Star of the Week

   Happy Friday everyone!!  Does anyone else have trouble keeping track of what day it is during the summer??  There are times during the summer where I have to stop what I'm doing and literally think about what day it is!!  Since today is Friday, I thought I'd talk about something I do every Friday in my classroom.  Every Monday, I tell my littles that I will be looking for a student who does a super awesome job of showing the Bainbridge BEs.  Those are our PBIS expectations.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the PBIS program, it stands for Positive Behavioral Interventions and Support.  It is a discipline program focused on positive reinforcement of desired behaviors.  If you Google PBIS, you will get TONS of links to different sites.  While the foundations of the program are the same no matter where it is used, schools tend to tweak it to meet their needs.  At my school we focus on three key behaviors: Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe.  All of our rules and routines are based around this three principals.  My school does many things to help our students stay engaged with this program, and I will talk in depth about our PBIS program at a later date.
    In my room, one of the ways we utilize PBIS is to encourage a Star of the Week.  This is something that one of my team mates had going in her room, and I liked the idea.  Our school mascot is a train ('Engineering Great Futures') so last year I purchased a set of train-themed posters from Really Good Stuff.
 

Click on the picture if you're interested in the posters!

   I sent one of these posters home with my chosen student on Friday, and they had the entire weekend to work on filling it out.  They could decorate it any way they chose, and use any pictures that would help tell their story.  My team mate had her students create their own posters, using whatever materials they chose.  This year I am going to try it her way.  I like the idea of the students being able to be as creative as they want with their posters, and I know that they will love to share them with their classmates.  I plan on sending home a letter with the chosen student which will explain the project to their families.  Also in the letter will be the information that the student should display on their poster.  Their name (first, middle, last), birthday, family, pets, favorite holiday, what they want to be when they grow up their favorite food, color, and thing to do.  Families will, of course, be able to add anything else to the poster that they wish to share with the class.  When the student brings the finished poster back on Monday, we will spend some time at the end of the day having the student share their poster.  Then it will hang on it's own special bulletin board for the entire week, so that everyone in the class will have a chance to study it.  I am in the process of making a sample poster that will tell my littles all about me, and when I get it finished I will post a picture of it.  For now, I'd like to share with you the letter that I plan on sending home with my Star of the Week.  Feel free to use it in your classroom (I made several different versions), and leave me a comment to tell me what you think!!  You can get this freebie one of two ways.  I'm trying Google Docs for the first time, so to download it via Google Docs click here.  In order to get this freebie through Teachers Pay Teachers, click on the picture!!  <I've never used Google Docs before, so please let me know if it works!!>

Finally, I'd like to share with you what's going on OUTSIDE my classroom.  Some of you may remember that my furbaby Isis had her second birthday on Monday.  I shared with you pictures of the presents I got for her.  Well, yesterday she ripped into her birthday bear.  I was hoping it would last a little longer, but she just HAD to get that squeaker out!  There was some stuffing she scattered around the living room floor (and I had bought the bear 'cause it was advertised NOT to have any stuffing) and she pulled out the knotted ropes that made up the toy's structure.  It looked disturbingly like she ripped out the poor guy's intestines!!  For those of you that have furbabies at home, are they 'moderate chewers' or 'strong chewers'?  I buy the toys labeled 'For strong chewers' but they don't seem to last very long around Isis.  I know that, as a pit bull, she has incredible jaw strength.  However, there HAS to be a toy out there that will last for at least a week.  Any suggestions from you puppy parents who have 'strong/powerful chewers'??  I need all the help I can get!!

The stuffing I thought this bear DIDN'T have!!

The ropes she pulled out of his belly look too much like she disemboweled the poor guy!!