[Celebrating Awesomeness]

If you've been around my bloggity blog for any amount of time, you know how much I love to celebrate the awesomeness with my class.

Whenever they do something great, unexpected (in a good way, lol), or surprise me with an explanation of a concept, we have a little "bell ringer" moment where I ding the dingie bell, stop teaching, pull out a card and a treat (something small - a starburst, a laffy taffy, a jolly rancher), write a note on the card for the student to take home - while saying OUT LOUD what I am writing so everyone can hear, hand the note and the treat to the student, and carry on with the lesson.

It's an incredibly powerful moment.

You should see the sparkle that comes into that student's eyes, the smile on their face!

The motivation that it provides to other students in the class who may be a little less than motivated. . .

With only a few days weeks left of school, it's time to bump up the quantity of these little bell ringer moments, at least in my classroom.  Maybe your littles are still working hard and not needing extra motivation?

Here are 2 sets of celebrating the awesomeness cards.  The first has 4 on a page (both sets print on standard 8.5x11 size paper - I use white cardstock), so the cards are quarter sheet size.

This 2nd set has 16 on a page - they are about 2.5x2 inches each - perfect if you want to slip one in your own child's lunchbox, your spouse's wallet, or to use as a just because when you need a little note.

Go forth - celebrate the awesomeness.

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

Digital Elements used courtesy of Dandelion Dust Designs.

Font (Missy with a Marker) used courtesy of Kevin and Amanda.

[Whooooooo ROCKED the Brain Busters Challenge]

I finally decided that for my littles that hit 50 points in the Brain Busters Challenge, I'd give them a package of Pop Rocks (who doesn't love pop rocks?!) and this little card with their name in big letters in that open space along with a quick class celebration of awesomeness. . .

I have a few that will be getting them today.  :)
If you'd like a copy of the cards, they're available at Teacher's Notebook for $1.

The Brain Busters have all been free downloads.  If you've been using them and tracking the points, wouldn't you at please consider purchasing the cards to celebrate your kiddos' accomplishments in math?  Thanks!

Happy Friday!!

[SUPER STAR] cards to celebrate the awesomeness

My littles have gone through 2 full bags of Laffy Taffy with our celebrating the awesomeness cards I posted last.  That's a lot of awesomeness!  :)

I was looking for something a little different when I remembered Kim Hughes' blog PaperSmooches.  I adore Kim's style and would buy everything she ever made if only I could afford it!  She has some free digi stamps available on her blog that are so very cute!  I made a set of SUPER STAR cards to use in my classroom and thought maybe some of my teacher friends might like them, too.

So. . .I e-mailed Kim, and her response was so kind!

Special thanks goes out to Kim Hughes for this set of celebrating the awesomeness cards - she gave permission for me to share this file with you, so you can print them to use in your classroom (I attached a single Starburst to each card)!!
Thanks, Kim!

I love using these in my classroom!  My littles sit up a little straighter, try a little harder, behave a little better, and give a little more when they know I'm looking for "bell dingers!" That's what we call them, because I always ding-ding-ding my ding-y bell and make a BIG production about writing on the card!  Everyone gets to watch me fill it in (on the projector) and listen as I say what I'm writing.  You should see the sparkle in my littles' eyes when they get a bell dinger!  It's super cool!  And, you know what?  When I give one, I want to give more, and because I've taken the minute (seriously all it takes!) to give one, I really CAN give more because my littles are earning more!  It's truly a win-win.

Have a great day!  Print some of these cute little cards, buy a bag of Starbursts, find the bell dinger behavior, and LOVE your kids, your day, your job.  Seriously.  :)

Okay - off my soapbox, lol.

[Celebrating Awesomeness]

So. . .I was on Pinterest.

Surprise.  lol.

And saw this idea for Brainy Beads. . .

Love it.

Love it more than Diet Coke.  ;)

And then I realized that this group of littles is soooooo hard on materials that this would break me pretty darn fast having to replace the Brainy Beads on a regular basis.  :(

BOOOO!!!!

Not to be deterred, I bought some super cute clip art from JWIllustrations, a bag of snack size Laffy Taffy (which happens to be safe for ALL of my littles to enjoy!), and set about creating the cheesiest little brainiac notes ever.  :)

Each note has that "flavor" of Laffy Taffy stapled to it.

I found that my bag of candies had at least 8 of each color, so I printed 8 sets of cards (I actually just printed them in black and white this time).

I have these stored in a special tin by my projector.

When a student "earns" one, I stop class, and say outloud what I am writing on the card.

Then I hand the card to that little, and we're off with the rest of the lesson.

Oh, I love this, and it is so motivating!!

(BONUS! Doing this makes me FOCUS on the awesomeness!!)

I used only ONE on Friday.

These require some special brain power.

Some willingness to work extra hard.

And a little bit of stepping outside the box for my littles.

They have to think.  Think hard.  And express their thoughts about whatever academic subject we are working through at any given time.

These aren't given lightly.

THREE were given out on Thursday (the first day).

It's kind of funny to see how much more attentive all my littles are.

And how much more willing they are to engage in discussion.  :)

Hee, hee.  LOVE it!

Want a copy personlized with YOUR name?

The first 2 teachers to comment (PLEASE leave your e-mail address and desired name for personalization!!) that they would like a set, will have, free of charge, in their inbox, by tonight, the PDF to print their very own cheey brainy notes.

If you're not one of the first 2 to respond, and are interested, you can send me $1 via PayPal (paypal address is chubbydog @ comcast . net  [spaces removed]) with personalization instructions and e-mail address in the notes space, and I'll send you a PDF personalized with your name.

Have a great Sunday!