I, too, use sticker rewards for the entire class and most of the time it works very well. I copy a chart with boxes for each month we are in school, for each child. I give stickers rewarding raising their hand, staying in their seat, doing their work, whatever needs reinforcing at the time. Their sticker goes on the box of the month. At the end of the month, we count and graph each person's total on an individual sheet and the class total on another sheet. At the end of August, the 5-8 children with the highest number of stickers get to eat lunch with the Principal, Asst. Principal, or Guidance Counselor. The rest of the months "winners" include those (1 or 2) making the most improvement as well as those kidlets (3-5) with the highest number of stickers. The Star Student gives out four stickers when we are lined up in the hall. One year the class decided that anyone who "begs for a sticker" doesn't get one. That has been helpful.
Feb 28, 2009 Rating
Traffic patterns to a minimumNEW by: Kathleen
To keep the "traffic" to a minimum, I assigned "Caring" jobs to one person per table per week. It was their job to get any supplies that were needed by tablemates. We also had "Geek Squad" teams that took care of problems with our computers, cassette players, Leap Pads, etc.
The biggest modification was to me! I had to learn to take "brain breaks" every 10 mins - everyone would get up & move around to a song, march in place, jumping jacks, etc. for 5 mins, then we'd return to work. After some training, we used to take yoga stretch breaks, which were much quieter.
How do I know it worked? Last year, I was assigned 36 students for an hour a day for language development. Did the same pattern, and we never had any problem with "traffic".
Feb 21, 2009 Rating
Reasoning?NEW by: Ernie
First you should consider why these students are leaving their seats. Perhaps they are becoming frustrated from being stationary or are being distracted from an alternative point of interest to the one you have stressed. Or they had not verified their stock of supplies and are finding themselves in need of materials to complete the lessons. I guess you could also look at an obvious reason like they WANT to get up, but why go there in your head when the not-so-obvious has such far reaching ramifications?
Jan 11, 2009 Rating
Stating the consequenceNEW by: Angela
Idea to try... everytime a student gets out of his/her seat say, "When you don't stay in your seat, you're telling me you'd like ___________(consequence of your classroom Ex: "to practice staying in your seat at recess for 5 min." "to have no chair to sit at for awhile" etc.)
Sometimes that helps get the message across. This can apply to anything, positive or negative consequences. I teach a first grade class and this works often. It doesn't stop it, but minimizes problems. Not sure if someone already mentioned this, sorry if so.
Jan 08, 2009 Rating
ThanksNEW by: Anonymous
Great idea. Thanks I have been using charts with a select few, but I like using them with all of the students. Thanks
Jan 01, 2009 Rating
sticker chartsNEW by: Anonymous
Start rewarding individuals or teams for staying in their seats. A simple statement like I like the way so and so is working at their desk.
Come up with a sticker chart for each student. Go around and give stickers to those who stayed in their seat all during math or reading,etc.
You could start with a smaller amount of time since you are working with first graders.
