The Paper Clip Chain...

 

   

     Many teachers use a simple paper clip chain as an incentive for good behavior in their classrooms, and I'm one of those teachers.  I started by hanging one paper clip from the ceiling in our classroom.  Whenever a student or the entire class did something positive, I added a clip or two to the chain.  When the chain hit the floor, the class would get to choose a reward.  It's a very simple concept, but the kids really like it.

     This year, on the first day of the paper clip chain, I had each child guess how many clips he/she thought it would take to reach the floor.  This winner would get a free homework pass (something I rarely give out!) After chatting with their friends, measuring the paper clips, and doing all sorts of math calculations, they put their secret predictions in a box, and we set the box aside until the day that the chain hit the floor.  These predictions just added another element of surprise and excitement!  They would count those clips every single day!!  Whose guess was the closest?  Who would win the free homework pass?  It really was a lot of fun!
   

   
     The excitement grew as the chain got longer and longer!   It was right about the time that we were fairly close to getting the class reward,  when I noticed that my students were rushing through their reading homework and handing in less than stellar work.  Many of them weren't applying the strategies that we'd been learning in school, and they were making very careless mistakes.  I decided to use the paperclip chain to encourage them to "up their game".  I gave my students very specific expectations when I explained their next homework assignment.    I modeled my expectations in class and told them that I would be rewarding good work with a paper clip.  The next day, the homework assignments were absolutely gorgeous.  I couldn't have been more proud of them!  I rewarded them with paper clips that they happily added to the chain, anxiously awaiting the one clip that would hit the floor- they were getting so close!
     Finally, we were ONE clip away from the highly anticipated reward (that had yet to be decided.)

1 centimeter away from the floor!!!

     Everyone had handed in their homework, and paper clips were given out, so the class knew they'd have to wait until later that day or tomorrow to earn that final clip.

     Just then, I glanced across the room and noticed one of my students, Taylor, scrambling at her desk to complete her homework.  Taylor lived in a one room apartment with her entire family and had no quiet place or parental support to help her with her homework. Most days I would have Taylor do her homework at school with me, but she was absent the day before, so she obviously didn't have her homework completed.

     It's moments like these that make a teacher's heart skip a beat...

     Taylor, who in the beginning of the year would NEVER do her homework, and wouldn't care that she didn't complete it, was sitting at her desk doing last night's homework.
     I watched her hand it in without saying a word.  I walked over to my desk, checked her work, graded it (she got it all correct!) and made the announcement to the class, "Wait a minute, here's another homework assignment!!  It's Taylor's, and she got it all correct!!  Here's your paper clip, Taylor!"   The entire class cheered and hugged Taylor!  In that moment, Taylor was their hero!   Her paper clip was the one that made our chain hit the floor!  Taylor's face was priceless!  She was the hero, and it was because she did her homework...
     Guess who has been doing her homework every day since that moment?  Taylor!  If it takes a paper clip chain to encourage students to do their very best and to feel good about themselves, then I'll hang a paper clip chain every year.

     Next, it was time to choose the class reward, so we brainstormed some ideas and the kids wrote them down on chart paper.

         After taking some time to think about it,  each student voted for his/her top 2 choices.

    

    And the winner was...HAVING LUNCH WITH MRS. MONKS!  And since having some extra outdoor recess was a close second (and they have been cooped up inside for awhile now) I promised them some extra recess once the weather gets nicer.  I couldn't help it, they really are so well behaved!

     So, my class and I now have a few more memories to add to our 2016-2017 fourth grade adventure.  Our paper clip chain experience and the fabulous picnic lunch we shared together in our classroom!    Life is good in fourth grade!  :)

Valentine's Day~

     If you're a teacher, Valentine's Day is one of those magical days.  The students come bursting into the room in the morning, anxiously digging through their backpacks to get their little valentines out.  They run over to your desk, and proudly give you their specially picked out valentine.  Their little eyes are looking closely for your reaction, hoping to put a big smile on your face.  Within 3 minutes, your desk is cluttered with gifts of love- many handmade with such care.

     They head back to their desks, surprised and delighted by what awaits them.  Simple little valentines from me, a sweet little note, and a bag to decorate before collecting their treasures from their classmates later in the day.  It's an exciting day to be a kid...

The simple pleasures of Valentine's Day!

       
     I help to run the 4th grade Student Council at my school.  This year, my friend Nancy suggested that each child in our school make a valentine for another random Southdown student.  Then, on Valentine's Day, the Student Council members would go into every classroom, and each child would pick a valentine out of the special box.  We decided to call this project, "Spread Some Love at Southdown." We thought it would bring some joy, especially to the children who didn't get many valentines.

       

Our box was filled with beautiful valentine notes from children of all ages.

     I asked my own students to write out a valentine to put in the box.  I suggested that they write something positive or encouraging on their card- something that would make them happy if they chose that valentine out of the box.  That's all I said.
     When I saw what my students created, I was brought to tears.

Who wouldn't want to choose this valentine out of the box?

So thoughtful!

I wish you could have seen sweet Richard carefully writing out this card for a stranger... priceless!

I hope an impressionable child chose this beautiful note and takes it to heart.

     If ever you begin to doubt that there is any good left in the world, just look towards the children.  They remind me day after day that there is love, innocence and hope in every single one of them.  I believe that it's up to us, as adults and teachers, to bring that love out, to keep the innocence in tact, and to never, ever, squash their hope.  Children truly are incredibly beautiful.

     I wonder when it is that some of us adults lose those simple, precious traits....

     Some years it's more difficult to pull a door together than others.   When I look at this particular door, it brings me back to one of the darkest times in my life...

     It was the Hollywood Year...
     I had been going through something I never thought I'd ever be going through- divorce.  It was the saddest time in my life.  I needed to move out of the family home that my kids grew up in and move into a rental home.  That totally broke my heart.  I found myself going through and packing up 20 plus years of memories and "stuff" on my own that summer.  That in itself was brutal.  Then came the kicker...  I was told that all of the fourth grades would be moving out of the intermediate schools and into the primary schools that year.  I had been in my classroom for over ten years, and to say that my room was full of supplies, resources and "stuff" would be an understatement.   So, I spent that summer packing up my life- both at home and at school.  There were boxes wherever I turned.
     You would think that creating a door would be the very last thing on my mind that summer.  But actually, it was just the opposite...

     Movies and Hollywood have always been a passion of mine, so I decided to do a theme that would truly bring me joy as I worked on it.  So, in the rare spare time that I had that summer, I spray-painted giant Oscars and created Mann's Chinese Theater.  I scoured the craft stores for gray poster board and paint to recreate the cement handprints that the celebrities made.   And as I packed up boxes, I would think about ideas and activities that would bring my classroom to life that year.  I kept a notepad with me to jot down my ideas, and my motivation to get through all the packing and unpacking was to finally get to work on my classroom and my door.  That's what made me happy and kept me going.

Once again, my photos were not very good, but if you look closely, there is an actual picture of Mann's Theater hanging on the wall.  There was also a photo of the celebrity handprints and the actual Academy Award statues for the children to see.

   Cutting out mini Oscars as I watched TV late into those summer nights brought me peace and comfort.  It took me away from the packing and the anxiety that filled my mind during the days.  As a teacher, I have always needed to calm myself and give myself the time and space to decompress and create.  That's the part of teaching that sometimes gets lost as we try to jam the curriculum into our hectic days.   The summer has always been my time to rejuvenate my creative juices, and that summer was no different.  I just had to work a little harder to find the time to give to myself.

 

My co-teacher, Mary and me.  We were both exhausted!  She was pregnant with her first little girl, and I was just physically and mentally drained.  I was so grateful that we had each other to lean on!

      Being able to express myself creatively has been a true gift in my life.  I come from a very artistically talented family.  My sisters can sew, draw, cook, and decorate their homes like pros.  My brother can write, produce, direct and analyze movies, among other things.  And I, well I can make a cool bulletin board.  I always thought I got the short end of the artistic gene pool, but I finally see that my creativity is just as valuable, it's just very different. I am incredibly grateful that I am able to share this part of myself with my students every year.  I have been surrounded by the most talented and creative colleagues my entire career.  I love to see what special and unique lessons they are creating every day in their classrooms!
     I wish the world could witness and appreciate these extraordinarily unique talents that teachers everywhere share with their students every single day.  I am in total awe when I watch a passionate teacher do their thing!  I only wish there was an Academy Award for them.