Thursday, December 13, 2012

Randomnesssss

Wow, the school year is nearly half over and I haven't posted much.  It's been an interesting few months so I never did get a good schedule in place.  After Thanksgiving break, the teacher was wiped out from travels and didn't want to get up in the mornings.  We got a little lazy needless to say.  Now we are getting back to a better routine.
I got a new phone and this nice little feature "Siri" is handy for getting things done.  I've set timers before, but something about pressing a button and saying, "Set timer for 15 minutes," makes a bigger impact and her response, "15 minutes and counting."  Lets them know that we are counting time down.  I originally was going to not give them points for incomplete work at the end of the timer, but changed it to taking away their stickers.  If they accumulate 20-25 stickers depending on how many squares I draw on the index card, they earn a trip to the prize box.  It is a great incentive.  Now, if I can tell they've been working the entire time, but couldn't complete a task, I give them "grace" and reset the timer for a time limit that I think is reachable.  So far its working for us.
Another thing that I'm using for school this year is a Pinterest idea.  The idea was Walmart plastic plates, but I bought a serving tray from Target for a buck or two.  I write the date and weather and assignments for the kids.  We erase the completed items or put an x through them as the day goes on.  It is pretty cool.  I've done different things with the arrangement.  Today, we have bubbles and the kids "pop" the bubble when they are done with that task.  I clean it with Windex at the end of the week, but dry erase it during the week.

Sample day on our white board tray.

12 days until Christmas!  Shall we sing the song???

Here's what's on the agenda for next week!!!