Class Dojo

Class Dojo is something I was introduced to this year. As I said before, I had a REALLY difficult group of kiddos and I felt like my behavior chart just wasn't working. Some years the behavior chart is perfect and produces incredible classroom management. Other years, you need to up your game a little bit:)

I actually heard about Class Dojo from my mom who is also a teacher. Someone told her about it at a training, and she called me one night to let me know what she learned. She knew I was struggling with behavior and I needed something new. After listening and doing some research, I decided to IMMEDIATELY begin Class Dojo in my classroom. So, what is it you ask?

Class Dojo is an online FREE classroom behavior management system. It is based on a point system where students can earn 'positives' and 'negatives.' The amazing thing about it, is that YOU as the teacher can create your own rewards/consequences for students to earn.  Below you can see what your class page will look like.

When I saw a student doing something great, I would let them know they could get a 'positive.' They simply walked up to the computer and gave themselves a point. Another GREAT thing is Class Dojo also has an App, so I could carry my iPad with me EVERYWHERE to let students know they were always earning positives and negatives.  Parents can even download the app to their phones to see their child's behavior each day!

Another great thing about Class Dojo? It AUTOMATICALLY generates a behavior report that is sent to parent's email every Friday.  I didn't have to do a thing. All of my parents participated, and I honestly saw a huge change in several of my kids. I know many of them appreciated getting a report to their email instead of signing a folder every night. If their child received more than 3 negatives in one day, I sent a note home. 

You can create rewards and consequences for your kiddos based on their positives/negatives. I initially gave every student the same Avatar (or monster picture) next to their name. Every time they got 15 positive points, they could change their avatar to whatever they wanted. It was a GREAT motivator (and free for me!). If there was red next to their name (as in WAY too many negatives) they did not get recess that day. That was also a great motivator for my kids to keep those positive points going. 

I know there are also several pinterest boards where teachers have made up different rewards and consequences for earning positives and negatives. If you type in "Class Dojo" in the search box, I'm sure you will see plenty of boards. 

I hope that wasn't too confusing because it really is worth your time to check out! My entire team decided this is the behavior management system we want to use next year. If you want to look at it, click on the avatar below and it will take you to their website!

Using Bins for Organization

So at the end of the year, I tried to think of ways to make next year easier on me! I originally used these bins as shelves in my classroom. While I LOVED having the shelves, my kids were CONSTANTLY knocking them over and spilling everything. (I think the biggest problem was the bins/shelves were not heavy enough)  So I took the shelves apart and put them to a different use.

I made a bin for each month of the year and put all my units in the bin. It was much easier to do than I thought. I just looked at my lesson plans from the past year and pulled units from my file cabinet. I was also able to reflect on this past year and see where I would want to change when I introduce a concept.

If you look at the first picture you can see how I used hanging file folders for each unit. In each pocket there are worksheets/activities/posters/materials/copies, etc for everything I used for that topic/objective. I'm putting the bins on a top shelf in my room. I plan to just reach up and grab the bin for the month.

I'm hoping this will help me next year! I think it will be nice to just pull down a bin and look at what I need to do for the month:) 

Idea and Laminator

I know this is a little LOT late, but I wanted to show you a cheap way I handled Valentines Day this year. Honestly, the budget at our house just didn't allow for me to buy all these cute valentines, create homemade, amazing, awesome, cute things from pinterest, etc. So I made something for free...bookmarks. I whipped them up on my computer, printed them off on card stock, had the kids color them, and then I laminated them. The kids actually LOVED them and are happy to have something useful they can use every day. 

How did I laminate these so fast you might ask? 

Scotch Thermal Laminator. 

I asked for one of these for Christmas. At first I kept it at my house, but then I realized I was just dragging stuff home from school to laminate then bringing it right back. So I decided to bring it to school and it has been AMAZING! If I want to create a center or laminate bookmarks, I can have it done in about 5 minutes! SO NICE. The refill packets are around $15 for 100 on amazon. I'm also pretty sure the laminator sells for around $30. This is definitely a purchase/present I am super happy with!