Serious Color Activity for Pete Lovers

We are pretty settled in with our new class and already they are singing Pete's songs all around the room.  We are always working on new ideas and original ideas to do with our children.  We have a group of children right now who really are not aware of color words or color recognition, so we are trying to think of fun ways to push them a little to mastering at least 4 basic colors.  Our idea this week is simple.
We are going to hang up a picture of Pete on our door, post a fun sign we created on Power Point, and encourage them all day long to learn the colors that are in Pete's book.  We will have all of Pete's books in our morning book bax s well as in our reading nook with out small Pete stuffed animal.  Now we do have some children who know colors, so we will be encouraging them to go further and to be helpers to the other children.  We are going to use praise and positive reinforcement to encourage them along with their families.
Here's what we came up with.  We made Pete necklaces out of fun foam which now comes with sticker backing on it if you need it.  HUGE time saver!!! The necklaces only cost us a little over $5 tomake 20!!! So we made a necklace for each child.  They have to earn the necklace by coming to the color table with me (the teacher stations for learning) and demonstrate growth with knowledge of colors.
We are going to set a goal for each child so that each child is furthering their growth.  Then once they show is they have learned the 4 colors in the book and helped others if they need too, they will be awarded the Pete the Cat COLOR club award and they will get a necklace to show that they are in the club.  We will work to get every child in the club by the end of two weeks.  It should be great!  I think they will love it and I think their families will be encouraged to help as they see names going up on our door of kids who make it into the club!  We will make sure all join of course, as we do not want anyone feeling bad! This is a feel GOOD activity!  I can't wait to get to get started.

Once we get our door finished tomorrow, we will post how the kids are doing!  We made  very cute name tags too for the club door once they can demonstrate color kowledge.  I think the are going to be very excited!  I know I am!

  

"Smartie Pants" Behavior Rewards

We began our last positive classroom behavior activity with our students this past week.  The pants you see are filled with Smarties and are decorated.  Each time a student is caught doing something good, we stop, ring a bell, and announce the exciting great behavior.  Then the classroom of students breaks out into cheering for the student.  The student is then invited to sign the wall of fame with other classmates who are also "smarties" like them.  This is a fun way to celebrate mastering behaviors and academics.  So far I love this and am happy to have the pants filled with plenty of smarties.  It is very popular!  I highly recommend trying this idea.  The class has really responded and loves the clapping and cheering for each other.  This makes it all the more exciting.

Promoting a Peaceful Classroom

We created a Peace Seat this week to help children have a special place to relax alone.  It has a beanbag, fidgets, sensory bottles, books, and some flowers.  When a child is feeling like they cannot control themselves or that they just need to be alone, they can venture to the peace seat to relax.  We added photos of happy kids smiling and a peace sign.  We are encouraging them to make art work to hang in the area if they choose.  It has been out a week and many students have enjoyed the area already.  There is a koosh ball fidget that they all love!  This week we are going to create descriptions of what peaceful behavior at school looked like.  Try it in your classroom!