Dollar Teaching Goodies

Happy Birthday!

Birthdays are special to little children, so celebrate them in a BIG way in your room. I usually give them a crown and a sticker and a certificate and a trip to the treasure chest for their birthday.

This is a great way to show your administrator and parents that you know the TEKS and that you are focused on teaching them.

Star Helpers

I change my helper chart every year because I can't find anything that I really like. Here is the chart for the upcoming schoolyear.

My change daily and include:

line leader

door holder

electrician (turns out/on the lights)

end friend

schedule keeper

materials manager (passes out supplies to tables)

centers administrator (makes sure the centers are cleaned properly)

equipment supervisor (carries the bag of balls to the playground)

pledge leader

office escort

I LOVE BIG WORDS! AND SO DO THEY!

Tooth Chart

I drew this tooth by hand and laminated it. Whenever a student loses a tooth, I take their picture and hang it up. At the end of the year, I send them home. Parents love it!

Behavior Bulletin Board

This is my behavior bulletin board. In the past, I would just write names on the board and then put tally marks beside that. I really wanted something more visual, and I finally found it. Each student has a car. As long as they behave, the car stays on the track. When they first break a rule, they enter the "caution area" on the left. Laps 1-4 are for "warnings." I think 4 warnings is a fair amount for a Kindergartener. After that, they enter the "stop area." First, they receive a "pit stop" or timeout - 1 minute per year of age. If they still can't get their behavior back on track, they must go to the garage to "repairs" on their behavior. This would constitute an extended time-out or total loss of privilege.

Student Work Bulletin Boards

I got this student work bulletin board idea from Mailbox Magazine, I think. For the past two years, I've had an art gallery, where I would place 1 exceptional piece of art each month. This year, I wanted to be able to post more student work and also show a progression of our work throughout the months. I think this will just turn out awesome. Please ignore the mess in the background. I like to work from the ceiling down.
Here are close-ups of each month. I didn't buy anything but posterboard. All the trims and month tags were old stuff I recycled. You don't have to have a lot of money to create a beautiful room.

Your administrators and parents will love the visual progression of the year. They'll be able to see at a glance what all you've been doing and learning.