I believe setting the tone for a safe, productive, and stimulating classroom environment is crucial to your child's success the first day they step through the door. I have high expectations for every one of my students and believe that they will take pride in being responsible, respectful scholars! I also believe in practicing procedures and routines daily so that we can spend less time on discipline and more time on learning! I will happily invest the time to teach them my expectations so that in return we will have smooth transitions throughout the day. I understand that we have bad days here and there, and I want to reassure my students that we are all human and are allowed to have a bad day. We just need to learn how to take that negative energy and turn it around. I will also let them know that every day is a new start! It is never too late to have a good attitude!
Dave the Desk Minion
At the beginning of the year the students were taught how to have their belongings in their desk neatly organized, but now that things have accumulated I wanted to create a system that would motivate my students to maintain an organized and tidy work area throughout the day. I knew this strategy should be one that was positive and motivating to the students. This is when I presented Dave the Desk Minion.
When I introduced Dave, I explained that he visited our classroom and noticed some messy desks. He only likes to sit on clean, tidy desks. When we all go home to go to sleep at night, he hops around the room checking the desks, pencil boxes, and floors. When he see’s a desk that he loves, he sits on it and that person gets to take care of him all day long. This means he stays in the classroom on their desk. They may hold him if they would like, or lay him down to let him take a nap but they may not let him leave their desk or the room. The other students are not allowed to touch Dave if he is on someone else’s desk. If they do, Dave will “forget” to check their desk.
after I introduced Dave and his magical powers, everyone wanted to jump up and clean their desks. I let them know that we are going to leave the desks how they are and if they are not to his liking, Dave leaves “Bee-Doo” tickets like this:
When I introduced Dave, I explained that he visited our classroom and noticed some messy desks. He only likes to sit on clean, tidy desks. When we all go home to go to sleep at night, he hops around the room checking the desks, pencil boxes, and floors. When he see’s a desk that he loves, he sits on it and that person gets to take care of him all day long. This means he stays in the classroom on their desk. They may hold him if they would like, or lay him down to let him take a nap but they may not let him leave their desk or the room. The other students are not allowed to touch Dave if he is on someone else’s desk. If they do, Dave will “forget” to check their desk.
after I introduced Dave and his magical powers, everyone wanted to jump up and clean their desks. I let them know that we are going to leave the desks how they are and if they are not to his liking, Dave leaves “Bee-Doo” tickets like this: