Recently I came across a blog post that introduced me to the book Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud. The basic concept is that each one of us carries an invisible bucket around. We can be either bucket fillers by choosing to fill others’ buckets with kind words and good deeds, or […]
Puppet Games and a Writing Project
The first big writing project in English has the children writing a paragraph that gives directions for a game. Each student chooses a game and then writes simple directions on how to play it. I get descriptions of all kinds of games from tic-tac-toe to soccer to four square. The main thing is that the […]
Field Trip Fun!
We took our annual third-grade field trip to the zoo. It was a beautiful day, and as usual, the kids had a blast. In preparation for the field trip, our lead teacher made a great PowerPoint presentation, introducing the children to the zoo and showing them what to expect when we arrived. She also included […]
Welcome to October!
Welcome to October! A wonderful month characterized by cooler weather, remembering important discoveries, and (for me) family celebrations. This tenth month of the year brings joy and happiness in so many little ways. But I have to admit there’s also something about this month that I always found puzzling—its name. Have you ever wondered what […]
The Negative Side of Positive Reinforcement
Back in the day, positive reinforcement was quite the buzzword. Although I do agree with the use of positive reinforcement in the classroom, I have recently seen another side to it. To encourage good group behavior, I use the ice-cream scoop system. The students have four chances to earn a small scoop each day. When fifteen […]
Bushels of Hard Work
Because fall has arrived, I use leaves to motivate good behavior. On our “Bushels of Hard Work” board, each student has a bushel. Every day students are each given three small leaves. They can keep their leaves by making good behavior choices and following classroom procedures. For every five small leaves earned, a student gets […]
The Buddy System—Not Just for Swimming!
Each year you realize your class has different strengths and weaknesses. This year our class has really struggled with remembering to put our names and numbers on our papers. We also skip answers here and there which makes it hard for me to grade papers (sigh). And I’ve realized that many times when we do Star […]