I'm home with a sick guy today - actually, he tweaked his neck and could hardly move it. We're putting heat on it, watching Christmas shows and eating chicken noodle soup loaded with saltine crackers....not a bad day actually {as long as he's on the mend}.
The other day I noticed what incredibly Messy Marvins I have in my class. On a whim, after cleaning their desks, I said "You better keep 'em clean or the Desk Fairy won't pay you a visit". HUH? I don't have a Desk Fairy {I did remember downloading cute little tags from Mrs. Bainbridge}. Do you ever just spit something out and think to yourself "Why did I just say that?!?". So, one little girl comes back from lunch, specials, anywhere and grumbles every day "My desk is clean - where is that Desk Fairy!?!". The Desk Fairy better get her act together...
I would love to leave them a little "treat" but we adhere strictly to healthy only treats...hmmm...Desk Fairy tag and a Gogurt? Just doesn't seem right. Maybe an apple from the Desk Fairy? Hardly think that will inspire others to keep their desks clean and I can just hear my little grumbler "I got an apple" {Think: Charlie Brown "I got a rock"}.
Then I happened upon THIS and immediately left my little guy's side, ran downstairs and dug through our bins upon bins of stuffed animals to find my own "Desk Mouse" {or something similar}. Thanks, bunches Lindsey - LOVE it!!!!
Here's what I came up with for my classroom:
Introducing....
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| Lucky the Desk Leopard |
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| Quacky the Desk Duck |
I'm so uptight about desks. Water bottles belong on nametags. Water bottles must be squirt top. Water bottles must not be any where near your mouth when I'm giving direct instruction. Then there's the inside of their desks. Flat things go on the flat side and not flat things on the not flat side. On desk cleaning days I go so far as to draw a "desk" on the white board and brainstorm together what's flat {folders,fun journal, handwriting books, etc.} and not flat {pencil box, clay bag, etc.}. Then let the cleaning and organizing begin. It doesn't stop there - we even organize our pencil boxes. Now, I'm not crazy uptight about this - but I do set some guidelines: one pencil, one glue stick and I like for them to dump their crayons into their pencil box rather than keep them separate in their crayon boxes.
I'm not doing my kids any harm am I? I think teaching organization is sort of part of my job - right? ;)
I created a little note to go with my new Desk Pals...
Happy Thursday Eve!
Girl, you're preaching to the choir!!! :) :) :) I'm pretty bad about it, too. This year, I had an EXTRA desk. So I got all of the same things that my kids have in their desk, put it inside so they could see the "sandwich stack" I crave and NOT the messy Carl's Jr hamburger, and put it right in front of them at the carpet. I swear, this was the best thing I could have done. I'd say 90% of them got it and do a pretty good job keeping it up. I have the desk fairy, too. I just use tags. But I love the idea of a furry friend.
ReplyDelete(I, too, have them empty their crayons into their pencil boxes and make them throw away the boxes.)
From one OCD to another,
A Teeny Tiny Teacher
No harm I say! I draw a diagram of a desk in August and it hangs on the wall the whole year. If we get a new notebook or something the kids always make me add it to the diagram so they'll know where to put it. I love my diagram poster.
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