REWIND!- Spice Up Classroom Motivation with Clubs

This summer I've been sharing a lot about my classroom clubs- the 100 Club for reading and the Homework Club for nightly homework completion.  These are recent posts but I want to make sure you didn't miss them because they are such great motivators and so easy to implement.  Both would work in almost any elementary classroom!

*****Originally posted on 7/16/13*****
I'm linking up with The Applicious Teacher to share my Homework Club!

**Today (7/7- happy birthday to my dad!!!) I'm adding a few more goodies to my Homework Club pack, bringing the total pages to over 70!**

Last week Tara posted her cute Homework Club display for her Monday Made-It post and it got me re-thinking about my homework club in my classroom.

Homework is tricky because, when students are young, if it doesn't get completed, it is a home issue not a student issue.  However, I also believe that we have to teach our students to succeed in spite of things they may be facing at home and an easy way we can do that is to encourage responsibility when it comes to homework.  One way I've found to do that is with a club... because kids love clubs!

Do you do a "Homework Club"?  I've been doing one since 2006 and it's a huge hit every year.  Basically, students can join the club each month just by completing their homework!  My kiddos don't know this (so don't tell them!) but they can secretly miss one assignment here and there and I don't make a fuss about it.  I know my teacher bag sits full and lonely many a night when I just can't get to the "homework" I brought for myself to do, so I try to be understanding for my students.  BUT, I do hold them accountable and try to develop that responsibility and pride in a job well done.

I just jazzed up all of my "Homework Club" resources and have them at TpT.

Each month, my students who stay in the club get to eat their lunch in the room with me and they each get an award...

And a homework pass they can cash in during a homework crisis...

I also display their names in my classroom for the month.  I think I'm going to put them in the hallway this coming year so everyone can share in our celebration!

I jazzed up my display a bit too...

I also have "Homework Club" brag tags from Image Stuff.  Not every kid gets one every month, but I choose two or three at random each month to receive one!  They love it!

I also use my monthly check lists (love 'em!) to keep my own private daily record of my students' homework completion.  Click HERE to check them out!

I just posted the whole jazzed up version of my Homework Club pack on TpT and I'm pretty proud of it!  You can check it out by clicking the pic below.  If you'd like to win a copy, leave me a homework related comment and I'll choose a winner late Sunday!

 Check out my Homework Club on TpT!

*****Originally posted on 6/25/13*****
Gooooooood morning and happy Tuesday!

And... the meat of the post today...

How my 100 Club and nightly reading work together in my classroom...

Thank you all so so much for your interest in the 100 Club!  If you aren't sure what I'm talking about, this is an optional "club" my students can join by reading books.  They can join the club at 50 books and then get recognized again at 75 books and then 100!

I've gotten quite a few questions about how this works with nightly reading and so that's what I'm going to fill you in on today.

First of all, we don't do reading logs.  What?!  No reading logs?  How do we know our kids are doing their required nightly reading?!

I should say we don't *JUST* do reading logs.

Students do fill out a log of their reading... it looks like this:

Students fill in the date, book title, genre, strategy (I'll get to that in a second), number of pages read, and the AR reading level (or color) of they book they've read.

Then they write about their reading- telling how they used the strategy they selected.

So, they might summarize their reading, tell a prediction they made, make a connection, or tell how the author helped them visualize.

This is our RRJ (Reading Response Journal).  I LOVE THIS.  It's more than just a reading log because I can see my students' understanding and metacognition.  I can see who is really reading.  I can monitor their thought process as they write about the same book over several nights.  Not only that, but they are writing every single night which is huge!

I read these each morning (Tuesday-Friday) and write a brief comment back to students.  They always race in from their special to find their RRJ at their seat and immediately flip to see what I've written.  Sometimes it's just a smiley face, but they love to see it in there!

So, how do these two things work together...

In my room, the 100 Club is optional.  If a student wants to be in it, they just fill out both forms- their RRJ reading log AND their 100 Club recording sheet.  If they don't want to participate (which most DO!), they just don't fill out the 100 Club sheet.  It's that simple.

Here's a pic of the 1st sheet of one of the 100 Club recording sheets...

I would not use the 100 Club as a replacement for a reading log system; I would (and do) use it in addition to.  When I taught 1st and 2nd graders, they had to write their book title down on their homework sheet every night and they had to do the same thing as my 3rd graders: write it again on the 100 Club sheet to count it for that.

It's not hard.  It won't hurt them.  And no one ever, truly, said anything negative about it.  The funny thing is that sometimes kids would read a book for their RRJ that they didn't love and they wouldn't want to count it for the 100 Club!  I loved seeing that kind of thinking about reading and the pride the students took in wanting to reach their goal in the club... that they wouldn't want to get there reading books they didn't love!

I hope that helps answer some questions.  If you have others, please ask as I'm happy to share!

If you're interested in either item- the RRJs or the 100 Club, they are both available in my TpT store...  Just click the pics to check them out!  Both files include an editable element so that, using PowerPoint, you can customize some things to fit your classroom needs.