Tattle Book

If you teach little kids, you are well aware of how much they tattle... and for no good reason!  This year I think my class liked to tattle just to try and get others in trouble!  So... while there are many tattle solutions out there, this is what worked for me.  First we went over what things they NEEDED to tell me (such as when the boys bathroom flooded earlier in the year, and NOBODY thought to mention anything...) and reviewed some examples of things that I do need to know, using this sign:

Then I introduced my tattle book, called "The Official Report".  In it they are to write who was at fault, what they were doing, and who was making the report, as I would read all their entries after school so I would know exactly what was going on in our classroom (or so I told them!)

Click here to download your own copy

Then the fun began! I actually had to make 2 books (Vol. 1 and 2) and I didn't even start it until February! The kids felt it was really important to spell the offenders name correctly, so they kept taking their friends names out of the job chart, lunch count, etc.  So I added all their names at the top of the page, so it was right there in front of them to copy.  It was amazing that kids who had a hard time working together and getting along, would wait PATIENTLY in line for their turn to write in the book after recess!  If they didn't wait nicely, they lost their turn to write - talk about a meaningful incentive!  Since I usually do a read aloud after recess, the tattle line didn't really interfere with learning, as they could still listen and look while waiting for their turn to write.  Here are some of their entries:

Camren was saying one bad word By Parker

Tristan.  He was bothering me.  By Keira

 Mason did not line up when he was supposed to.  By Arabella

Chase put snow on the slide and made it slippery.  By anonymous 

(there are very few anonymous entries!)

I even had one little sweetie who would fill out the book on herself!  After who?:  she'd write "me"!  Other than reading these for my pure enjoyment, I'm not sure what I am going to do with them. I thought about saving them until they are in 8th grade (I work at a 4k-8th grade school) and then giving them to their *th grade teachers to share!  I think it would be a riot for them to see what was important and noteworthy to them when they were 5 years old!

If you would like your own copy of "The official Report", complete with the poster above, click HERE.  I left a blank at the top for you to add your own student's names :)  Happy reporting (and reading!)

Class Dojo

I'm discovering that I am more of a tech geek than I realized... while this isn't really a surprise to anyone who knows me...  Anyways, one of my colleagues shared a new website for classroom management with me called Class Dojo (www.classdojo.com) . Basically, each student is given a monster avatar (which tied in beautifully after using Kathleen Pederson's Monster Behavior book!) where you give awards for positive behaviors, as well as take awards away for negative behaviors, and yes, you can customize the awards to fit your class and targeted behaviors.  

Below is a "demo" class, and you can see I have awarded (and taken away) awards from various students.  You can set it to only show students with a positive balance if you want as well.

Here are the "default" awards and how I have changed them to better fit my class.

You can also print out behavior reports to send home to parents, or to keep track of how students are doing.  I send one home at the end of each week, so there are no surprises when report cards go out! :)

If you have a smart phone, you can even use it to enter awards!  Since I am lucky enough to have a Promethean board, I just keep this minimized at the bottom, and use it throughout the day.  The kids LOVE it and once they hear the "ding" indicating someone got an award (or see me pull it up) everyone's behavior immediately improve as they hope they are getting a "good award".  I strive very hard to make sure everyone has a positive balance at the end of the day/each week.

Since this is BRAND NEW, there are still a few things that are being worked out, but in the month or so I have been using it, they have already made a lot of positive changes!

Here are 2 YouTube video that explains it further. http://www.youtube.com/user/classdojo#p/a/u/1/jxFTMmF0a6c and http://www.youtube.com/user/classdojo#p/a/f/0/b5uihmPlbvA
Try it for yourself and let me know what you think!