Class Motto

This year I adopted a new motto for my classroom. No one is perfect that's why pencils have erasers. When I first read this quote last year I knew it was PERFECT for my classroom.  In first grade, my students are still very conscious of making a mistake. All year I try to tell them that it's okay to make mistakes because that's when the best learning happens! I love having my motto placed in my classroom where my students can see it.

Making Good Choices

Since I've started this blog in the middle of the school year, I thought I'd share an idea I used to help brainstorm classroom rules on the 1st day of school. I began by talking about an apple tree. I said sometimes there are apples that aren't ripe anymore and they fall of the tree because they are bad to eat..and only the "good" apples are left on the tree. I then said that we're going to talk about some choices that are made at school and you tell me if they should stay on the apple tree of if they should go on the ground.

This was a really fun activity for the student because some of the apples had really poor choices on them. After we had placed all the apples where they belong I then asked them to brainstorm some rules using the good apples that we could use in our classroom. The students did a great job of thinking up rules! I wish I had a special template I used, but I created this activity using butcher paper, di-cut apples and labels. Please email me if you want some ideas of the good/poor choices and I will find my apples and add it to the blog. I can't wait to use this idea next year with the kids!