Money Talks

As part of our Positive Behavior System, we give "Bobcat Bucks" when we catch our kids being good without being told. I'm also teaching them about converting their money when they get 5 $1s, they can trade them in for a $5. When they get 2 $5s, they can trade it in for a $10. The boy that I talk about regularly went to count his money when he had a free moment and said, "Miss Glover can I trade you for a $13 because I have $13 and I want to trade it in." I laughed and told him that I only have $1s, $5s, and $10s... no $13s and that in all honesty, there is no such thing as a $13 bill. He was quite disappointed, but I told him that if he gets two more $1s, he could trade me for a $5. That seemed to cheer him up a little...

Today was also Picture Day for all the students. This is the picture that goes in the yearbook. The boy mentioned above came to school in the foulest mood I have ever seen on a 6-year old! I just knew that this day was not going to be normal (which they rarely are when their schedules get out of whack).  He informed the class that he didn't want anyone to look at him, talk to him, or act like he was even there. A few of his friends continued to talk to him as he covered his ears and tried to fold himself into his backpack. After the kids realized that we needed to leave him alone, we went on with our day. Things got better until it was actually time to take pictures. No one came to get us like they were supposed to, so we were late getting our pictures made, which made us have to rush to get to lunch on time. It didn't help that the photographers were taking FOREVER to take each picture. I am so glad that they worked hard to get a good shot of each child, but seriously... it doesn't take 5 minutes to get a good picture of a little girl.

After lunch we came back in the room, and I had to put my game face on. I informed them in no uncertain terms that the behavior this morning was not going to happen for the rest of the day. I started pulling clips left and right and we started our math lesson. I paired them up with linking cubes where we were working on greater than, less than, and equal to. I had one pair that worked so well together! I stopped the class and had each group walk over to look at their table to see what I wanted each of their tables to look like. After that, there were no problems and they started actually working well together too!

We had a hectic day, but hopefully things will get back to normal now that our schedule isn't changing again this week. Oh, wait... We don't have school Monday for Labor Day. Next week will be Round 2 I guess! :)