Simon's Hook: Don't BITE!

So, last week, I was on the phone with my mom explaining that I was pulling out my hair trying to get my students to not react when others try to get a rise out of them, especially for silly reasons.  And then my mom stated a phrase that made me pause…"ahhhh…they bit the hook". For a moment I thought she had lost it (which has happened several times before :).  She said it is a book/lesson that she uses during her guidance counseling time with students K-6 and it works like a charm.  So I got on Amazon and ordered immediately and waited for the book to arrive.

The book arrived and I read it one day after school seeing what I could do to prepare for introducing it to my students.  After reading it, the just of the book is to give kids strategies to use for teasing and put downs from other kids.  I grabbed my daughter Layla's fishing pole and was ready for my lesson the next day.  After reading the book and discussing the strategies ONLY a few times, my kids were literally HOOKED!  After our initial lesson, my kids kept asking me to do the "fishing lesson" again.  So we have been taking a few minutes out of each day to make up some scenarios and I have been SOO impressed with how quickly my kids have picked it up.  Now, if someone comes up to me upset because of what someone said to them all I say is…"hmmm you must've bit the hook."  When you bite the hook, the person holding the fishing pole has ALL the control.  Another motto that my mom uses is: don't bite the hook!

I know my explanation is a little foggy on what the actual book COVERS…so I video taped my students to show you exactly what we have been working on.  Now…I am the one in some of the videos doing the teasing, and beforehand, each of my students knows that I don't REALLY feel this way about them…that we are practicing so that if someone really DOES say something similar they know what to do!

Sit back, relax, and let my five and six year olds teach you some strategies for dealing with teasing and put-downs!

(MAKE SURE TO TURN UP YOUR VOLUME!!)

I am having trouble uploading my other videos where my students are holding the fishing pole and role playing.  Please visit my Kindergarten Facebook page to view those "Simon's Hook" videos!!

Aren't they amazing teachers?  I think I have a couple actors on my hands.  :)  These are just a couple examples of our problem solving strategies.

The book teaches us to:
1.  agree with the person
2.  change the subject
3.  do nothing (ignore)
4.  walk away
5.  laugh (don't let them anger you)

These are all ways to NOT BITE!

Tally Marks - to the rescue!!

Do you feel like you are always pulling tricks out of your bag to try and get your kids to focus and stay on-task during whole group times?  Anytime before I require my students to sit for a whole group time, we always get our wiggles out by dancing or doing some yoga.  This, for the most part, helps 85% of them sit and focus.  There are always a few, no matter what, that struggle to focus and learn.  So, one easy way that I eliminate this is my handy-dandy competition!  This….works….every….single…time.  The "format" of the game might be different depending on my students' needs that day.  Different "teams" include:  boys vs girls (Mrs. Bowder included) :),  superhero(s) (…keep reading…) vs Mrs. Bowder, and individual students vs Mrs. Bowder.  Different scenarios call for different game setups.  I have to know and observe my students to know which type of game will help them to be the most successful.  If I notice a few boys (yes…this year it is boys…but it can be girls, too) that are really struggling to focus, then I put their names up on the board and they earn points for the whole entire class.

Other days, I just pick "super-heros" to play against me.  I don't tell them WHO the superhero(s) are and so all of them put forth their best hoping to beat me.  Anytime the students who are earning points for the entire class are on-task and focused they get points.  Anytime they are not, I get points.  I very rarely EVER win but I have once or twice when we were really struggling.  Sometimes, when a player is PERFECT and I get zero points, I ask them if I could just have ONE point….for my beauty of course.  And that usually makes everyone erupt in laughter.

We have lots of fun trying to stay on-task. This is one of my tricks in my educational bag.  What are yours?

Smelly, Smelly, Who Wants a Smelly?!?

Are you a lover of smellies??  You might be asking yourself what the heck is a smelly.  Let me explain, my friend!

A smelly is a positive behavior strategy that I try to implement as often as possible. It is basically good smelling chapstick or lotion!  THATS IT!  And let me tell you....it works like a charm!  I love smellies!  Kindergarteners love smellies!  We are obsessed with smellies in my classroom.

We all want to catch our kids doing the RIGHT thing and praise them for it instead of always harping on the negative.  Often times if I see certain students not making the correct choices, then I will purposely look for someone who is exhibiting wonderful work skills and I will make a HUGE deal about how impressed I am with their behavior and they can come and get a smelly.  They come up to my table and I put a "smelly" (a rub of chapstick/lotion) on their wrists and they are in heaven!  They smell it and smile and get so excited.  Soon, everyone in the class is working hard for a smelly!  Often times, students will run up to other teachers (or administrators) and ask them if they want to smell their smelly!!  I have gotten a few strange looks for that one! :)  Never a dull moment in teaching!

On that same note, I also have a portable smelly "quiet spray".  Whenever I see a certain table or station buddies or ANYONE working hard and making great choices, I will quietly walk over to them and spritz a few sprays of one of my million bottles of body spray and walk away.  They love it!  I have seen a lot of other teachers put water into a spray bottle from the dollar store and use it for the same concept!

These are just a couple ways that I can praise my littles for working hard and making great choices!
How do you motivate your students ?

My husband's high school class makes lots of different flavors of chapstick for $1 a piece so I stocked up! Pictured:  Bubble gum, Citrus Blast and Fiery Cinnamon! My all-time favorite is Mustang Melon! :)

I used one of my many coupons to BBW and am excited to integrate  this AWESOME smelling lotion into my smelly collection!

Quiet spray!

Two of my boys earned a smelly!  They got to choose which one they wanted.