Rewards Day

My student's LOVE rewards. 

They want a token for their hard work.

And I am happy to give this to them. 

I actually have two different systems for the student's I work with.

The first is the Success Maker computer lab. 

The students earn a ticket each day their score is over 70%.

I print out what is called a last session report to see who scored 70% or higher for the previous day. 

I highlight the students and give out tickets at the end of the 30 minute class period.  The students are always so excited to get these tickets.  They have worked hard to get the tickets.  The tickets go in a bag for their class.  On Fridays, I pull out two tickets from each class.

The two students get to chose from the reward jar.  The items in this jar range from candy to bracelets to happy meal toys.  

I love to see the students's faces when their name is drawn and they get to choose a reward.

The second type of rewards I get to pass out are for PBIS.

PBIS stands for positive behavior intervention system.  I have the responsibility of being the PBIS coach  for the past two years.  As a school, we have implemented the Check In/Check Out program for the second tier of PBIS.  This tier involves taking trouble students and completing a check in/check out with daily.

The process works like this....the students come see me first thing in the morning.  We talk about what they are going to do for the day.  They tell me how many points they would like to reach with the cap being 72 points. I write this on their sheet and then they tell me a reward they would like to earn.  This reward could be pencils, bookmarks, free blue jean passes, or candy bars.  The students then come see me at the end of the day.  We add up their points and talk about the teacher comments that are on the sheet.  If the student has meet the goal, they get the reward that was written on the paper earlier.  If the student does not meet the goal, we talk about what we can improve the next day at school.

This part of my day is the most rewarding for me.  I get to interact with students who need the attention and support I am giving them.

Interventions in the Classroom

Intervention is a word that will strike fear into teachers.

They will run and hide behind their classroom doors.

Some will just nod their heads when asked if they are completing interventions.

Why does the word 'intervention' just scare us??  We are TEACHERS....we are not scared of anything!!

Now I will admit that it did scare me at the beginning, too!

I just knew it would be a lot of work....

How would I fit this in my day....

What if I do all this and the students don't benefit from it....

All of this was a big concern to me.  So, what I did was order a BIG diet coke (with vanilla) and just went for it. 

I started with my supplies of a binders, tabs, three hole puncher, sheet protectors, and lots and lots of paper.

I did check to make sure my printer ink was in good condition.

I was fortunate enough to have access to a computer program that came with some interventions to get me started.  I printed them all off, organized them by skill and content (comprehension, grammar, spelling, and etc).

This gave me a great start, but then I realized I was missing skills. 

So, then I bought out the heavy equipment....the Internet.  I searched for great website where I would find great interventions.  This was not an easy or cheap task.  I did pay for subscriptions to some website (but it was so worth it).  I would print the interventions off and add them to the binder.

After two years in the computer lab, I have now quite a collection of interventions and feel very confident when people ask have I been doing my interventions.  My head nods and my hand is raised real high!!

The video below shows how I do my interventions in my classroom.  It is not as bad as it seems and remember....you just need you BIG diet coke (with vanilla) and your supplies!!

Good Luck!

Testing Week

It is THAT week.........

the dreaded standardized testing week in Louisiana schools.

I know that the teachers at my school have worked hard.  They have put in a lot of time and effort to teach each and every student.  

I am proud of all the students at my school.  I know they will knock this out of the park.

Below you will find a link to Cherry Ridge Elementary Website.  The link will take you to some suggested test taking tips.  

Test Taking Tips

Remember to:

Get plenty of sleep

&

Eat a good breakfast