Monster Brag Tags

Why does summer seem to fly by?  It seems like just yesterday I was packing up my classroom, and now I'm already putting it back together again.  Each year, I try to change things up a little bit.  Last year, I gave up my beloved behavior clip chart.  I had used a clip chart for about 10 years, and I was honestly terrified to let it go.  Old habits die hard, I tell you!  I made the leap though, threw out the clip chart and never looked back.  It was the best decision I could have made.  My focus became to really encourage positive behaviors and have constructive conversations with those students that misbehaved.

This year, I wanted to take it a step further.  I wanted to find additional ways to motivate and reward students for making good choices, as well as celebrate their accomplishments.  I did a lot of research over the summer and it kept leading me back to brag tags.  Angie Olsen at Lucky Little Learners has written several great blog posts about brag tags.  If you want to read more about how to implement them in your classroom, check out her post here.

I have a monster classroom, so I was determined to find monster brag tags.  I found lots of Class Dojo resources with cute little monsters, but I struggled to find brag tags with monsters.  I decided to go ahead and make my own set of monster tags for my little MON-STARS!

Many teachers prefer to hang their brag tags on ball chain necklaces, but I opted to use binder rings.  I figured if their tags are attached to their backpacks, they would probably have a better chance of getting returned the following day.   I won't send brag tags  home everyday.   My students take their graded work home on Wednesdays, so I thought this would be a perfect day for them to share their brag tags with their families. They will be responsible for returning them to school the following day. 

I am storing my students' brag tag rings in a pocket chart designed for storing calculators.  It has pockets that are just the right size and already numbered.  

I recently updated this resource and added a few more brag tags,  I purchased this mini toolbox on Amazon to store the additional brag tags.

Here is a little explanation of some of the tags in this resource:

I have my fingers crossed that brag tags are a hit in my classroom this year.  I look forward to rewarding those homework heroes that have all of their homework complete for each six weeks.  I also hope that those little Sight Word Star tags encourage my little ones to learn all their sight words for the year.  If you LOVE monsters, then you can check out the monster brag tags here.  If you do not have a monster themed classroom, but want to give brag tags a shot, there are so many different varieties available from other fabulous teachers.
 

Mon-Star Behavior

The school year has gotten off to a great start and I love my sweet class, but right from the start I noticed something else about my little lovelies...they are extremely CHATTY!!! My usual systems of behavior management just weren't doing the trick for this group.  I really don't like whole group consequences. It's fine if they sit out from recess a min. or 2, but this group would have been sitting out far longer than that, and it's really not fair to the ones that are quiet. I mentioned my dilemma to my bloggy buddy Tonya at Tonya's Treats for Teachers, and she shared this blog post from last year.   I loved her ideas and it really got my brain gears turning!

My classroom theme is monsters, so my chart definitely had to have a monster or 2 (or 4) on it.  I really liked Tonya's tally chart, and went with a very similar idea.  I decided to go with check marks and added the amount of recess they would lose at the top.  The recess time at the top is really just  a reminder for me during recess.  During the day, I simply put a check mark every time I have to redirect them for talking.  I keep it on a clip board, so it's handy during the day.   I like that the chart also provides me with an additional form of documentation. I also like that it's more private than a clip chart in the classroom.  The chart really seems to be doing the trick.   We also keep a citizenship chart in our Daily Folders, so this makes it easy to mark folders accordingly at the end of the day.  I simply write in how many check marks they received during the day.  If they manage to turn their behavior around, I do cross out checks on my chart.

Here is a pic of the chart.  It is editable, so you can add your students' names and even change or remove the recess time from the top. The blue portions show the editable fields.

I started with just the chart last week.  This week I knew I wanted to reward my students that didn't receive any check marks.  I decided to go with a mon-star punch card.  I will simply initial a monster at the end of the day if they have no check marks, Once the entire punch card is filled, they will receive a NO Homework pass.  I will probably give them a color changing pencil when they get 5 monsters complete.  The star counts as the 10th spot.

 

If you are in the same boat as me and want to give this a shot, they are both freebies.  You can click either image above to grab the documents. 

 

Mighty Messages

I have a to-do list a mile long, and summer just seems to be flyin' by.  I can finally check something else off of my list-YAY.  I finished up my mighty message posters and I think they will be just what I needed.  We talk about story theme all year in the classroom, so these posters will get a whole lot of use.   These posters have "I Can . . . Statements, so students can really take ownership of these messages/themes and connect them to their own lives.  I also think it will definitely help with behavior in the classroom.  If a student is not sharing, I can remind them of the mighty message, and have them go take a looksy at our chart.

 

There are also recording pages included, 

so students can record all the books they read under the correct theme. 

 I plan to introduce each of the mighty messages the first couple of weeks of school to set the stage for a positive classroom climate.  They will write about a time they demonstrated each of the mighty messages in their own lives.

If you are interested in this resource, please check it out in  my TPT store.  Simply click the image below.

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Weather Themed Behavior Clip Chart

I must seem cuckoo for changing my behavior system the last 3 weeks of school, but golly it seems to have worked out in my favor.  This is that time of year when spring summer fever hits, and our classes really start to get stir crazy, it seems like this clip chart change was just what my class needed.  My kiddos really like our new clip chart and are trying so hard to get to that pot of gold at the very top.  My previous behavior system was very similar, but I used a painted yardstick and green was at the very top.  They could only go downward and not up, which just wasn't working for me any longer.  My kiddos that work so hard and set good examples really needed to be acknowledged for their great behavior.

Why the weather theme??? Well, I've had weather on my mind lately, most likely because Texas has been having really crazy weather these last few weeks.  I think one day last week it was colder in South Texas than it was in NYC. I'm freezing one day and sunburned the next- no wonder all of our kids are getting sick. The more I thought about a theme for my chart, weather just seemed like the logical choice, and it really makes perfect sense when you start connecting it to behavior. When I'm having a great day, I feel "over the rainbow" and when I'm having an awful day, "stormy" is a pretty good description of how I feel.

I decided to make each section a full page, because I really wanted it to be prominent in the classroom.  Behavior is a big deal, so I really wanted them to be able to see the chart clearly and take notice of where they are at any given moment.  I have mine hanging right at the front of the room on the dry erase board.

You can check it out in my TPT store, by clicking below:

Compliment Clips

There are so many different versions of this.  I had seen compliment chains on-line several years ago and thought they were a  great idea, but wanted to simplify it just a bit.  I wanted something that my Star of the Day could easily add the compliments to for me.  These are any compliments our class receives from other teachers or staff throughout the day.  Anyone besides myself, because I should be giving LOTS of compliments during the day.  Anyhow, I was at my favorite store, Target, and found a bright red flower pot and also spotted some colorful clothespins, and it sparked the idea of compliment clips.  We add a clothespin for each compliment, and on the 10th clip they get an extra 10 min. of recess.  They work extra hard for compliments and they are super proud of themselves when they receive one. 

Bravo Board

I started doing this last year and it has worked wonders.  I got the idea from a friend, but she got the original idea from the fabulous blog- The First Grade Parade.  It's called a Bravo Board.  I like to use a dry erase board for simplicity.  It happened to be a magnetic dry erase board, so it made attaching the colors and title super easy!

All my desks are arranged in groups of 4-5 per group.  Each group of students gets a colored bin containing supplies.  Whichever color they are designated is the color for their group.  They learn to work as a team and have to earn tallies as a team.  This was also a simple way to teach tallies, and trust me by the end of the first 6 weeks all of my students knew how to use tallies without any problems.  At the end of the week, the group with the most tallies get their names put in a drawing for a free homework pass and they get to become the BRAVO table for the entire next week.  I have a little cone that says Bravo that I place at their tables for the week.  They honestly all work really hard to be the Bravo table!

Character

I heard these phrases last year and thought they were perfect for the classroom to help build good character. I just ran them off on colored cardstock.  Click here for a copy.

Click the image below to get the FREEBIE.