Love and Logic

I am moving to a new school this year. One that has a religious focus and kids from all over the world, a school that is exactly what I love.

My previous school was great and allowed me to do fantastic things, but one thing it did not have was any kind of behavior management system or behavioral program in place.  The expectations I had in my classroom were not the same as the administration's or even some of the other teachers.  I struggled with creating an accountability system that worked because there was no consistency.

This year, I have decided to return to love and logic.  I don't know what it is about being in a religious school that makes me feel more inclined to love my kids. I really really liked my learners at my last school, I wept saying goodbye to some of them, but did I love them?

When I was teaching in the US I worked in an inner city religious school where we had behavioral problems left and right. Our administrator chose to focus on love and logic, rather than on rigid lists of good and bad.  I will always admire his choice as it changed the dynamics in lot of classrooms.
This is not a revolutionary idea, it does not require props or gimmicks, it is simply refocusing the idea of behavior in the classroom on logical consequences and leading your learners with love.

If you have not yet read this book, please do and then let me know what you think.

~Ms. Michelle Louise

The Seven Days of Christmas

We are only 7 days away from winter break (if you count today).  As always around this time of year, my learners were starting to get a little restless and to treat each other not so nicely all the time.  While I tried to stress again and again global citizenship and with freedom comes responsibility I decided it was time to break out a behavior chart in order to earn some holiday classroom cheer.

After scouring Pinterest, I realized there was nothing quite what I needed, so I decided to create something of my own. Here is our '5C Christmas Tree of Goodness and Kindness':

Each morning we talk about how our actions impact others.  Sometimes it's reflecting on a short reading, other times its sharing something positive we have done for others.  Starting our day off thinking about our actions has really helped guide my learners in making better choices.

Our christmas tree has 5 main layers (the top is for the star that we are going to make as a class) and we will use the two sides of the door as decoration space as well.  Each day, the students have the opportunity to earn an ornament for completing their homework on time, helping their classmates, and practicing goodness and kindness.  At the end of the day, the students are given an ornament which they take home to color and then add to our tree the next day.

Our goal is that each student will have at least 5 ornaments on the tree (out of 7 possible days) which will earn them a movie morning of 'Elf' and hot chocolate. The students who haven't earned that right are going to work with another teacher either tutoring younger students or helping around the schools o they can practice goodness and kindness.

So far the kids love it!  Our classroom is getting decorated, spirits are lifting, and it feels great to work towards a common goal.

I've hung this sign by the tree, please feel free to use it in your own classroom.

Happy Holidays!

~Michelle Louise

The Wiggles

Every teacher I know is getting geared up for the new school year.  Yesterday I spent a good hour and a half at the Learning Shop putting together a new theme for my classroom! One thing, however, that has been sitting on my list all summer is to get a set of these:    

These might not look like much but these "balance disc cushions" saved my sanity last year.   One learner had a bad case of the Wiggles!  He had lots of difficulties sitting still and focusing in class.  Throughout the year I tried everything from exercise balls (he would roll them into other students), to silly putty (in his hair), to allowing him to walk, move, wiggle int he back of the room (worked for 3 days), and on and on, but nothing was a success until the balancing disc was introduced to me by my assistant basketball coach who used them for balancing moves in her middle school P.E. class.

This Wiggle banish-er sits right on the chair and other than elevating the learners a few inches, it's pretty undetectable. It has two different sides of "pokers" (as my learner called them) which allowed him to choose how much stimulation he wanted. The disc allowed him to wiggle (non-distractedly) in his seat, have muscle stimulation, and provided him with the slight individual attention he craved.  


Some days my learner would put it under his desk and rest his feet on it, and other times he would hug it to his chest.  In just 1 week of him using the balancing disc, he was a completely different student from what I had known all year!  At one point he was bringing his discs (voluntarily!!!) to our reading rug, to guidance, and to recess when he "just needed to cool down."  He used the disc for the entire 3rd trimester and I have never, in all my teaching, seen such a shift in behavior!!!  Wooo Hooo!!!!

I'm borrowing a few more discs from our middle school, but if you are interested in helping your Wigglers, School Specialty sells them, as well as Amazon and Walmart.

I know that this is not a one stop solution, but it made the end of my school year so much easier and hopefully they can help make your whole school year smoother as well.  Some other great ideas (thanks pinterest) that I'm going to create for my Wigglers are:

The Calming Jar

Hope this helps!

~Michelle Louise