Monday, April 20, 2015

Prefixes and Classroom Dojo

Today we worked on the prefixes re- and un-.  I always like introducing it by having the students act it out for me. This morning I told the kids that I would be needing a helper and of course they all love to help so all hands went up!  :-)  I picked a helper and had him bring up his backpack.  I then told him to unpack his bag and when he was done, I told him to repack it and I did this several times (he was a great sport about it but I think he was getting a little tired toward the end LOL!).  The kids then had to tell me what they thought the re- and un- prefix meant and they were able to tell me right away what the meanings of them were.  Here is my great sport! 






We have a little over a month left of school and the weather has been nice.  Therefore, it is that time of year when sometimes the kids may need a little more motivation to keep up their hard work.  I decided to incorporate Classroom Dojo.


If you aren't familiar with it, it is a great classroom management tool that is free and it encourages good behaviors.  I used it today along with my behavior clip chart.  The kids earn points for following the rules (that simple).  Then they can lose points for not following the rules.  The cool part about it is that when you give a point to a student the computer makes a ding that they know is for something good.  When a point is taken away it makes a different ding and they know that someone needs to make a better choice (that little ding was amazing.....it was so quick and every kid made sure they were doing the right thing when they heard it).   The kids were so excited about it and were excited to see how many points they earned.  After showing their points to them, I saw them doing the silent cheer and happy dance!  Check them out!


At the end of the day, I pulled up a graph that Classroom Dojo shows that shows the percentage of how they did in class.  It breaks it down by each rule.  We talked about what rules got a lot of positive points and what rules lost the most points.  Many students told me as they left that they were going to try to be the top point earner tomorrow.  :-)

If you haven't seen Classroom Dojo, make sure you check it out.  It is very easy to use and has very clear directions as well. 

Have a great day!





2 comments:

  1. I love the unpacking and repacking---what a great activity!! Love it!

    Katie
    Mind Sparks

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  2. I use Class Dojo - never thought about bringing up the class plus and minus graph at the end of the day. Good suggestion! Sara

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