No Fail Tricks For Getting Hallway Behaviors On Track

Hi Friends! I have a quick post for you today, to share some tips and tricks I use in my classroom to keep my students from thinking they are part of a Championship parade every time we step foot into the hallway!

#1... SET THE GROUNDWORK

Ok, so you CANNOT just assume that kids know how to walk quietly and with self-control in the hallways. Even if this is not their first time in school, even if you know who their teacher was last year, and you KNOW he or she taught them how to walk, blah, blah, blah... SAVE YOURSELF SOME TIME AND SANITY...AND DO NOT ASSUME ANYTHING!!! Remember, these are children. Self-control, walking, and quiet are not things that come naturally to children. Chaos, noise, running, and mayhem? NATURAL BEHAVIORS OF CHILDREN! (Do you see what I am saying?)

In my classroom I am a big believer in using social stories to help support my teaching of classroom behaviors and social skills. So, I use the social stories Walking In The Hallways and There Are Times To Talk LOUDLY And There Are Times To Talk Softly to facilitate strong discussions about proper behaviors and expectations in the hallways.

We talk, and talk, and talk some more! (Notice I said WE talk...not just I talk.) Talking together about the behaviors rather than being talked to about the behaviors is much more effective! That is why I like using the social stories. They are great springboards for discussion.

#2... PRACTICE

Next, we practice. We practice EVERY PART of the behaviors we want to see in the hall. We practice in the classroom first. (Walking, facing forward, hands at our sides, not talking, staying in line.) Then we practice in the hall. An important part of practicing is modeling for the students what you want to see. Show them what you see them doing right and show them what you see them doing wrong! (No names of course!) Students love to see you model a behavior knowing in their heart that they've got it right! They also love watching you model those crazy inappropriate behaviors too, like, "should we walk all the way down the hall rubbing our head on the lockers as we walk...like this?"

#3... MAKE GOING INTO THE HALLWAY A FUN EVENT

When we line up to go into the hall, we have a couple chants that we use as a fun way to get ourselves prepared to leave the safety and anonymity of our classroom and enter the "real world". These chants come from our friend Emily at Polka Dots Please. 

We just love everything she does! (Yes, I may be slightly biased since she was once my student teacher many years ago, but once you visit her blog and her store, I am sure you will love her as much as I do!) Our favorite is the "Mirror Mirror On The Wall" chant that tells us to check ourselves in the mirror before we go out the door, to make sure we are ready to go! (It is also a great way to check our hair and teeth to make sure we are presentable for the "real world" without feeling vain about it!)

#4...HOLD THE STUDENTS ACCOUNTABLE

After all that talk and practice and modeling about proper hallway behaviors, it is important to then make sure you hold your students accountable for those same hallway behaviors. Stop periodically as you are walking and turn around and check on them. Walk slow enough that they can keep up with you (I am SO guilty of forgetting to do this!), and acknowledge their good behavior when you get to your destination so they know you are noticing their hard work! I have a couple other ways I hold my students accountable in the hallways. One way, is to have the line leader carry the Voice Level Indicator sign in the air for the class to see, to remind them of the appropriate voice level in the hallway. 

I also hand out Celebration Tags for good hallway behavior. 

Then there is the Secret Walker....Have you tried Secret Walker in your classroom? If you haven't, you have got to..THIS is a gem! 
Ok, so here is how Secret Walker works...
In my classroom, one of the class jobs is Caboose. The job of the Caboose is to always be at the end of the line when we go anywhere (we keep the same jobs all week), and to choose and watch the Secret Walker. THIS IS A COVETED JOB!!! THERE IS NO MORE POWERFUL SITUATION IN A FIRST GRADERS DAY! (wink wink!)

So, in the morning when the students come in, the Caboose student will choose a name out of the Secret Walker envelope. (NO PEEKING! This is very important, or you will find that friends will only choose friends, etc.) The Caboose then lets you know who the Secret Walker is but is not allowed to tell anyone else. (Revealing who it is before the end of the day is an immediate loss of power for the rest of the week!)

Whenever we leave the classroom, the Caboose is then in charge of watching the Secret Walker to see if he/she is following the hallway rules. At the end of the day it is revealed whether or not the Secret Walker did well. (I assist with this process if I have a particularly difficult Caboose, or know that the Caboose may not be an impartial judge for whatever reason.) If the answer is YES, THE SECRET WALKER DID A GREAT JOB IN THE HALLS TODAY, then and ONLY then does the Caboose reveal the name! (This way we are not ridiculing anyone for bad behavior.) The Secret Walker gets a round of applause, a slip/poem to take home, and a Brag Tag for his/her necklace.

 That is it! My students LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, the Secret Walker routine!

(By the way, when we pull names, we leave those names out of the envelope until all the names have been pulled. Then we put them all back in and start again.) 

(If you are interested in trying any of these ideas in your classroom or want to learn more about them, just click on the pictures!)

Hope this helps with your hallway behaviors! Happy traveling!

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The Perfect Way To Build A Strong Classroom Community

     Welcome back friends! Thanks for stopping in! I can't wait to talk to you about one of my favorite classroom management techniques...Classroom Social Stories! My students LOVE, LOVE, LOVE classroom social stories! They cannot get enough of them, which is a win, win for me, because I get their full attention while I am teaching them all about the ins and outs of classroom behavior, manners, safety, and community!

    What are Social Stories anyway?

     For those of you who are new to social stories, let me bring you up to speed. Social Stories were originally developed in order to support individuals with autism. The idea was to provide a more personalized and tailored behavioral intervention to help them better cope with social situations.
Social stories are used to help teach students routines, expectations, and behavioral standards in an alternative way. Social stories present information in a story format with visual examples of behavior expectations to reinforce correct behavior and to help involve students in the learning process.

Who can benefit from Social Stories?

     So, who can benefit from the use of social stories? Well, often times, social stories are only used in Special Education classrooms or with Special Education students because this is the population they were originally geared toward. But the more I thought about the students who could benefit from this type of presentation of information, I thought, couldn't these social stories benefit EVERY child. Seriously...think about it...Social stories are PERFECT for...

• students on the autism spectrum
• students with ADHD/ADD
• students with anxiety disorders
• students with sensory issues
• students who lack social skills
• students who take longer to grasp things like routines and expectations

(I don't know about you, but that sounds like my entire class...including the teacher!)

     So, that is when I decided...EUREKA! this could be the secret ingredient I was looking for, to make all my classroom management wishes come true! I have created Classroom Social Stories to go along with the day-to-day situations and events that we face in our regular classroom. The best part is...they can't come back later and say, "I didn't know that rule." or "You never told me that." or "I never heard that before." AH HAH!!!! We know for sure you heard it before, because it is right here in this book! (That we have read as a class 600 times!- but I will get to that part!) Holding students accountable has never been easier!

     Ok, so let me tell you how we go about using our Classroom Social Stories in a way that helps everyone succeed. When I first introduce each story, I do it as a whole class read aloud. As we read we stop and discuss what is going on in the story and the pictures. (I am still old school, and prefer to hold the book to do the read aloud, but my social stories can also be projected onto the whiteboard or SmartBoard to be read as well.) After our first initial reading, we do many, many repeated readings of the book! The repeated readings are key here, because that is what helps the students A-understand the importance of the topic and B-retain what they have heard.
     I also print out extra copies of pages that are of particular importance to the concept being taught in the story so that we can use them as "behavioral focus cards" for individual students or even as an entire class.

     Above is an example of focus cards that I needed to pull out for my class this past year from the classroom social story Do I Really Need To Go To The Nurse? I had several students who were "frequent flyers" to the Nurse's office so I kept these focus cards out on the board to be discussed during morning meeting and as the individual needs arose.(i.e."Are you sure you need to go to the nurse? Do you have something that is hurting or bothering you like this boy in the picture?")
     If, after repeated readings as a whole class, a student or group of students is still struggling with the behavioral concept being taught, I provide those students with individual copies of the story (either full sized or reduced size), and encourage them to reread and review the story when a refresher of that particular social skill is needed. The rereading and review can be done any number of ways- independently, in a reading "skills" group, with an Aide, with a peer, with the Principal (Uh-Oh!), and even at home with the parents.

*As a side note here, my Principal has an entire basket full of my social stories in her office so that she can use them to read to little ones when they are sent in with social skill issues.

    We keep all our classroom social stories in baskets in our library so that the students can reread them at their leisure...AND DO THEY EVER! These are the most used baskets in my library!
   Once you have covered the skill being taught in the social story, you can even use the pages in a bulletin board display to refer back to as needed.
 

Now is the fun part! Let me tell you about the Classroom Social Stories we have in our classroom, and all the different situations they can cover!

     We get started using our social stories right from day one, because they are perfect for teaching back to school routines! These are the routines and social skills covered with our Back To School Classroom Social Stories:

     The students cannot wait to try to replicate the good behaviors they see the students in the books doing. Below are some example pages from a few of the social stories in the Back To School Classroom Social Story Bundle.

   

   
Another great use for social stories in the classroom is to explain safety procedures in and around the classroom. Social stories are fantastic for explaining safety procedures! These are the safety procedures covered with our School Safety Classroom Social Stories:

   
     Safety drills can often be overwhelming and scary for little ones, but by teaching about the procedures through social stories, the students feel much more at ease and prepared. Especially because they are able to see the children in the stories going through the procedures first, so they are able to broaden their mindset about the upcoming situations. Below are some example pages from a few of the social stories in the School Safety Classroom Social Story Bundle.

 
      I have found social stories to be a great way to prepare students for special events! We all know that just the hint of a special event in the future can cause chaos in even the best behaved classrooms. So getting your students fully prepared for said events is an absolute must! These are the special events covered with our Special Event Classroom Social Stories:

   
     I don't know about you, but I want to give my students every opportunity to get these situations right...especially since many of them take place in front of other people...NO THANK YOU with the complete and total LUNATIC BEHAVIORS in public! Below are some example pages from a few of the social stories in the Special Event Classroom Social Story Bundle.

     Social stories are also great for teaching students about making good choices! These are the classroom situations covered in our Good Choices Classroom Social Stories:

     There are so many situations our students encounter every day that come down to either making a good choice or making a bad choice...shouting out in class, getting up 1,000 times to get a tissue, getting frustrated with work instead of asking for help... Many times they make the bad choice because they don't know what the good choice options are. These social stories provide students with examples of ways to make good choices instead of bad. Below are some example pages from a few of the social stories in the Good Choices Classroom Social Story Bundle.

     Another great use for social stories in the classroom is for teaching students about cooperation.Social stories are excellent for explaining to students about cooperation! These are the classroom situations covered in our Cooperation Classroom Social Stories:

     Many students coming to school today lack the social skills necessary to deal with much of the day to day business that takes place in the classroom. It is unfortunate, but it is true. Because of that, it is up to us as teachers to provide them with the tools they need to get along in social situations. Below are some example pages from a few of the social stories in the Cooperation Classroom Social Story Bundle. 

Social stories can be a concrete way to teach students about getting along! So many times kids will say, "no one will play with me," and they have no idea what they are doing to in fact hinder the interaction with others. These are the classroom situations covered in our Getting Along Classroom Social Stories:

     Below are some example pages from a few of the social stories in the Getting Along Classroom Social Story Bundle.

     I love using social stories in my classroom to motivate students to do better academically! Social stories are a great way to motivate students to use their best academic abilities! These are the classroom situations covered in our Academic Ability Classroom Social Stories:

When the students see kids in the story going through the same situations they are...it is like a light bulb goes off in their heads! Suddenly they have the strength and the will to try to do better. Below are some example pages from a few of the social stories in the Academic Ability Classroom Social Story Bundle.

     This last group of social stories is a must for making kids with slight differences feel comfortable, safe, and included in the classroom. Social stories are excellent for explaining to students about differences! Over the years I have been blessed to have a diverse population of learners. Each group is unique, and I make it my purpose to make each group feel like they are the perfect group for me! Along with diversity comes a responsibility to foster understanding and acceptance of differences. These are the classroom situations covered in our Differences Classroom Social Stories:

Below are some example pages from a few of the social stories in the Differences Classroom Social Story Bundle.

     Now, you can get any of these social stories individually in my TPT store, or if you are like me, and have to have EVERY SINGLE ONE... you can get them ALL in THE MEGA Classroom Social Story Bundle! This bundle is a 20% off value and it is a GROWING bundle...so if you buy now...as more stories are added, you will get those stories too...FOR FREE!!!

     Do you think you are ready to try Classroom Social Stories? 

I am giving away A BUNDLE OF YOUR CHOICE to 3 lucky readers!

*(The Mega Bundle is excluded from this offer.)*

Follow the rules in the Rafflecopter to enter!

GOOD LUCK!

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Classroom Tour 2015

Well, we are officially into our second week of the new school year and my new firsties have not disappointed me! I am in love with them already!!!!  This years bunch is a hard working group of kind-hearted friends. Let me show you what the world looks like from our point of view every day....

Welcome to Room 120!

We are so amazingly lucky aren't we??? Our building is only three years old, so all the furnishing are still new. We have worked very hard to impress upon the students the importance of keeping everything nice, and to preserve the "newness" of the classrooms, we are not allowed to hang anything on the walls or tape anything down on the tables or desks. (Anything you see hanging in the pictures is suspended from the ceiling with paper clips and fishing line.)

This is the view from outside our classroom door. We each have a bulletin board outside our doorway where we can put our goals or units of study for the month. 

When my firsties come in each morning they check in for lunch and their traveling home plans. (Our school district does not have busing, so the dismissal options can tend to get a bit confusing if you don't have a set plan in place.) Both these products are in my TPT store. (Click on links below)

Classroom Lunch Count Diplay   Dismissal Signs

This is my Word Study board where current vocab and spelling words will be displayed, and our DONE and NOT DONE baskets. (Very important to keeping students organized and accountable).

Hanging on the door is something that plays a very important role in MY sanity every day! This is where students "check out" when they leave the classroom to go somewhere else in the building. They still need my permission to leave the room, but with 25 little firsties, all with their own schedules to follow each day, there are times in the day when it is easy to lose track of where everyone has gone!

I LOVE MY WORD WALL!!! We do not have many bulletin boards in our rooms, so I tried using only half of this board as my word wall last year, but I really wasn't happy with the results. It seems to me that it defeats the purpose of having a word wall that you teach your students to use if then you end up squishing all the words together in a way that is cluttered and unorganized.

My favorite place in my room????? THE LIBRARY OF COURSE!!! (Especially now that I redid all my labels this year with the help of my friend Maribel over at Learning In Wonderland!)

 We keep our choice time toys in the bins, and in the cart we keep our crayons, glue sticks, scissors, markers, etc. By the way, do you seperate your crayons by color? BEST THING I EVER DID!!! No more searching FOREVER for the crayon they need... now they just pull out that color drawer, grab one and go!

The Worry Jar! If you haven't already read my previous post about this CLASSROOM MUST please make sure to read it!

These are our pet frogs Phelps and Lochte! We love them! (I used to be a die-hard hermit crab owner, but a friend turned me on to these guys and I gotta say.... much less maintenance!) I do miss my crabbies though...just might need to bring them back around! Our Class Read Aloud Response Journal is  where we record our Read Alouds each day and journal about them. Sometimes we journal as a class and sometimes we journal individually.

Our Social Story Basket is the most used basket in our library, so I keep it up on top of the bookshelves for easy access. You can read about how I use social stories in my classroom in an early post.

These are Our Class Birthday Goodies! You can find them in my Birthday Palooza Bundle.Each child receives a birthday balloon on a silly straw, a birthday watch, a birthday pencil and poem, a birthday card, and a birthday necklace. We then interview the birthday child and they get their own pages in our Birthday Book (some done at school, and some done at home with their family.) In the picture below you can see where I put the birthday pictures above the board. I take pictures of the students who have birthdays in each month and put their pictures up with their months.

Above my board I have some of my favorite inspirational quotes. I refer to them often with my students throughout the year. I have a SmartBoard, so I don't use this board a whole lot. That is why I am able to use it for other things. On it I keep track of No Name papers, table points, the Flow of the Day, and Voice Level. In the buckets is where I keep my Brain Stretch Set...Joke of the Day, Question of the Day, and Fact of the Day.

My little corner of all this happiness!

Our Class Expectations, our Behavior Clip Chart, and Our Class Pledge...

Warm Fuzzies!!! Our classroom runs on these! (This idea originally came from Mel D. at Seusstastic. I have just tweeked it to fit the needs of my students.) They earn fuzzies for various good, great, and outstanding behaviors throughout the day and then can trade them in for coupons to be used on WARM FUZZY FRIDAY!!!

This is where we keep our reading and writing folders...in our spinners. ONE OF MY FAVORITE CLASSROOM PURCHASES!!! I got these from a teacher supply store that was going out of business. $20.00 each friends! The mailboxes are shoe organizers that I stacked together and painted.

I hope you enjoyed touring our little corner of the world! Have a great week!

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