"that's funny, when i woke up this morning, my ears felt kind of strange. they don't seem to be hearing any tattles today - sorry!"
my students laugh hysterically at this comment, and then forget about the tattle all together!! i found that it actually does diminish the tattling, because they begin to understand that certain situations don't need to be reported to the teacher on a play-by-play basis. let me know if you try it!!
the phrase i use for accepting the prize you choose is:
"you get what you get, and you don't get upset!"
my students actually chant this around the classroom, and again, they begin to realize that there are more important things to be upset about, rather than a prize choice. hope this helps!!
For the prize thing, I say, "You get what you get and you say thank you!" The kids use this phrase now as well and it has stopped a lot of complaining.
For tattling, I often use: Did it hurt your head? Did it hurt your toes? Did it hurt your feelings? Is the answer No? Then your tattling. After hearing this a few times, once I start in with the "did it..." they usually turn away realizing this a tattle.
I think I heard this phrase from Barbara Coloroso "Into trouble or out of trouble?" We talk as a group about what it means to tell on someone to get them into trouble (tattling) or out of trouble (letting me know about an injury or that someone needs help of some kind). Once the kids are familiar with the concept, all I have to say is "into or out of?" and they usually drop it if it is tattling. It saves a lot of talking on my part.
When I was a student, we called it carrying and borrowing. When I became a teacher, it was renaming. Then it was regrouping. Then it was trading. Now it's renaming, again, at my school. Personally, I like "trading" the best, because that's what you do. "Trading" seems to fit , especially when the students realize that 1 ten is an even trade for 10 ones, etc.
I get a kick borrowing a line from the old Beverly Hillbillies show, when Jethro learned his "guzentas". 2 guzenta 4 two times. 4 guzenta 12 three times. I use this to teach that a more proper terminology is 4 divided by 2 or 12 divided by 4. One time a student jokingly said to me, "Mr. Bob, I've learned all my guzentas!"
I went to a conference once and saw a guy billed as the Laughing Teacher. I wish I could remember his name...anyway, he said to have the kids sing their tattle to you. Most of them won't sing it to you because they are on the spot. If it's important enough to them then they might do it. It worked like a charm with my daughters!
When regrouping with subtraction my kids chant "BNB". "If the Bottom Number is Bigger" in the ones place..."then you cross out 2, take away one, add ten and if needed do it again! " This helps them to remember to cross out two numbers at a time.
If they tattle I always say..."Does that bother you?" If it does then we talk, but 99% of the time they look at me funny and say "No!"...end of discussion. They don't like it when you turn the tables on them. Try it. It works!
I say can you give away 6 cookies if you only have 2. They say no. So we go next and and say "Hey, Mr. 5 can I borrow a number. Mr. 5 says sure so we make him a 4 and put the 1 number in front of the 2." It works like a charm.
For the getting something they don't want. I say "You get what you get and don't complain a bit." The kids now say it to each other.
When they tattle, a lot of times I will just say (sortof sarcastic) "I'm sorry!"
What is your cure all for all of their sicknesses? Mine is always to sit really still or get a drink of water.
As for Accepting whatever.... - I usually tell mine "You get what you get and you don't get upset" (works with students as well as with my own children)
I love the into or out of, and can't wait to try it out on my crew, tattling, I think it is something that haunts us no matter what type of group we have or what grade.
For regrouping I do use the term regrouping, but I also talk about going next door to "borrow" a ten. Then I use the phrase BBB---bigger bottom? borrow.
Cheryl
At our school we ask...
Is some getting hurt or going to get hurt? Is property being damaged? I have also used the in or out of trouble question. We are really trying to stop bullies so we are asked to use the two questions I shared.
This year we introduced Stan Davis' anti-bullying program. He recommends just saying "thank you" when someone tattles. I started saying it this year and I'm amazed at how well it works. A child will come up and tattle or tell about a situation and I either say "thank you" or "thank you for telling me", end of story. It really seems to work.
"You get what you get, and you don't throw a fit."
Honestly, students begin chanting this themself when they hear other students complain about things. One little boy in 1st grade had a number of different papers with complex outlines for drawing in, and he was nice enough to share with others. One of the boys said he wanted a different one and the first boy said "You get what you get and you don't throw a fit" I smiled and felt good knowing my students are using this!!!
I went to a Tough Student Survival Workshop a few years back that was great and one of the things the presenter (Doug Medford) suggested for tattling was: Have a photo of the president somewhere in your classroom and when a child attempts to tattle, you say, "That sounds really important, you should go tell the president." It's very funny to see the children walk over to the photo and actually tell there tattle to the president. Another thing that he said was, when the child starts the tattle, say, "save that for Tattle Time." Then never have tattle time.
I had one class about four years back that just couldn't get regrouping and I had to think of something to help them. I ended up using SpongeBob characters. They would check to see if the bottom number was bigger than the top number and if it was, SpongeBob would "knock on the door" and ask, "Can I borrow a ten?" They all learned how to regroup that year...but I did go a little batty with all the knocking on their desks
11-15-2006, 07:46 PM
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