Easy Motivation!

"Oh, Back to School, Back to School, To prove to Dad I'm not a fool..."
Love me some Billy Madison...silly and fun!  Haven't seen it in a while.  I'll have to be sure to see that one again soon!   Remember Miss Lippy?  Hilarious!

So we went back from Spring Break this week and I have had the opportunity to start taking some photos around the room.  I would have thought that I would have had some photos to share...but I've been really terrible about remembering to take photos this year!

This post is about a simple idea that has working wonders for me in my classroom.  I teach 1st grade this year, but taught Kindergarten for the past 3.  This idea worked wonderfully for me at both levels.   In my classroom, I have "Team Captains."  The captains are really a version of "Ask 3 then me".  The students are always to ask their team captain if they have a "issue" during Daily 5 or Math Centers.  Also, the captains are the ONLY students that are allowed to come to me while I'm working with small groups.  (In the beginning, they would come to me occasionally, but now they've kind of realized that the only issues that really require interrupting are medical related...and rare.)
At the beginning of the school year, I choose the captains.  I explain to the students the types of behaviors and quality of work that I am looking for in my team captains.  I reward the students that are performing to these standards with their selection as team captain.  As the year goes on, the students begin to select each other as captain.  They understand the expectations and are sure to select their peers that are appropriate for the "position".  As a special incentive for the selected students, the Captains get to wear these snazzy visors.  They love wearing them because if another teacher or the principal comes in for a visit, they always get some extra positive attention.  Sometimes they even "forget" to take them off when we leave the classroom.  :)  As you can see in the picture, I have a sports theme in my classroom this year and I use these picture frames to post the captains names for the week.  I just use a dry erase marker.  Easy and quick!

Well, here's hoping that I survive the rest of this week...you'd think I'd be used to this by now but after a week of heavy T.V. catch up, my school stamina isn't where it was!