Bright Ideas Blog Hop - Behavior Management 101: Tic-Tac-Treat

It's been awhile...I decided to come back to the blogging world by joining some fabulous bloggy friends in the Bright Ideas Blog Hop!  I LOVE this hop because you can always find some cheap awesome ideas that truly are helpful in the classroom!  It's a great time of the year to find some helpful tips too!    

I would like to share a classroom management tip that is a lifesaver when I do stations in my classroom.  Behavior is always a concern when you are running groups.  I use stickers to keep everyone focused during station or center time.  I have THOUSANDS of stickers (a lot of them are very old) that I need to get rid of.  I've collected so many old stickers from people who have retired or left my school.  

Surprisingly, this strategy even works for 5th grade students.  Every student has a classroom work folder which travels to each station with them.  Inside the folder I place their Tic-Tac-Treat sheet.  If I do not have to call on them or correct their behavior, they earned a sticker for station time that day.   Students can place the sticker anywhere on the sheet that they wish.  They quickly learn how to "strategize"!  Lol!  

When they received 3 in a row or Tic-Tac-Treat, I mark through the stickers with a Sharpie and initialed it.  The student then received a treat!  I keep a list of students on the board or on my clipboard next to me who lost their stickers during station time. 

I made a Tic-Tac-Treat template, but you can easily have the students create their own on notebook or copy paper.  

Having the students create their own saves paper.   They can draw 4 Tic-Tac-Toe templates onto one sheet of paper.

You would be surprised at how smoothly stations ran once I implemented this strategy!  5th graders will work for stickers too!  Here's the kicker!  The students never knew what day I would collect the Tic-Tac-Treat sheets to send home to their parents.  Each day they would run to their folders to see if it was in there.  The students did not like starting over on another sheet.  They love the "game"; I love how it helps me manage the behavior in stations (and get rid of LOTS and LOTS of old stickers).  

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Classroom Management: Attention Getting Signals

Teachers are ALWAYS searching for new "material" for their classrooms!  By nature, we {teachers} "borrow"!  I'm so excited to be a part of the "Bright Ideas" Blog Hop!  We can ALL gain some helpful "bright ideas" for the classroom!  

I would like to share a couple of attention getting signals.  We have to be creative nowadays to get the attention of our students.  I would like to share three with you!  Of course, they were "borrowed" along my journey of teaching.  Hey....don't judge!  We're educators...that's what we DO!

Shhhhh.... is not the way to gain your students attention TODAY!  Try these three attention getters!

Number One...Incorporate Math

I LOVE using this signal with students!  It's a great way to capture their attention and practice math skills as well!  As with any signal, you must train the students.  Call out a number and the students must "freeze" where they are and make the number with their hands.  All students may represent the number in the same way in the beginning, but they will soon get creative.  For example, if I stop and say "Make 10".  One student may hold up all ten fingers.  Another may hold up two on one hand and five on the other.  It may look like "7" BUT if you multiply 2 X 5, you get 10.  When you first teach the students this signal, you can have them turn to a partner, and explain why they chose the fingers that they did.  Or have the person guess how they made the number.

Number Two...Call and Response  

Everyone loves call and response.  The teacher says part of the phrase, and the class responds with the other part.  
Here are some examples of Call and Response phrases...

• [Teacher] Hocus Pocus...[Student] Let's focus!
• Class, Class...Yes, Yes
• One Fish, Two Fish...Red Fish, Blue Fish
• Alligator, Alligator...Chomp, Chomp
• Ready to rock?...Ready to roll
• All set...You bet
• Hands on top...That means stop

Number Three...Spot On

Choose a spot in the class.  This is a special spot that you stand when you want your student's attention.   Do not teach in that spot.  Only give directions or demand their attention from that spot.  You can even mark it with a special rug or circle mat!  Tell students that they need to be "spot on" when you are standing in that spot.   Eyes on the speaker.  Ears listening.  No talking.  Be consistent and it will work wonders!

What are your favorite attention getting signals?  

Please share them in the comments.

If you are looking for more "bright ideas", get moving and hop on over to the fabulous Latoya from Flying Into First Grade.  She has some great ideas for making words FUN!  

Alternatively, you may visit the link up below, and choose a topic that interests you!

You can also find ideas on the "Bright Ideas" Blog Hop Pinterest board!  

Hope that you find some "Bright Ideas" that you can use in your classroom!