After reading Mandy's last post, I decided to steal one of her strategies. This year I have forty-eight sixth grade cubbies in my room. It's not that bad, but trash is beginning to be a problem. Papers (and books) fall out of their cubbies and land on the floor. So, I decided to adapt one of Mandy's ideas with her first graders.
Did you know that the Clean Desk Fairy has a cousin? Her name is the Clean Cubby Fairy. Someone told me she is visiting my classroom tonight. Sadly, only three children will get a sparkly pencil from the Clean Cubby Fairy. Three out of forty-eight. That's sad.
This never would have worked with eighth graders. But, sixth graders? They're more easily enthused. And these students can't pass up a little competition.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Thank you, Mandy!
Posted by SP at 1:52 PM
5 worthy responses:
I hope the enthusiasm lasts...I will try to think of things I used to do with my fourth graders. I was the master at bribing them to do what I wanted.
I'm commenting here on your last post b/c it seems I'm a bit late getting there--Ben is allergic to bananas. Even the doctor looked at me like I was crazy, but he agreed that the splotchy rash he got on his face was probably an allergic reaction. That was six months ago, so I'm supposed to try again soon to see if he still is. My parents had a fig tree in their backyard, so i knew that was a fig (which, by the way, don't taste anything like the "fruit" in fig newtons), but theirs were a lot smaller than that one looks...maybe it's the camera angle?
Yay! I'm glad my "Monica" idea worked for you! It definitely helped for my little kiddies. My messiest kid finished his science work early JUST to organize his desk in case the Clean Desk Fairy came back.
if my 4th grader's desks were really messy, the janitor would come in and completely dump them all out on the floor and the kid would have to start from scratch...throwing away all the junk that had accumulated in their desk and making it all neat again..may sound harsh, but it worked...and after a few times they learned to keep their desks very clean because no one wanted to get "dumped".
Katie, that doesn't sound too bad. But I can't imagine the mess I'd have with 48 cubbies! Ha!
The clean desk fairy visits my first graders, too!! I'll have to tell my kids she has a cousin. They'll really like that!
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