Classroom Economy

  For years I have been trying to create a classroom economy and reward system.  As I have continued my teaching I have struggled with the concept of intrinsic motivation and rewards and punishments.  We live in a society we are rewarded for doing well.  I love teaching, but if I didn't get a salary I wouldn't be intrinsically motivated to come to work.  I think my own children would win out. 
  In my classroom I have modified my classroom economy to reflect students' classroom jobs, and my thoughts on intrinsic motivation.
  At the beginning of each quarter, students get to view a PowerPoint that explains the jobs, and the qualities that a person with that job would need. Students then fill out an application for their job choice. Also choosing their second and third choices.  I then choose each student or the pair of students for that job.  They hold that job for the entire quarter. 

  As a class we determine what a pay would be determining on how much work the job has to complete.  Two students have the job of banker.  At the end of each day they go around and pay students for completing their classroom job.  Each student has a credit and debit log sheet that they attach to their name tags.  I got the credit and debit log off of Beth Newingham's blog posts for scholastic.

Each week students total up their earnings and get pay check for that they have earned.  During our lunch time (my students eat in our room), students can turn in their pay check and for our classroom cash.  Students can turn in their cash for a coupon for an item that is for sale in our classroom store.  I store the coupons in a coupon holder

There is a sign below our jobs poster that lists what is available in the classroom store. 

Here is a copy of the coupons.  The coupons can be found on my TPT store.

Space Unit !!

Each year when it is time to begin our space unit I get so excited and can't wait to begin.  This year was no different.  I went out in search for new and improved ideas for teaching about the order of the planets.  This year I found this amazing book for students to create in ordering the planets and recording some of the important facts we discussed in class.  Students also were able to create their own mnemonic devices for the planets.  Both activities were really fun.

The students really enjoyed making their own mnemonic devices.  They are really allowed to be creative in their devices. 

 You can find the Planet Mnemonic for free here.

The booklet is an amazing long foldable that I found over at Lesons Plan SOS. My students loved creating the booklet and really learned the facts about the different planets.
Here are some pictures of my students booklets.

Books for Boys Linky Party

I have been pretty bad at keeping up to date on my blog so I am making it a resolution to write more posts.  I found this Linky party at Swimming into Second and wanted to add to the conversation.  This has been a real passion of mine.  My first 5 years of teaching I taught at an inner city school without a library and many of my students didn't have a large selection of books at home as well.  I made it my mission to get all of my students into reading and finding books that they would all love.

The first series that I found that the boys really loved was the Geronimo Stilton Series of books.  This year as in many other years my boys have read all of the books I have and are looking for new one.

I also try to keep nonfiction text around that deals with what we are talking about in class.  The boys seem to gravitate to the nonfiction text.  

I am always looking for new books for the boys in my class.  This is a great Linky Party!  Sorry have to cut this short, my two year old is on my lap looking for attention.

Author's Purpose

On Pinterest recently I saw a neat activite that a teacher did in teaching author's purpose.  She had her students cut out the pictures from a Scholastic Book Club order form and determine if they were to entertain the reader or inform.  I wanted to do the same thing in my classroom with my students who were studying author's purpose. 
I wanted to create a nice display for their work. Since it is winter time, I was able to find a mitten pattern.  I labeled each mitten entertain or inform.

Then students went through the book order and cut out and glued the pictures of the books to the correct mitten. 
I then hole punched the mittens and strung them together.  I hung them over a line in my classroom as a display.  The students really enjoyed doing this activity.

Winter Themed Centers

It is crazy for me to think that Thanksgiving has passed already and December is right around the corner.  With children of my own this time of year is so exciting.  This year has brought as many blessing as well as some tradegy.  I have been so busy that I can only pay attention to the good things in life as this is also the end of my trimester at school.  Leaving more planning and report cards on my plate. 
I wanted to share with everyone my first winter center creation.  This is a pronoun center that reviews what pronoun should be used in place of nouns.

                                                         You can get it at my Tpt store. 
I will also be participating in the TpT Cyber Monday sale!

Math Project

Having a new math curriculum to use in classroom has me creating many different activities and centers along the way.  I have created sets of math games, for the first two topics of the text.  You can find them here. But with the third unit on adding and subtracting, I felt the material was a little two easy for my math students.  I had used a million dollar math project in the past and wanted to change it up a little for my students.  Our school is currently expanding into a new building, creating campus feel to our school.

Because of that I have come up with a classroom design and purchasing project that has students using all of the skills that were taught in the topic.  In the project students get to design and then purchase the materials needed to supply a classroom.  Allowing students the insight on the expense of the new project and furnishing the classroom.

We are on our third day of the project and the students are really enjoying it and practicing the skills.  It just makes me so happy when I see delight in their eyes to learn.

                                                              Download the project here

Envision Common Core

This year my school has adopted the new Envision Common Core math program. Although it has been an adjustment for all parties, I am really enjoying the program and adjusting all the changes it has brought to our math program.  There are 2 third grade classrooms in my school and we have been using the pre-tests and grouping students on their knowledge of each topic.  This is a practice that is the norm at my school in the past, but grouping was not as flexable.
One thing that I am finding in teaching the new curriculum is that my higher students need more to do during class. 
I have created a series of centers that support topic 2 for our math program that I wanted to share. 

You can find this set of centers at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Addition-and-Subtraction-centers-for-Topic-2-for-EnVision-Common-Core .