What sorts of things do you celebrate with your school friends? In third grade, we celebrated 100's on tests and fact proficiency. I would send a note home, have their name read over the announcements in the afternoon, and they would wear a button all day to let everyone in the building know about their success. I got the button idea from reading this book.
I loved reading Ron Clark's book. He has so many amazing ideas on how to really celebrate and connect with students. However, I couldn't help but wonder how his ideas could ever really work in a public school setting. So much of what he is able to do seems to be based off of the incredible parent support and the ability to hold the students and parents in the school accountable for any of their actions that don't mesh with the school's philosphy. However, I really enjoyed reading this book and there were several takeaways. He talks about students wearing a button around the school all day that reads, "Ask me what I got on my test" Think about how powerful that is. Like, literally wearing a badge of honor. For a lot of my friends, that simply don't get enough attention at home, this might be just the motivator to study a little harder!
I came up with some buttons to wear for my new kindergarten friends. Trouble is, since I haven't ever taught Kinder yet, I am not sure what all we should celebrate! If you will leave me a comment on the types of things you celebrate in your classroom, along with your email, I will send you a copy of the buttons for free when I finish them!
While I was blog surffing this weekend, I came across
Tonya's Treats for Teachers who just happened to be posting about the same thing! I couldn't believe it.. but as she reminded me, great minds think alike! So head on over to her blog to see the precious buttons she came up with.
Here is a sneak peak at what I'll be giving away to those of you that leave me a comment!
Celebrate a lost tooth!
Celebrate counting to 100!
