One of my readers gave me the best idea of what to do with my "plethora of pebbles". She suggested I make character rocks - get it ... Character ROCKS! LOVE the idea!!! I'm going to tie it into our character education program, and our bucket filling. I'm so excited about this idea. Last night I made my first Vistaprint order - I ordered business cards with the saying "Character ROCKS" at the top. Underneath it says, "______________(name) demonstrated _______________(character trait) because ...
I spent the afternoon writing our character traits onto the rocks with a sharpie. The students will choose an appropriate rock from the bucket, fill out the card, and glue the rock to the corner of the card. I will have another bucket beside the rock bucket, and they will fill this bucket with the completed "Character ROCKS" cards. I will hand out the completed cards at the end of the week, or month ... or as the bucket fills up. The two buckets and box of cards will be set up on a shelf underneath my character education bulletin board. I'll post pictures when I get it all set up ... but since I have 5 more weeks of summer, I'm not in a hurry to get back into the classroom. ;)
(Edit) - This is what my finished set-up looks like - LOVE it! The rocks are in bucket to the left. When a student nominates another student for a "character rock", they fill out the card (in the basket in the middle), glue the rock with a fitting character trait to the basket (they can use the glue gun by themselves, or ask me for help) and drop the finished rock and card into the bucket to the right (bucket-filling). :) At the end of the week I go through the bucket and hand out the rocks. And that way I have time throughout the week to monitor who is getting nominated for stones, and if there is a student who hasn't received one in a bit, I can drop one in the bucket).
If you're interested in trying this system yourself, I have a post
HERE with a link to everything I have included on the bulletin board.
Thanks for a great idea, Barbara - your helpfulness filled my bucket!
(Edit) - This is what my finished set-up looks like - LOVE it! The rocks are in bucket to the left. When a student nominates another student for a "character rock", they fill out the card (in the basket in the middle), glue the rock with a fitting character trait to the basket (they can use the glue gun by themselves, or ask me for help) and drop the finished rock and card into the bucket to the right (bucket-filling). :) At the end of the week I go through the bucket and hand out the rocks. And that way I have time throughout the week to monitor who is getting nominated for stones, and if there is a student who hasn't received one in a bit, I can drop one in the bucket). 
I love this idea! Our third grade studies rocks so I could see many uses, but I love the Character Education Idea!
ReplyDelete~Kitty
The Write Handed Teacher
What an adorable idea! I can't believe that you wrote on all of those rocks, that shows true dedication to your project. I think that your students will really enjoy this. You will be able to reinforce character education and classroom community at the same time. Plus, who doesn't love a free idea! Just out of curiosity, do you have a plan to monitor who receives rocks? So that the same students don't always get all of the rocks or the same students are not continuously left out.
ReplyDeleteAwesome Idea! This ties in great with our Character Education and as they fill the class bucket they can earn a Character Party! :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, ladies! Mrs. Corbitt - I will monitor who receives rocks (probably keep track on a class list), and I will be filling out the cards as well, so I can make sure all students receive some.
ReplyDeleteOMG - if these aren't just the CUTEST things I've ever seen!!! I've always had to buy my river rocks but these authentic little gems ROCK!!! YAY. You totally made my day.
ReplyDeleteBarbara
The Corner On Character
That is a great idea! Good work! :)
ReplyDeleteMarvelous Multiagers!
For those of you who'd like other character-education infusion ideas, here's the link to the pages that I maintain my my school site with tons of engaging activities and lesson plans for your character building.
ReplyDeleteThe Character Road
I'm not really set up with buttons and bling to host a link party, but this idea would make a GREAT launch to What is your favorite character-building idea?
Barbara
This is SUPER awesome. I love, love, love this. Very interesting because you can use them for discussions and journaling as well. I also love them for the purpose you are desiring. :)
ReplyDeleteI didn't visit your blog until now, but this entry and your other content got me excited to follow you! I joined four days ago and am at love4thgrade.blogspot.com. You have a wonderful blog! :)
Victoria
Barbara - that's a GREAT idea for a linky party - I think I'll set something up very soon.
ReplyDeleteMs. Jasztal - Thank-you very much, and WELCOME!!! I hope you find more useful ideas!
I hope you don't mind but I loved your idea so much that I borrowed it for my room this year. Thank you so much for sharing this idea!
ReplyDeleteDeb
Simply The Classroom
Deb - I don't mind one little bit! I was given the idea from one of my followers and I thought it was fantastic.
ReplyDeleteWe've been using "You got caught" slips so that students could catch other students doing good things. We discontinued it for awhile because the slips were starting to become "So-and-so is a good friend." We couldn't get them off the "to be" verbs.
ReplyDeleteThese slips with specific character traits are the tweak we need to make it work. Thanks!
Janet | expateducator.com