Is it just me, or do summer months zip by more quickly than other months of the year? I feel like August is giving me whiplash—it just arrived, and now it’s almost over! And I have more school supplies and books to give away!
The topic of Giveaway Four is “student of the week.”
What are your suggestions for meaningful yet time-efficient tributes to individual students throughout the school year?
Leave your student-of-the-week comment on this blog before midnight EDT August 31 (that’s this Friday, folks!), and you’ll be entered in Giveaway Four.
The lucky winner will receive a sampling of school supplies from me and a free book from The Mailbox!
Cheerfully,
Diane
Congratulations to Diana! She’s the winner of our giveaway!
A fun easy way to recognize good behavior is to set aside a day to have lunch with your teacher. The kids love eating lunch in the classroom with their teacher and after the kids are done eating they get a special prize! (small candy, toy, pencil, etc.)
I lend out super whacky pens (eyeballs that light up on the top when you write, peacock feathers, movie characters,etc.) to support good behavior. Having the pen for a day is a visible, yet quiet way for my 3rd graders to feel special. Not to mention the fact that they RARELY get a chance to do their work in pen and having that freedom makes them feel very grown-up!
I have a week of events that doesn’t take much time but makes the student of the week feel special. Monday they bring in their completed poster and share at the end of circle. On Tuesday they bring their favorite book, Wednesday is trophies and/or awards, Thursday is music which we listen to during snack and Friday is their choice. They have a canvas star bag to bring their items back and forth as well as a star carpet to sit on during rug times. They also get to be second in line.
In our village setting we have very small, but multi-graded classrooms. We don’t have a lot of extra time to devote to a student of the day, etc. However, I try to make individuals feel special in a variety of ways including putting a small ram (mascot) beanie baby in the desk of the student that is most organized at the end of the day, we have stuffed Arctic animals that our readers working the hardest get to read to, and we do take time to share family adventures and successes (again easier to do in a remote community of 300 because you “know” everything that is going on).
I give each child (family) an “All About Me” poster. This is a fun way for students and families to be creative and showcase the child’s outside interests. I also do home visits which really helps on the discipline end of things in the classroom.
I do an All About Me poster that they fil out at home and they share this and then leave it at school all week. They bring in their favorite toy to share with the class as well as their favorite story for me to read to the class. I just started teaching 2 1/2 yr olds so I’m thinking about doing a share bucket where they fill it with their favorite things from home to share. We’ll see how that goes!?
I do star of the week in my classroom. I rotate it between students and they are line leader for the week.
A quickie way that I praise good behavior or hard work is I do a happy dance. Its just waving my hands, jumping up and down and singing a little ditty I am so happy with ________ because they put the toys away. Or wrote their name so well and so forth. Then I give them a high 5. The kids love it.
We acknowledge the child each day at grouptime for their week of “Star of the week” The first day they tell us about their family, the second day they tell us something special about themselves, and on the third day they bring in a favorite book to read. On the last day of our week they get to put on a special hat and we sing a special song about being the star.
I like the idea of having the students make an All About Me poster and presenting it to the rest of the class. I think it gives the students a sense of pride and presentation and social skills of course! It’s always fun to allow that student special jobs or privileges for the week!
I have a Student of the week where each child gets to take home Buzzy(our stuffed bumble bee)for a week. There is a notebook where they write what they have done with Buzzy and bring back to share with the class. Most of the children include pictures both photos and hand drawn of them with Buzzy. They also fill out an All about Me sheet which I hang on a big star and add a picture I take of them in our school garden.
I also do the “All About Me” poster, but I go a step or two further. I take the student’s picture with the poster. Then that student gets to create his/her own scrapbook page which ends up in their own personal scrapbook at the end of the year, with all the other pages created throughout the year. Parents love these!
I also incorporate a “star of the week” during the school year. I prepare a wipe off poster and fill in information about the star student. I ask the parents to complete a form titled “my child is a star because” and read it to the class. The student brings in a favorite book and toy or memorabilia for show and tell during the week. The star student writes the daily message and fills in the day of the week and the weather words during morning message. He or she also uses my star wand to help “read” the morning message and completes an all about me booklet to take home. On Friday I give the child a goody bag filled with star themed treats. In addition to this, I read individually to children and sit and work with them at the various centers through out the year. Children enjoy when you devote time to them individually.
I give 5 finger woos and high fives all day long to recognize students of the day!! Hurray for whole brain teaching!
I do a three second “Clap and Be Recognized” where the student stands after a student has a success. I also do a ‘King or Queen’ of math for whoever received the highest test score. ‘Spelling Stars’ get their own special name board for 100% spelling tests. ‘Caught Being Good’ tickets are handed out when students are observed following rules.
We have a star of the week, and let the star speak for a few minutes each day of that week about themselves. we clap for that child and they get to be line leader, help with snack and any other thing that comes up during the day. They also get to be first to make their daily choice of what center to start in. : )
I teach Early Childhood Special Education (3-5 yr olds) for “Star Student of the Week” we do several things. On Monday, they bring in 2 or 3 photos including their family. On Tuesday, they bring in a favorite toy for a Show-n-Tell. On Wednesday, they bring in a book and I read it to the class. On Thursday, they bring in their favorite snack to share with everyone. (This works great, since a lot of them the last few years have summer birthdays)
I have a poster I fill out favorite: color, thing to do, food, like to do with family.