Positivity Wall

My kids were incredibly well-behaved on a field trip last week, so the next day, this happened.

I used dry erase markers on our tiled wall in the hall to write positive traits about my students, and they loved reading them every time we walked by!  Honestly, I think it brightened the day of all of us!

Before You Enter - First Day Agreements

Ah, the joy of the first day of school.  The smell of new shoe rubber.  Parents transformed into paparazzi.  And the scent of freshly laundered children in brand new clothes.  The feeling of a brand new start is in the air.  And I like to capitalize on that from the second students line up at my door.  Before that first bell ever rings, I close my classroom door and put a tape half-circle on floor outside the door.  When I bring the kids in on that first day, I welcome them warmly, ask them to put their backpacks down along the way and gather around me on the tape half-circle in front of the door, right in the hall.  Kids are surprised.  Slightly confused.  I suddenly have their full attention.

And while those eager little faces are looking up at me, I kindly explain to them how important my classroom is to me.  It's where I spend half of my time, I tell them.  It's my second home, I say.  It's where I can go and feel safe, both emotionally and physically cared for, and I want them to feel the same (cue the Kleenex, as I always seem to tear up here).  I explain how important it is to me that my classroom stay upbeat and positive, that it be a place where all of us can safely take risks, try things we're not good at and make all kinds of mistakes.  In our classroom that can only be done with full positivity.  We have to support each other, encourage each other and help each other.  Because when it comes down to it, throughout the school, we're all we've got, we're a team and teams have to stick together (okay, slightly overdramatized, but the tears always well up at this point too).  And then I lean forward in my chair and ask them The Big Question: Can you agree to that?  Can agree to be kind?  Can you agree to be positive and not say negative things?  Will you agree to help others feel cared for, both their emotions and their body?  Can you agree to make our classroom the best place ever?  If you agree to this, will you show your commitment by shaking my hand, introducing yourself to me and then entering our special classroom.  At this point, and only at this point, I open my classroom door to them.  And these cute little kids transform from spazzy, excited, bouncing children to eager, respectful, grounded children ready to start the year off right.  

In 8 years of doing this, I've only had one student ever choose not to agree.  So...what to do?  Well, students had already been given the direction to hang up their backpack in the back, choose a desk and draw their name on it (see post here) and then sit on our colored rug.  Choosing and labeling a desk, alone, usually takes them a good 15 min., which gave me time to pop back out in the hall and talk to this student.  I asked him why he felt uncomfortable with our agreements and he shared with me concerns about his behavior in past years.  He said he always seemed to get in trouble for talking out and didn't know how to control it, so he knew he couldn't agree to be his best.  *My heart broke.*  But I'm so glad I knew this within the first 10 min. of the first day of school.  We quickly agreed to create a behavior plan together and I assured him that I would do all I could to help and support him, as long as he continued to try again each new day.  This he could agree to.  I asked if he could be kind to the other kids and help them when he saw a need.  This he could also agree to.  So after a short 3-min chat we both felt great about him being in our class and getting a fresh start.

This is all outside the box, I know.  People look at us curiously as they walk down the hall that morning, and other teachers ask me what I'm doing for so long after the bell, sitting in the hall with my kids.  And I'm excited to tell them all about the team-like feeling we have from the first moments, and how caring all my kids were to each other from the very first day.  I love it. This is the best way to start our year together, all on the same page.


*The key to this is my own genuine, heart-felt expression of what I picture our classroom environment to be.  The children can sense the sincerity in my tone and are able to buy in because they know I believe this myself.  No lecture, no stern face - just speaking wholeheartedly person to person, with respect.  



 

Fabulous Finds Friday: Unkindness Behavior Consequence

I saw this idea on Pinterest today, from the blog lil light o' mine.  Random acts of kindness are part of the birthday routine in our classroom so I was diggin' this idea.   I actually liked the comment from a pinner the best, which was to have a child pull a random act of kindness from the jar as a consequence for being unkind in the classroom.  I could totally see myself saying to a rude or harsh-speaking student, "It looks like you need to work on the skill of being kind.  Why don't you go pick out a task that will help you practice that."  Ah, how I love natural consequences.  And wouldn't it be great to have them perform their act of kindness before apologizing, just to soften the heart for a more genuine apology? 

Fabulous Finds Friday: Reward System

I watched this video over Christmas Break, with headphones on, in my parents' living room as we sat wrapping presents.  My mom had to come over and see why present-wrapping had brought me to tears.  Seriously.

A Grateful Class

So the geeky, scientific side of me wants to explain all the research that's been done on happiness, and how people that write just 5 things each day that they are grateful for feel more fulfilled in their life and more readily notice the good in their life.  I'd love to quote the statistics showing they complain less and stick to difficult tasks longer.  But I'll refrain because, frankly, I don't think anyone would necessarily care about the specifics.

The point is, all these things I want to be part of our classroom culture so I'm careful to teach, model and develop them in very specific ways.  One way is through our Thankful Books.  Every day, either when they finish their morning starter or while I'm handing out papers at the end of the day, the kids write down 5 specific things they're thankful for.  Then whenever we have a few extra minutes to kill, we like to share some of the things the kids have written down.  

I've noticed the kids that always seem to find everything wrong in life (pet peeve!) or that complain at the least struggle start to change their mindset...or at least I can send them to add more to their Thankful Book when they don't!

Easy peasy - fold some white paper in half, add a construction paper cover and let them go to town!

Praise vs. Encouragement

I loved this article about praise vs. encouragement!

Peace Chairs

My peace chairs were a solution to the huge tattling problem when I taught Kindergarten.  I finally realized the kids tattled for two reasons: 1) they want my attention and 2) they didn't have the social skills to deal with problems.  So I got two chairs (free from Scholastic-yay!) and introduced them as our Peace Chairs.  I taught the kids that they were special chairs only used to work out problems/practice communication skills, and taught the Peace Chair Process, which is...

1. Remove yourself from the situation
2. Listen to what the other person thinks and feels
3. Tell the other person what you think and feel
4. Decide together on a good compromise

(Yes, the word 'compromise' was big for a Kindergartner, but most new words are big for them-I just taught them what it means, like any other new vocab)

This process was posted right next to the chairs for them to reference.  Anytime there was drama, or tears, or someone was suddenly uninvited from a birthday party, they would head to the chairs while the rest of us continued with our day.  The two kids would follow the above process to come to a compromise everyone could be happy with, then they would report to me what they decided.  At first I was worried they would miss out on learning...until I used it and realized it usually only took 30 seconds or less.  Nearly every kid I've taught, Kinder through third, just wants a structured moment to be heard by the other person.  And if it does take more than a minute or two, the situation probably needs teacher intervention anyway.  It's been great for the kids to learn how to communicate positively and best of all...no more tattling!

Welcome to Idea Gal! I hope you find some ideas that you can adapt or use in your own classroom.  To start off, I thought I'd post some pictures of my classroom in progress.  I'll be moving up to fourth grade this year, so I had the dreaded task of moving classrooms.  Into a much smaller classroom.  With stuff I've collected over nine years.  All I can say is bless our school's bomb shelter basement for being my temporary storage.  Back to the classroom...here's what I've been working on lately.

My library area, in progress.  Each section on the black bookshelf (IKEA, $139) is a certain Guided Reading level.  That way, the I can limit kids' selection to certain shelves so that they're reading books at their level without knowing and comparing their reading level.  

The white magazine boxes are my Guided Reading sets and the striped ones are the kids' book boxes (IKEA, $2/5).

Oh, the disarray...

My soon-to-be math area and aide's small group area

Our Peace Chairs, for when we have little arguments-explicit steps for working it out

I used cheap burlap for curtains; it filters the light, adds texture and still allows us to see the scenery without being distracting

Writing area

This year I painted all of my bulletin boards a Tiffany blue color.  Yay for no butcher paper, fabric or borders!  It will last years and I can use tape, staples or sticky stuff on it without ruining anything.  I highly recommend it! (with a philosophy that it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission)