Easy peasy lemon squeazy: Class DOJO intro...

For the last few years I have done a classroom clip chart.
It has worked really well for me and I have been able to integrate with other
 little incentives I am doing along the way.
You know, the ones that only work for a short amount of time,
 but they do the trick when you are beyond ready for Christmas Break!!
It's time to start something new and fresh this year though. 

I have been thinking about switching over to Class DOJO for a while,
but have not had the time to sit down and really dive into it all.
If haven't heard of it it's basically an online behavior tracking and incentive system. kids earn points for positive behaviors and lose them for negatives.
So almost like a clip chart but the tracking is done for you and kids can see their data too and set goals. They can even create their own avatars and brag about what a fantastic day they had by showing mom and dad at home.

I searched blogs a little and found a few explanations, but I am so a "need a visual kinda girl".
Thank goodness for summer time and I am pretty sure I should get 500 hours of professional development for all the pinteresting, book reading, blog stocking that I do. :P

I am so excited to try this and I know if I am stoked about it my kids will be too! So here it is, my little tour of Class DOJO

While playing around I chose to add a behavior for one of our class rules.
When you notice a need set a goal with your class and add to the behaviors.
You can then reward students when they demonstrate this behavior. 

I downloaded the app to my phone so that it will be easy to add points as I need to.
The reports are going to make report cards, goals setting and parent conferences much easier too. 

I will be back with updates after it is all up and running!

Showing those classroom leaders some love!

For part of my newsletter each week I feature a Leader of the Week! This is a student voted by the kids. It is someone who has exhibited the qualities of a leader all through the week. I find that kids are thoughtful about who they choose and because I ask them to be specific about these leader qualities it is also a reflection piece for each of them.

Here is the form I am using to have my students nominate a leader! I hope you can find a way to use this in your room!

Meanwhile, I need some help facilitating more leaders in my classroom, in the afternoon at least. So I have 26 kids in the morning and then in the afternoon I have 38. The kids are bonkers, I tell ya! I figured that some of it was the transition piece. They don't each other all day and then are thrown into a room together and expected to stay quiet. The last couple of days I allowed some time for them to talk right when we return from lunch. I was hoping that this would help to get some of it out of their system. I am guess I am just asking for some ideas, some creative ways to keep 38 kids engaged and on task. Any ideas are certainly welcome... please!!!