Well, it is Day 4
of school and that’s when my students really start understanding what a quality student looks like! Need to catch up? Click to read days 1, 2, and 3.
Around the classroom, I’ll hear things like:
“Juan is being a quality student because he is sharing his legos” or “Tommy isn’t acting like a quality student because he hit me!” It was so great when a few of my students came up to me with a lego construction and said, “Look, Mrs. Beckner! We are a T-team working together!” The “t” in quality stands for “team”. I absolutely love that they remembered it!
Quality Rewards
After the students have sung the quality student song, we conduct a class meeting where the students greet each other and introduce themselves and say what a quality student does. Then I introduce the Quality Quentin dollars. I explain to my students that they can earn these dollars for showing characteristics of a quality student. They can also earn them for AR points, if your school does Accelerated Reading. They collect 10 dollars and then they can use them for the store or special privileges such as extra computer time. They can also collect 20 dollars to have a special lunch with me in the classroom. I was surprised at how many of my students loved doing that!
I put things in my store for gifts as well. Some of the students wanted to buy things for their sibling’s birthday or they would get something for Mom or Dad. How great is this?! They are thinking of others. You can create your own money with a picture of your classroom mascot. The students just love seeing their mascot on the dollars and taking that mascot home for being a quality student as we discussed on Day 1.
Quality Writing
I send the students back to their desks to complete the Quality Student books. It is a book about what each letter in Quality stands for. You can get this in our Back to School Unit ! It has 100 pages of fun activities in it, including the Quality Student song and fun penguin puppets to go with “Quentin’s First Day.” My students love making the puppets after I read the book. The students use the puppets to retell the story. It is a fun activity for that first day when you are wondering how you are going to fill your day with engaging activities.
My students absolutely love the quality student crowns from our Back to School Bundle. This is another great way to reinforce classroom culture. The students all wear a symbol of your classroom culture. Just like the “S” for Superman, my students sport a “Q” for quality.
And, as usual in my classroom, I have my students write! I take each student’s picture wearing his or her crown, and post it on my wall with their writing. The parents love it on Back to School night.
Well, that’s our last post for Building Classroom Culture! We hope that you find these tips and resources helpful in creating quality students and a quality classroom! We would love for you to share how you build classroom culture!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Pam