Class Dojo, you rock. I love the cute little monsters, and I love that I can seriously encourage great behavior choices by my firsties.
[New to Dojo? Click here to see what it is all about!]
It took a few weeks into school for me to figure out how I want to reward my students for their good choices on Class Dojo. I needed something that was easy for my first graders to understand, something that was intrinsically motivating, and something that was low maintenance for me to manage.
I think I’ve got it, you guys!!
Let me introduce… the Dojo Tracker. [Hint: Keep reading for your FREE Dojo Trackers!]
It’s a hundreds chart. It is one piece of paper that will not need to be passed out more than once a month, if that. It is easy enough for my new first graders to manage all on their own. WOO HOO!
At the end of the day, I display our Dojo screen on the projector, and my students figure out how many Dojo points they received. They pick a color, and shade in the number of boxes for the number of points they earned.
My students will never end the day with negative points… I may have kids at zero or one, but I don’t like to let a student end the day in the “red.” They feel the effect of their poor choices when their peers all have 5, 6, 7, and 8 points and they have 0 or 1 point and it is more motivating for them than a negative.
How do they earn rewards? If you notice on the Dojo Tracker, every 25 points there is a box marked COUPON. My students can pick from a coupon box that includes a bunch of rewards (not tangible prizes… rewards that don’t cost me a dime). Here are a few examples:
Certain reward coupons I save in a special place just for when they reach the 100 point club… like Lunch With the Teacher or Pajama Day 🙂
I’ll have to update this post when I get around to making my Dojo Bulletin Board. The plan is to make a display with spots for each of the “Clubs” –> 100 Point Club, 200 Point Club, 300 Point Club etc. Then, I will print a monster and write each kids name on one, and as they reach the different clubs throughout the year, their monster will move up the bulletin board… I have a feeling they are going to just *love* this! What do you think?
If you use Class Dojo, what ways have you found to reward your students for their awesome choices? Can’t wait to hear from all of my fellow Dojo lovers!
