Giant Gumball Machine – Whole Class – Yearlong -Behavioral Incentive

Giant Gumball Machine – Whole Class – Yearlong -Behavioral Incentive

Here's a big  gumball machine that I use as a class incentive.  I print the gumball machine on our school’s poster printer. Then, I hang it in the classroom, low enough for all of the students to be able to reach. Near it, I have a small basket with colored dot stickers and a skinny sharpie marker.

Here’s how we fill it up:

Every student who reaches a set goal can write their name on a dot sticker and add it to the gumball machine.  The machine slowly fills up as the weeks pass.  Once the machine fills up, we have a class celebration.

Gumballs in my class are earned for:

An A on a test

Reading a published piece in the Author’s Chair

Bringing back a signed report card envelope or field trip paperwork on the first day

Some other reasons might be:

A random act of kindness

A thank you for __________.

Reading a book to the class

Doing extra jobs in the classoom

The giant gumball machine hangs in our classroom and serves as a reminder to the kiddos that they are all one team and when the they work together toward a goal, it pays off.

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The Dots Game

11 Seasonal Dots Games

This Dots Game Bundle has 11 dots games. Each page has a seasonal theme. There’s one for each month, two for December.  I use these for morning work.  

Back to School - apples
Halloween - pumpkins
Thanksgiving - turkeys
Christmas - trees
Hanukkah – dreidels
Winter - snowmen
Valentine’s Day - hearts
St. Patrick’s Day – shamrocks
Spring – umbrellas
May – flowers
Summer – beach balls

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Daily 5 Bulletin Board Poster Set - FREEBIE!

Daily 5 Bulletin Board Poster Set - FREEBIE!

Here is a collection of 6 posters that you can use to facilitate the Daily 5 in your classroom. I created these with high quality graphics so they can be printed as large as poster size. I have them hanging them across a clothesline in my classroom.

Here’s are the posters included:

The Daily 5
Read to Self
Read to Self I Chart
Read to Someone
Read to Someone I Chart
Listen to Reading
Listen to Reading I Chart
Work on Writing
Work on Writing I Chart
Word Work
Word Work I Chart

Here’s the link to the matching Daily 5 Choice Boards that my students use during Daily 5 to show where they need to go.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Daily-5-Choice-Boards-Resource-for-Managing-the-Choices-in-Daily-5

Click here for the free download.

Alphabet Poetry Book

Alphabet Poetry Book

Here is a 26 page alphabet poetry book for Pre-K, kindergarten, and first grade. Each page focuses on one letter of the alphabet. I have used this in my kindergarten classroom for several years and my students love it! It has really helped my students with tracking, alphabetic principles, and vocabulary development.

Here’s what worked for my class;

Print the cover on cardstock. I used the bookbinder to make the 26 page poetry book for each student.

Each day we read/sang the next poem, several times as the students tracked along. I insisted that each student track with a pointer. We sang the poems to the tune of The Farmer In the Dell.

Here’s how it sounded:

“A
a
A is for apple
A is for acorn
A is for airplane
They all start with A!
A
a
apple
acorn
airplane”

Then I would pick someone’s name from a can. That kiddo could choose a poem from a previous day and led the class in our microphone, as we all read it together.

I kept it interesting by offering a different pointer each day. (lollipops, pixie-sticks, licorice, pretzel sticks, wiki-sticks, straws, etc.) We also read the poem in different voices. (like a mouse, like an alien, like the principal, etc.) 

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Daily 5 Choice Boards

Daily 5 Choice Boards

My Best Seller!

Here is a resource that I use tho manage the 5 choices in Daily 5.

I use these Choice Boards to manage our Daily 5 routine in our second grade classroom. I print out the pieces and the boards on cardstock and laminate them. Then, I use Velcro to put the 5 choices on each board.

Each day as part of morning chores, my kiddos get a Choice Board and decide in what order they’d like to do their Daily 5. They leave them on their desks as we go through our literacy time. I can see where everyone has been, where they should be, and what they have left.

The boards last all year and I don’t have to spend any time helping the kids decide where they need to be. 

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Sound Swatter – A Phoneme Blending Game

Sound Swatter

Here's a fun phoneme blending game that I use with my emergent readers to help them become more fluent in their decoding and blending skills. My kiddos LOVE this game!

So fun!

Sound Swatter

There are 22 game boards focusing on chunks that begin with each of the vowels. All that you will need a fly swatter!

Here’s what works for me….

I project the game board on our whiteboard. My students are able to work on the game independently while I teach my reading groups. The kids take turns with the fly swatter, tapping on one onset and one rime, while their group-mates say the corresponding sounds. Then, when the “swatter” swats the mosquito (in the middle,) the group blends the segments into a word (or nonsense word.) For a challenge, I have the other kids in the group, give a “thumbs up” if the blended word is a real word, and a “thumbs down” if it’s a nonsense word.

For example: 

/c/ /-at/ cat   thumbs up

/m/ /-at/ mat   thumbs up

/p/ /-im/ pim   thumbs down

/t/ /-og/ tog   thumbs down

This fun game really helps my emergent readers become quicker at blending onsets and rimes. My kiddos love this activity!

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