Calm Down Bottles for the Classroom

At preschool we always have a few students who really struggle with self-regulation and high energy levels. Surely there are a few of them in elementary school too? One of things that we do to help these friends regroup is provide these simple Calm Down Bottles in our quiet space.

Click HERE to see all 4 bottles. Each has only 1 simple ingredient and the students love them! Keep reading...

6 Steps to Reaching Your Most Difficult Students

Hi friends! I am Jennifer from everything just so. This is my first official post with the Primary Pack and I'm so excited to share a few tips and resources with you today!

For the bulk of my teaching career, I’ve always had at least one of “those” kids in my class. You know the ones - defiant, distracting, and determined to show you who’s really in charge. After several failed attempts at managing their behavior, I was in desperate need of new ways to reach those kids who needed me most. 

Starting from scratch, I began to understand that most behavior issues were the result of factors that had nothing to do with me, other students, or school as a whole. Not only did this realization give me greater insight into the students themselves, but also it freed me from taking blow-ups personally. I started incorporating several steps at the beginning of each year that led to fewer behavior problems, positive students, and a happier me.

Looking for ways to reach a difficult kid? Today I'm providing you with six steps to reaching even your most unruly student over on my blog. Plus, I'm linking to two free resources that give your students support along the way. To learn more, simply click here. 

For more resources and teaching ideas, please visit my blog at everythingjustso.org. 

DIY Number Magnets & Poster Printing

Hi, friends!  Ashley here from One Sharp Bunch!  I'm here today to share a simple DIY project with you!

Head on over to my blog to see how I made these DIY number magnets that I use with my "Behavior Bingo" board.

GoNoodle with Whole Brain Teaching

Hello my excited teachers!! If you are like me I know you're excited for the summer countdown to begin. Although, this month will be tough because it is full of STRESS! The kids start to get crazy excited for the end of the year and then BAM chaos everywhere!!!

Anways, I wanted to share with you how I am using GoNoodle and Whole Brain Teaching to keep my kids ON-POINT until the end of the year!! I'm sure most of you have heard of or even use GoNoodle but if not click HERE ... it will change your life!

My class loves or maybe I could go as far as to say.... they are OBSESSED with GoNoodle. It really is the perfect way to start and end our day with several brain breaks in between. I decided to put on a quick mini-training for my schools professional development and was blown away by the amount of people who showed up! I showed everyone the intro video and then shared the handout below.

Of course I had the staff get up and participate in some Pop See Ko!! It was hilarious and every teacher had a smile on their face. This just shows how important FUN is in the classroom and in our lives!

Speaking of training's, I recently went to our districts 3 hour training on Whole Brain Teaching. I have been implementing a few of these strategies in my room already. Mostly I watched YouTube videos and went and tried it out. However, this training opened my eyes to so much MORE! If you want more information on this fabulous program you can go to the WBT website, search & watch a million YouTube videos or even check out this post from Gina!!

For starters... I kind of stopped using the scoreboard a couple years ago. I'm not sure how it happen but they do say if you don't use it within three days you forget it. The good news is I have started to use it again and I am so happy I did. My class loves the "competition" and it's so cute to hear them say "Oh Yeah" or "Aww Man"! There are a ton of amazing score boards out there and I fully intend to download, print and laminate....eventually. For now the whiteboard is working just fine! 

The best part of this scoreboard is my twist to it!! Every morning we have started to make a goal of how many points we want to get that day. This has helped my class with that annoying habit of always predicting 100 for everything! Then I found this adorable GoNoodle inspired ten frame from Little Warriors. She used the ten frame to count out how many more points her champs needed but I'm using mine for incentive!!

Basically each day the class wins on the scoreboard, they earn an end of the day brain break. In addition to the every day award I use the ten fame as a long term goal. Every day my class "beats" me on the they get a GoNoodle champ for the ten frame and then we fill out the number sentence. Once the ten frame is full we have a GONOODLE CELEBRATION a.k.a. 15 to 20 minutes of GoNoodle...FREE and I don't have to remember anything for the party!!!

I have seen amazing structure, engagement and focus from each one of my students and I am so proud, I will be using both of these resources for many years to come!!

Now in the words of my our yoga instructor, Maximo... Adios!

Summer Countdown Behavior Incentive Freebie!

Hey y'all! It's Kourtney blogging from Mrs. Payton's Precious Kindergarteners! Is anyone else counting down to last day of school yet? We have 37 days left! (Woah, we have A LOT left accomplish in 37 days!!)  However, I would be lying if I didn't admit I'm not ready to lay by the pool, catch a tan, sleep in, and use the bathroom when I want! 

At this point, you've moved your kids all over the room, you can't quite find a spot where everyone is quiet, and everyone is getting a little antsy.  You've got field trips, field days, testing, music programs, and who knows what else going on and maybe....your kids are a little bananas?  Or is that just my room?

Do you remember when I posted about the 12 Days of Christmas? I'm all about positive praise and some kind of incentive.  I don't have time to focus on the negative and call anyone's name a million times. Reward, reward, reward.  5 positives for every negative...sound familiar?  My Kindergarten friends and I came up with a fun behavior incentive to get us through May/June. 

First, you need to purchase a sand bucket for each child.  I usually get mine from the Dollar Tree.  They have large ones and a variety of colors.  I like to choose 2 colors, 1 for the boys and 1 for the girls, but some of my buddies choose more colors.

You could ask a parent to donate these, that's up to you.  These are typically a gift from me or me and my assistant.  Next, you put their names on them with a paint pen.

You can do the letters however you like.  We like to do bubble letters too.

Then, send home the parent letter asking for items to fill the buckets!

This is editable (fill in the number of children and the date etc.)

Here is a suggested list of items: (You can change or add to the list.)  - Assign an item to anyone who signed up and type or write their name next to the item.  This helps you keep track of what you've already assigned.

Send a confirmation note to the parents to let them know what to send in and what date to send it in by,

Hole punch and attach this cute tag to your buckets so your students will know it's from you! :)  There are two choices in case you don't like to say love and would rather say from.

Both of these products are FREE!! Go grab them and get started ASAP so you parents have time to send in the items!! 

      

Alright, now you have a way to keep your children's behavior under control and you can start counting down to the end of the year!! 

 

Until next time, 

So, What Are Brag Tags?

Earlier this school year, I posted on here about my brag tags. However, it has been awhile since I have done any posting about my tags, and I've been getting a lot of questions about these things! It's also a great time to try out a new behavior incentive because we all see the "summer is almost here" silliness starting to come out!

Let's review!

Brag tags are small, rectangular pieces of paper that students can earn as academic and behavior incentives. Brag tags can be hung on backpacks or made into a necklace.
Brag tags are an inexpensive and easy way to reward students! You're ready to use the tags in just a few quick steps. Print, laminate, cut apart, and punch a hole - done!

Head on over to my blog to read more about this exciting, easy, and effective behavior incentive!

Grab a freebie while you're there to help you get started on your brag tag collection!

{Click here or on the apple to read my full post!}

Make sure you come back TOMORROW for a great post from my sweet friend Kourtney - all about a summer countdown behavior incentive!!

Restroom Management...A Tutorial!

Hey there! I'm Megan from A New Box of Crayons and I'm coming to you today with a common problem we all face....THE BATHROOM! Check out my video for a tutorial on how to make a QR code to simplify your restroom management and make your life so much easier!

I hope you enjoyed that tutorial! Please let me know if you have any questions about using QR codes or if this makes a difference in your classroom! 

Thanks for stoppin' by! 

Bragging About Brag Tags!

Hey everyone! I'm so happy to be writing my first post to you on The Primary Pack! I'm Elyse from A is for Apples. I'm a Kindergarten teacher with a love for apples things... not eating apples!

Today I'm going to tell you about how I manage some classroom behaviors by using brag tags as an incentive. My students love earning these little pieces of paper and can't wait to show off their new tags when they get them!

If you're unfamiliar with brag tags, here's the rundown...

What are brag tags?

Brag tags are small, rectangular pieces of paper that students can earn as academic and behavior incentives. Brag tags can be hung on backpacks or made into a necklace.

Brag tags are an inexpensive and easy way to reward students! You're ready to use the tags in just a few quick steps. Print, laminate, cut apart, and punch a hole - done!

How do my students hang their brag tags?

Last year I purchased small ball-chain keychains off Amazon so my students could hang the tags on their backpacks. At the end of the year my students took the tags off their chains and made them into necklaces. This way I was able to keep the chains and they could leave Kindergarten with a brag tag necklace! This year I'm also using binder rings because some of my students keep "losing" their tags (or they're too rough with their backpacks and the chains come loose...)

Check it out!!

I really love seeing lots of tags hanging from bags! So far my students have been earning tags for: back to school activities (meet the teacher, first day, open house, picture day), monthly homework completion, monthly behavior, and character education traits. My "Rockstar of the Week" also gets a special brag tag for being the rockstar.

How do I store my brag tags?
Last year I stored my tags in one of those bead/string boxes. It worked well, but wasn't perfect. The tags are a little too long, so the box didn't close. I could deal with that, but... space was becoming an issue. Too many tags, not enough room.
Enter my summer project: create a teacher toolbox with lots of space for brag tags!

Best decision! I bought the toolbox from Lowe's, spray painted the top half orange and created labels for the tags I'd use the most.  They fit perfectly in the drawers, and I'm able to stack a couple different tags in each drawer. Lots of storage space now!

This sweet girl offered to pose with some of the tags you'll get in my October sampler pack at the end of this post. Her backpack is shown up above...pretty sure she has the most tags in the class! Go girl!

Here's your exclusive Primary Pack freebie! You'll only find it here!

{Click on the image to grab your freebie!}

I hope this little sampler of tags will help you get started right away! Leave me any questions or ideas for more tags in the comments.
P.S. If you order the ball-chain keychains from Amazon, they took about 3-4 weeks to arrive! Most of the binder rings are working out well - you just have to make sure they close tightly.

Check out my store if you fall in love with brag tags and just can't get enough!

Don't forget to come back tomorrow, and every day, to keep reading more from my amazing Primary Pack friends!