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SnackStudents will have time to eat a snack each day in the afternoon. You are encouraged to send a small, healthy,
school-approved snack to school with your child. If you are able to send in extra snack, that is much appreciated, as some students forget or are unable to provide their own for various reasons. Please also send a water bottle! |
Birthdays
Every child should feel special on his/her birthday. In our class, every child will be sung to, get a small gift from me, and the class will make a special birthday book during writing time to take home.
If you are interested in providing a special treat for the class, please be in contact with me. |
SpecialsOur class has a special once a day for 30 minutes. Here is our schedule:
Monday: Technology Tuesday: P.E. (wear shoes!) Wednesday: Library Thursday: Music Friday: Technology |
Behavior Management
This year, I will be using an iPad app called “Class Dojo” for behavior management. The app is really fun for the kids because it encourages them to work hard for points based on their behavior. Last year I got great feedback on it from my students and their parents. On a daily basis, the kids will be shown the Class Dojo screen with a fun monster like avatar image of them several times a day. They get to earn points for their avatar by doing positive behaviors like doing their work, being a good listener and being helpful etc. They lose points when they show negative behavior such as not doing their work or not following directions, etc.
The neat part about the app is that I can reward the whole class for doing their work or praise a single student with just the click of a button. My class last year though that it was almost “game like” for them because they get new monsters and things when they get so many points. Your student will most likely ask you to create an account so that they can choose their avatar.
I really like that it is a great resource for parents, as well, as it comes with parent codes that allow you to log in and check on how your students day went with the click of a button. Once you set up an account you can check on your child through the Class Dojo website (www.classdojo.com) or the app for parents.
If you choose to participate, I can give you a parent code to sign up and check your child's progress. Your students can pick their own monster avatar if you chose to create an account. You do not need an iPad to check your student’s profile; you can use www.classdojo.com/parent to login. If you use it, you will see a daily report that will tell you what percentage of the day I caught them for positive and negative behaviors. It even breaks down the times that I caught them doing each behavior. However, I don’t want you to be alarmed if you see some red for some negative points.
First Graders are known to need a lot of re-directing and sometimes hearing the minus one point ding on the app is all they need to fix their actions and get right back to work. Just because you see a red point, don’t assume it is always a big deal. The app will give you a rough idea, but a minus one point could be as simple as, “I love your idea, but you’ll have to remember not to blurt next time and raise your hand. Blurting costs a Dojo point because if we all blurted it would be hard to have class etc.” I want you to look at patterns in the overall pie chart and set goals with your student rather than focusing each positive and negative point on their screen.
I know your children will be thrilled to show off their hard work and points! I hope you find it to be a helpful resource for you as a parent to be informed. Class Dojo will be an excellent resource for us both to begin noticing behavior issues early on in hopes of preventing major problems. I would really appreciate it if parents would partner with me on this system and talk with your children about issues you are frequently seeing them being re-directed for. Also, please praise or reward your children when they have great days! They love to impress you most of all!
The neat part about the app is that I can reward the whole class for doing their work or praise a single student with just the click of a button. My class last year though that it was almost “game like” for them because they get new monsters and things when they get so many points. Your student will most likely ask you to create an account so that they can choose their avatar.
I really like that it is a great resource for parents, as well, as it comes with parent codes that allow you to log in and check on how your students day went with the click of a button. Once you set up an account you can check on your child through the Class Dojo website (www.classdojo.com) or the app for parents.
If you choose to participate, I can give you a parent code to sign up and check your child's progress. Your students can pick their own monster avatar if you chose to create an account. You do not need an iPad to check your student’s profile; you can use www.classdojo.com/parent to login. If you use it, you will see a daily report that will tell you what percentage of the day I caught them for positive and negative behaviors. It even breaks down the times that I caught them doing each behavior. However, I don’t want you to be alarmed if you see some red for some negative points.
First Graders are known to need a lot of re-directing and sometimes hearing the minus one point ding on the app is all they need to fix their actions and get right back to work. Just because you see a red point, don’t assume it is always a big deal. The app will give you a rough idea, but a minus one point could be as simple as, “I love your idea, but you’ll have to remember not to blurt next time and raise your hand. Blurting costs a Dojo point because if we all blurted it would be hard to have class etc.” I want you to look at patterns in the overall pie chart and set goals with your student rather than focusing each positive and negative point on their screen.
I know your children will be thrilled to show off their hard work and points! I hope you find it to be a helpful resource for you as a parent to be informed. Class Dojo will be an excellent resource for us both to begin noticing behavior issues early on in hopes of preventing major problems. I would really appreciate it if parents would partner with me on this system and talk with your children about issues you are frequently seeing them being re-directed for. Also, please praise or reward your children when they have great days! They love to impress you most of all!