17 pages.

Chalk Talk is a fun back to school or anytime packet that includes writing prompts, a treat bag idea, 2 posters, plus a behavior modification game.  This is a special FREEBIE in my TpT Shop. Click on the link to pop on over and grab your free copy of Chalk Talk.

1-2-3 Come Make Some Voice Choice Things With Me

I think if you'd poll young children about voice volume they'd say loud or soft.  Little ones are just learning that there are varying degrees to those, and that they will be required to adapt their volumes and voices when inside the classroom.  

If you Google voice level posters, you'll get a huge assortment that are very similar and basically agree.  I also designed one of my own, but wanted to go a bit farther to not only help explain things to your kiddos and remind them of voice levels, but offer up some real classroom management that made a world of difference with my Y5's.

There are several options in the Voice Choice packet.  You can display the cards in a pocket chart and go through them with your students or hang them on your white board and put a magnet next to the level you want your students to be at.  Simply gluing a smilie face to the back of a large, glass flat-backed "marble" and attaching a magnet, is a quick, easy, and inexpensive way to make one. 

If board space is limited, hang up the mini poster and then clip a colored clothespin to the appropriate voice level.

You can also explain things via the large posters. Show each one to your students and read the examples for when they should be using that voice. 

You can begin by showing them the picture and reading the name of each voice level, in the appropriate volume.

i.e. If you are showing them the volume level 1 Whispering poster, whisper to your students: "When do you think you would use this kind of voice?" 

After they have shared their thoughts, read the list and add anything else that's appropriate for your class.  Finally, reinforce the sound of this level, by having students model the volume of that voice, as they too "whisper" the name and number of that level.

As a review, after you explain the voice choice concept, put the number cards in a container, and have students pick one.  They share when they would use that number voice level. 

Another way to play this game, is to have students say the words “Voice Choice” in whatever number level that's on their card and have the other children guess what number they are modeling.

You can also use these voice-level number cards to remind students what level they should be on, by quietly placing the appropriate number on their desk or group table. 

Once they read it, hopefully they will make the appropriate volume adjustment and flip the card over, so you can pick it up and re-use it when necessary.

Another thing you can use the voice-level number cards for, is to make a class book.  (Templates provided.) Whatever number a student picks, is the voice level that they write about and then draw a picture. 

Collect and collate the pages and add the cover, then read as a whole group with the entire class.  Each child comes up and shares their page using the #4 sharing voice level.

Besides the number cards, I also made several designs for "Quiet Cards."  Print, laminate and trim the cards and keep them in a narrow basket on your chalk sill, under your voice choice poster. 

As with the number cards, without a word, you place the appropriate card on a child's desk or group table.  This is a great way to silently encourage students, as well as have children adjust their behavior or voice levels, without disturbing the class or bringing negative attention to someone.

Another quiet way to remind your students to adjust their voice level, is with the paper STOP sign.  Simply run off the pattern on red construction paper; fill in the letters with white crayon or paint; laminate; trim and put on a craft stick.

Without a word, and with a grand flourish, (they'll spot the movement) hold up the sign when students are not at the appropriate voice level.  With your other hand, hold up the appropriate number of fingers to show what voice-level number students should be using. 

Keep holding up the sign and fingers ’til everyone has their hand up with the correct number of fingers showing. If they should be at zero, with their lips zipped, put your index finger on your lips as if saying Shhhh, and stare at specific noisy students with your best “teacher look.”   I also made matching "quiet cards" that you can use as well. 

I've included a "Please zip your lips" and a "Shhhhhh!" poster.  These could also be mounted on a large Popsicle or paint stick.  If students don't notice your "grand flourish" as you hold one of these up, and are not adjusting their volume, you can signal them with the tinkling sound of a bell, or flicking the lights off and then on. 

These were a few more quiet ways I got my students' attention. I also hung a lovely sounding wind chime, next to my reading chair to signal story time.  You could use one for your volume adjustment bag of tricks. 

Clapping out a pattern and having students repeat it, was also a successful sound signal for me.  Make sure you explain these sound signals to your students, so they know what you're expecting from them.  Equally important, is having a consequence if they don't make changes. 

If most of your students are doing a wonderful job with their voice choices, you can reinforce their great behavior by giving them a praise bookmark.  They come in full color, as well as black line. 

Unfortunately, there always seem to be a few stragglers, who need a bit more reminding.  Self control was probably one of the top reasons I always had more boys than girls in my Y5's classes.  With them in mind, I designed some positive reinforcement voice control activities for you and included them in this packet.  

Z is for zipper and  ZIPPING your lips.  You can send one of the "I'm having trouble zipping my lips" poster-notes home to a child's parents, or have them color it while they sit in your Time Out or Think chair. This is an easy way to communicate with parents and enlist their help.

Every year I had at least one child with ADHD. An effective behavior modification technique with them, was to earn the right to connect a dot on their paper to make a mystery picture.  Whenever they modeled the appropriate behavior that we were working on, they got to connect another dot. 

This was super-simple, quick and easy for me.  If they completed their picture that day, they received the agreed upon "prize."  If not, they could continue the next day.  Thus, I also made the "Z is for zipping" paper,  into "color a star and connect it to the next one" -- voice control worksheet. 

Besides encouraging them to adjust their volume, you can also work on interrupting, and not blurting inappropriate things out.  I hope you find these techniques helpful, and that you are able to use a few of them to make life in your home-away-from home less hectic.   

This packet will be FREE for an entire year, after which time it will be up-dated and put in the Classroom Management section of my TpT shop. Voice Choice Packet.  

Well that's it for today.  The sunshine is calling me!  As always, thanks for visiting and feel free to PIN away. 

Summer: "Hair gets lighter; skin gets darker; water gets warmer; drinks get colder; music gets louder; days get longer; life gets better!" -Unknown

Now You See Them; Now You Don’t!  1 2 3 Come Do Some Elf On A Shelf Activities With Me

The Elf on A Shelf is a children’s picture book written by an American mother and daughter Carol Aebersold and Chanda Bell, and illustrated by Coë Steinwart.

The book was self-published in 2005 and  comes with a small elf. It's written in rhyme with watercolor illustrations.

The gist of the story is that Santa knows who is naughty and nice by what his elves report back to him as they fly back and forth each night.

Upon returning, they pick a new place to hide. By choosing a new hiding spot, the members of the family play an on-going game of Hide and Seek.  Children are encouraged to name their elf.

Once the elf is named, the "scout" elf receives its special Christmas magic. Now they can fly! However, the magic might go if touched, so the rule for The Elf on the Shelf states: "There's only one rule that you have to follow, so I will come back and be here tomorrow: Please do not touch me. My magic might go, and Santa won't hear all I've seen or I know."

In the hope that students will settle down, stay on task, and be better behaved during the hectic month of December, teachers have now gotten on board and purchased an elf for their classrooms. 

To launch Elf on a Shelf read the story and let the good behavior modification begin!  After all, Santa now has a spy in the room, and the teacher has a helper that is watching.

If you're looking for a costume to wear on the day you introduce your elf activities, or perhaps dress up in for story time, I found one at Oriental Trading.  It's just $16.  They also have an apron, or simply don the hat for $3. Children's sizes are also available, and would be a real hit in your dress up box, 

I spent over an hour sourcing pictures of elf antics, 'til my head was actually spinning!  There are virtually 100's of ideas Online, so I decided to start a PIN board with my favorites.  Click on the link to catch the Elf Excitement.

If your budget is tight and you'd like to make an elf, instead of buying one, I designed "Twinkle."  He's made out of a decorative lunch bag.

I bought my bags at  Hobby Lobby. Click on the link to view/download Twinkle, the Elf on a Classroom Shelf "craftivity."

This is also a very easy thing for your kiddo's to make, and can act as a great behavior modification technique, as I've included "Tally Tags." 

Children choose one and glue it to the front of their own elf.   Whenever you catch a child being good, or when they have completed a task, they may add a tally mark to their card.

Have them use a red marker for tally marks 1-4 and then cross the 5th tally with a green marker. 

To ensure honesty, remind students that the elves and Santa are watching, so no cheating. You could also let them know that you have a student tally total that you keep track of, so if you find a discrepancy they will lose their card.  You really don't have to keep up with this, just show the paper and it will hopefully do the trick.

Feel free to walk over and add tally marks to children’s bags without saying a word.  Believe me, they will be aware of what you are doing and get right down to business.   After school, add tally marks to whom ever had a good day. This tally mark can be from the Elf on a Shelf.  So children can readily see a difference, make the elf’s tally mark in another color like blue or purple.

Because of the book’s popularity, elf activities were being requested, so I decided to design some.  I also had a few "oldies but goodies" which you can find below.

Click on the link to view/download The Christmas Elf, which is a spatial direction booklet, that also has several “craftivities” included, like the stocking with a photo of a real elf tucked inside.

Simply take a picture of each of your students wearing an elf/Santa hat.  Students trim and glue to the back of their stocking.  A graphing extension is also included.

 The booklet Little Elf What Do You See? is a rhyming booklet that incorporates the 5 senses. 

If you have lots of kiddo's and want to conserve paper, you'll want to use my up-dated mini version.  Click on the link to grab this FREEBIE.

Lots of Common Core is covered, as students read, circle capital letters; add end punctuation; underline adjectives; trace and write the "senses" words and then color, cut and glue the matching pictures.

 If you're looking for an elf-related writing prompt have students respond to Santa's wanted poster. 

He's looking for seasonal elf help.  Children write why they feel they'd make a good elf. 

After students share their page, collect and collate into a class book.  A "You're Hired!" certificate and "Official Santa's Helper Button" are also included.   Click on the link to view/download the Wanted: Elf Help packet.

Thanks for visiting today.  I design and try to blog daily, so I hope you can pop by tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES hot off this elf's computer.   Feel free to PIN away.

"I passed through the seven levels of the Candy Cane forest, through the sea of swirly twirly gum drops, and then I walked through the Lincoln Tunnel." -Buddy, from the movie Elf

Having Fun Behaving!

Since the star student flags and encouragement cards were such a big hit, I decided to write one more article on behavior modification.

100-Chart Bingo is also a quick, easy and fun way to help improve student behavior. This tip also helps teach math skills and cooperation.  What a win-win for everyone!

Here's How To Play:

Run off and laminate the traceable 100 chart.

Run off and laminate the smaller number chart.

Cut up the smaller numbers and put them in a container. You'll need another container to put the chosen numbers in.  I have labels for "picked" and "not picked".

Anytime that you recognize good behavior choose a student to draw a number out of the container and have a different student trace it on the 100 chart, using a permanent marker.

The tracings can later be removed with a Mr. Clean Eraser.

I find that if you use a dry erase marker, the color can easily be brushed off by accident.

When the class gets a "BINGO" (a straight line in any direction) they get a reward. 4 corners is also a Bingo. 

What will be fun for students is that the diagonal lines are all different lengths. Some are only 2 numbers long, while others, like the one straight across the middle, which includes numbers 1 through 100, is the longest of all.

At the beginning of the year, brainstorm a list of rewards with students, and list them on the reward chart.

You can either have students vote on what reward they want, or choose a number out of another container with however many numbers in it, that correspond to how many rewards you have.

Whatever number they choose, will match a reward on the poster and that’s the one that the students earn.

Also, decide what sorts of behavior warrant the choosing of a number. i.e. the whole class transitioning quietly, completing morning work etc.

List those on the "Just LOVE this kind of bee-utiful bee-havior!" chart. 

As an incentive you can list individual students on the other bee-utiful bee-havior chart and decide how many need to make the list in order to get a number drawn.

You could also draw more numbers for better behavior. i.e., a compliment in the hallway from another teacher or in their gym, music, or art classes =’s 2 or 3 numbers drawn; no one is absent, a great report from the substitute, etc. 5 numbers are drawn.

I've included a "Bee good for goodness sake bookmark, + 4 "Buzzin' By" bee-utiful bee-havior happy grams as well as "Caught bee-ing good" awesome cards.  

I truly feel that positive reinforcement goes a long way in helping promote great behavior and improving self-esteem.

I think you'll like Behavior Bingo because it teaches patience, as it takes a while to get a Bingo.  It also teaches teamwork, because it’s a group effort.

I like the teachable moments it provides. i.e., instead of the student who chooses the number announcing the number, have them give a clue: I drew a number between 30 and 40.  My number is less than 10 but more than 6, my number is in the 1^st row and is odd. This helps students really understand number concepts as well as look for patterns.

Click on the link to view/download Behavior Bingo Packet

Scroll down for the other 2 articles on Behavior Modification: Star Student Flags & Encouragement Cards

Do you have a behavior tip that works for you?  I'd enjoy hearing about it. diane@teachwithme.com or feel free to leave a comment here, especially if you use one of my ideas.  Thanks in advance for taking the time and for visiting. Feel free to PIN anything you feel others might enjoy.

Hoping to see you tomorrow for more teaching tips.

When I taught high school, I remember running into a mother of a student years later.  She shared with me that her son still carried a dog-eared scrap of paper around in his wallet, with a list of positive qualities his classmates had wrote about him in my class!  Wow.  I never forgot that conversation, and the impact something so simple can have on a person. 

I hope this idea brings a smile to your students' faces and helps build their self-esteem.  Who knows, maybe someday you'll meet a mom somewhere and they'll tell you their child still has their Smile File! 

"I am not a teacher, but an awakener." -Robert Frost

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful; Are Your Students' Actions Delightful?

Are your students a bit hyper after Thanksgiving?  Mine were always a little more energetic and excited. I think it was because they were caught up in all of the hustle and bustle of the holidays.

I’ designed this packet a few years ago, before I had all of the awesome software I now have available, but because these ideas really work, I decided to post this article again today.

The activities are quick and easy to implement. Hopefully they will help you, help your students, put their best foot forward, so you can get down to the business of teaching instead of preaching.

All of the following are in a 36-page packet entitled:  Modifying Behavior In December. Use them as a whole-group TEAM challenge (Together Everyone Achieves More) or for individuals who need that extra little boost. 

At one point or another, I've used all of these techniques.  They were extremely successful with my kiddo's.

Thanks to the Polar Express. everyone knows that if you truly believe in Christmas, you can hear Santa’s bells, so I passed out a few, to everyone from the janitor to the principal. They'd deliberately pass by our door and jingle.

It really cracked me up when my students actually froze when they heard the bells through out our day, and explained to each other that they heard Santa’s helpers spying on us!

The List:  As I caught children being good, I added them to our “Santa’s Watching!” good girls and boys list.

Use the poster as a topper on your white board.  Remind children that just because  their name was on the list, didn't mean that it couldn't be removed, and you  expected them to continue to behave appropriately.

Letter From Santa: To get the good-behavior ball rolling, I sent a letter to each of my students from Santa.  I printed them on Christmas paper that you can buy at The Dollar Store and tuck them in a Christmas card.

I added an address label (from the North Pole of course) and a sticker that said: "A letter from Santa" .  My school has everyone's address in a database, so our secretary was kind enough to print out a sheet of labels; because this was a student activity, my  school provided the postage.  

I also bought those ultra tiny Ziploc Baggies and put a teaspoon of oatmeal mixed with glitter in them.  The child sprinkles it on the lawn on Christmas Eve.  Rudolph smells the oats and sees the glitter sparkling on the snow and knows just where they live!

This all added to the fun.  My students were always so excited to tell me they  had received a letter from Santa!  It's amazing how their behavior improved as well! 

 I Need A Little Incentive Today!  I’ve also made some incentive charts for you to use.  Use this incentive plan to get children to transition quickly, line up and stay quiet in line, get things cleaned up and put away etc.  They are also a great way for your students to learn the days of the week.

Use them for individuals too. There are several to choose from, so you can use one each week.  How they work:  Put up the Christmas tree poster.  If everyone behaves, gets their work done (whatever you have as a goal) then they get the Monday ornament put on the tree or colored in, the same thing for Tuesday etc. 

When they have earned all of the ornaments they receive whatever prize you decided upon. (Free recess, new center to play at, trip to the treasure box, candy treat, game time etc.) I also have stripe a candy cane, (I buy non-peppermint-flavored canes for this one, and at the end of the week each child gets a candy cane. 

A wreath that you put berries on, is another alternative.  Run the master off on green paper as well as red then cut the pieces out. The 4th one is a gingerbread man where you color in the buttons.

Tree-mendous Behavior!  Save an empty spool of thread or buy one at The Dollar Store and stamp your way into some tree-mendous behavior.  Run off a class set of trees on green construction paper.  Have your students cut them out. Add a brown rectangle for a trunk and a yellow star at the top where they write their name. 

Now wait 'til you catch them being good, or accomplishing a task and reward them by allowing them to stamp their tree. You could also use a variety of stickers as "ornaments."

Santa's Beard Needs Some Fluff!  This is the same concept as above only using a Santa.  There are a specific number of circles on Santa's beard and they need a "good-behavior-cotton ball" glued to them to help fill it up. 

Whose Santa has the fullest beard?  You can send a note about the Santa's in your newsletter asking parents to ask their child how their Santa is doing, and how many cotton balls they received that day.  That should be a nice motivator!

Punch Me Please:  I don’t know about your students, but mine love using my paper punch + it’s a great fine motor skill that strengthens their hand muscles.   I thought how can I incorporate this more; and designed this activity.  

Run off the trees on green construction paper and have your class cut them out and add a brown construction paper trunk and write their name on it.  Hang the trees on a classroom bulletin board or wall. 

Keep strips of  various colored “garland” handy in an envelope.  Each child gets to choose their first one and keeps it taped to the side of their desk or at their table by their name card.

Each time the teacher catches them being good, or they accomplish their Table Top lessons, or hand in their homework (whatever you decide on) they get to use the paper punch and punch a hole in their garland.  When they get 10 punches they glue the garland on their tree.

Shall I Freeze Or Should I Melt? To help get the wiggles out so that I don’t have behavior problems,  I allow my students to FREEZE and MELT! 

I have them dance and prance around the carpet area as quickly as they can, watching me out of the corner of their eye, to see if I’ll hold up a snowflake or sun. 

If they see Mr. Snowflake they quickly FREEZE in whatever position they are in.  If they see Mr. Sunshine they slowly plop to the floor melting as they go; falling like the Wicked Witch of the West! 

I made my Freeze and Melt signs from a huge snowflake cut out that I purchased at a party store. The sun I made from a piece of yellow tag board.  I laminated both pieces.  I made a set of clip art posters for you, if you don't want to start from scratch.    

Click here to print all of the patterns, including the article which explains the directions. December Behavior Modification Packet 

I design and blog daily so I hope you can pop back tomorrow for the newest FREEBIES.  As always, if you have any tips you can share with us that would be winter-wonderful!  Drop me a line diane@teachwithme.com

Feel free to PIN anything you think might be helpful to others.

"Remember that teaching is more than high test scores; it is also enriching lives and having fun while doing so."