Friday, April 3, 2015

You Oughta Know About...

Hi Friends!  I'm excited to be linking up with Mrs. McClain over at Buzzing with Mrs. McClain for her monthly You Oughta Know About... Blog HOP!


One of the things I have always struggled with is how to inspire students to do their homework each night and check it in the next day.  I've talked to students about responsibility.  I've taken away privileges.  I've bribed.  I've threatened.  I've rewarded.  I've begged and pleaded!  In the end I've put way more energy into getting my students to WANT to do their homework than they put into actually doing it!

This year, while wondering around on social media, I came across this brilliant idea and I think it is really something you oughta know about...

★HOMEWORKOPOLY!!★


I briefly mentioned Homeworkopoly a few months ago in a blog post titled "Top Ten Classroom Finds for 2014", but after using this classroom management tool for awhile now, I thought I'd share it with you in more detail!

My students love games!  You could be testing them on division of decimals and if  you made it into a game they would think it was the most wonderful thing on earth!  So, it is no surprise to say that my students absolutely LOVE homeworkopoly!

Here is how it works:
• In my class students have nightly homework that gets checked in each day.  Usually it is spelling, vocabulary, math, and reading.  Each morning the group leader checks in his/her group's homework on our weekly homework check-in sheet.

• On Friday afternoon the students who got ALL of their homework in for the week get to roll a die and move their marker on the game board.  Sometimes we make it a whole class affair and everybody observes and cheers for their classmates as they roll.  Lately, time has been short and I have started calling small groups of students over to the game board to roll while the rest of the class is working.

• When someone lands on CHANCE, we ring a bell so that everyone can listen as the student reads aloud his/her chance card.  The fun thing about the chance card is that the card could have a great prize on it for the student, for the class, or it could be something the student has to do for the teacher, class, or a classmate.


Some examples are:
• Give a classmate a compliment.
• The whole class gets 5 extra minutes of recess!
• Wipe down the teacher's desk.
• You have earned a video lunch in the classroom for the entire class!
• You have earned a nice letter from your teacher to your parents.

The great thing about the "bad" chance cards is that they ask the student to do something nice for someone else and giving and helping others is a good thing to teach youngsters to do.

When a student reads aloud a chance card the classroom audience is so excited!  If the card is a good one, they cheer!  If is is bad, they laugh,   all in good fun!

MAKING THE HOMEWORKOPOLY BOARD

Making the board wasn't too complicated.  You can get a FREE EDITABLE TEMPLATE (PowerPoint) or Google Slides HERE!
 
**You will need to download a copy of the template before you will be able to edit it.  

This is the one that I created for the board you see here in the pictures.  I had to take off the clip art and fonts, but it is editable so that you can change the fonts, add your own clip art, add your own prizes, street names, chance cards, etc.  For Powerpoint, you will need to download in order to edit.

Once you have the game board downloaded, go through and customize it to fit your classroom.  I teach 4th grade, so I added street names like "Oregon Avenue", "Setting Street", etc.  I also added prizes that worked for me.  My students love rolly chairs and dot-to-dots, so I added those to the board.  We play music and use GoNoodle.com in class, so I made sure we had "Music Market" and "DJ Court".


When you have your game board customized, print it out.  I printed mine out in color, cut out the panels,  and laminated the pieces.

Once that was done, I used two sided tape to adhere the game board to a piece of poster board.  At this point, I wasn't sure what I was going to use for game pieces.  I knew that I wanted the board to hang on the wall, so I decided to use mini-clothes pins.  In order for the clothes pins to work, the game board needed to be pushed away from the wall.

To get this to happen, I glued the top of a box on the back of the game board.

I tried to attach it to my wall with pushpins, but that didn't really work for me.  Luckily, I had these great cubical hooks.  I punched two holes into the side of the box and am able to hang the box on the hooks.

And Voila!  My HOMEWORKOPOLY  board!
I hope you enjoyed this You Oughta Know About...  post!  Make sure to hop on over and visit some of the other blogs in the blog hop for more GREAT things you oughta know about!

Until next time!

9 comments:

  1. Hi Tammy!!!! I LOVE this idea and would love to implement this next year. Currently, HW is a battle I choose not to fight. If they do it, great - if they don't, well, they don't. I like the idea of turning it into a game and rewarding the kiddos who do it. Fun!!!!
    Suzanne

    Kindergarten Planet

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    Replies
    1. I hear you, Suzanne! This has been a great way to reward students who do their homework and inspire others each week. The prizes don't cost a lot of money either. Best of luck!

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  2. Thank you for sharing! This looks really cute! Carol's Teaching Garden

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  3. Absolutely love this! This would definitely motivate my kiddos!

    Jasmine
    Buzzing With Mrs. McClain

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  4. I LOOOOOVE this idea! I can't wait to put this together. Thanks so much for including all the pictures. It will make putting this together so much easier.
    Colleen
    Totally Terrific in Texas

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  5. This is a wonderful idea! I am doing weekly homework with my special education students for the first time this year and I have been looking for a good way to reinforce those that complete their homework! Thanks so much for sharing! Miss Lulu

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  6. Hi,
    I wonder if you could send me your template with the pictures for Oregon? I also am in OR and would love to have your game board with the pictures you made above. Thanks if you can share it. jolson@fgsd.k12.or.us Thanks!

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  7. Hi Jenni,
    I just e-mailed you. :) I just noticed your e-mail address. Are you in Forest Grove?
    Tammy

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