Monday, March 8, 2010

Compliment Jar.

"Get your hands ready! One, two, three *CLAP*."

This short little phrase inserted several times in the day makes a world of difference. It occurs right after I give a verbal compliment for something the whole class has worked hard to earn. Whether it's for good behavior or wonderful teamwork they all carry happy smiling faces as soon as I pull out that compliment (pom-pom).When the compliment drops in the jar, we clap once, and it's settled.

The second jar is to keep track of how far we have to go. As we watch one jar goes down, the other goes up. Meanwhile, excitement builds as we are that much closer to completing our jar full of compliments. The smile that each compliment puts on their sweet little faces could be enough of a reward, but to show further appreciation I have for them a special treat to work towards—Friendship Fruit Salad.

This salad is filled with different kinds of fruit, each symbolizing all the wonderful things we'd love to have in our classroom. Peaches, sharing, apples, listening, bananas, hard workers, marshmallows, kind words... etc. I brought it on the first day of school, and it has become one of those very special treats we look forward to having again. With about 20 more compliments left, we should be sharing this delightful treat within the next week or two. Yay!

3 comments:

  1. Molly,

    What a great idea! Thanks so much for sharing!

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  2. This is a wonderful idea as students are focusing on positive behaviors and learning to work as a team. It also models how to give compliments. Wow, I just love it. Thanks so much for sharing. I just have to share this on my FB page. Regards, Emma - Clever Classroom. :)

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  3. What a wonderful way to inspire all our little tomorrows and show them appreciation, love it, great idea ;)) xxx

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