love having my Gradebook with my Teacher Binder, and I have found this simple form allows me to add my students' names, and 10 assignments  There is a spot for the date, as well as the score, and the description of the assignment at the bottom. It really keeps me organized, as each subject area gets its own paper. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read my blog! Remember to follow me to get access to great freebies, as well as to check out some really awesome 3rd Grade Things!