Tried It Tuesday - No Late Work Club

I know that I've blogged about our No Late Work Club several times before, like all of {these posts}, but I wanted to summarize what did and did not work this year for this new Tried It Tuesday linky!

When I first came up with this idea, it was called the No Late Homework Club. The point was to reward those students who didn't hand in any late assignments during the month of September. In October, we decided that each student was allowed one "oops" for each of the four core classes. When they had a second late assignment in a class, they became ineligible to attend for that month. And we give out PBIS bucks to use in the school store if they didn't have to use their "oops." We also changed the name from the No Late Homework Club to the No Late Work Club, since there was some debate that the work that was missing wasn't technically "homework." It was work that they had time in class to complete (and for some reason didn't finish and/or turn in, which seems like a bigger infraction to me). We tried to make a really big deal about it and made locker signs and invitations. Depending on numbers, we usually have two teachers that take all of the kids that didn't make it, and the other four teachers run the party.


So we let it run that way for a few months. The celebrations were:
  • September - movie and snackes
  • October - tailgate party (outdoor games and snacks - If we do this one again, we will structure it a LOT more.)
  • November - technology party (Students may bring in PSPs, iPods, etc. We checked out a cart of laptops and the case of iPod Touches. This one would have went a LOT better if all of the Touches would have had all of the apps synced.)
  • December - holiday crafts, coloring, and cookie decorating (Students were assigned to stations and rotated through the activities. It went very well.)
  • January - movie and board games (Once again, we needed to structure this one better.)
At the beginning of February, we realized that students could have up to four missing/late assignments and still be eligible. That was not acceptable. We were also in the process of developing our Assignment Policy, so we bundled the two together. Here is the new policy:

Fifth Grade Assignment Policy
(per quarter)

1st Late Assignment
Oops!

2nd Late Assignment
15-Minute Classroom Detention
Parents Contacted

3rd Late Assignment
30-Minute Lunch Detention
Parents Contacted

4th Late Assignment
45-Minute Main Detention
Parents Contacted

5th Late Assignment 45-Minute Main Detention
Parents Contacted
ASP 3x/Week

6th Late Assignment and Beyond
Students will continue to serve a main detention for every additional late assignment.
If ASP is unsuccessful after two weeks, parents will be required to attend a meeting to discuss alternative solutions, such as Saturday restitution or in-school suspension.

ASP is our mandatory after-school program for students who struggle to get work done. This system may seem punitive, but it has been very effective. The "oops" acknowledges that everyone makes a mistake once in a while and it won't count against them. Very few students got more than two late assignments the whole quarter. The students who were chronic offenders were the same five to seven students that we had already targeted as needed extra support and interventions. And, as a side note, students with IEPs and 504s had the same accommodations for this policy, ie. if they are allowed double-time on assignments, then their work isn't considered "late" until then.

We changed the parties to quarterly, so we could make them bigger and better. We also decided that they were allowed one "oops" per quarter instead of one per class. Time to get ready for sixth grade! :)

In order to track all of this, I created a Google spreadsheet where teachers could mark missing assignments as they occurred. If a student had a missing assignment, we entered the teacher name and assignment under the appropriate column.

Our third quarter party was a big success. I blogged in detail about it {here}.

For the fourth quarter, we told students that behavior would be a factor, since it would be off-site and we would need to have students that we can trust to be a good example of our school. So I added a column where we can note behavior issues. We are looking at the options of bowling, roller skating, a matinee at the theatre, and a noon minor league baseball game. I'll keep you posted!

I'm also linking this up with What's Working Wednesday :)
And I'm also linking this up to Spark Student Motivation Saturdays.

 

12 comments

  1. I love this idea, unfortunately I'd have to clone myself to do it. I teach at a small school and I'm the only 4th grade teacher. I may talk to the 5th grade teacher and see if she would want to try it out with me.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Hunter's Tales from Teaching

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    1. That would also work. Or maybe the kiddos that don't get their work done have to watch the others have fun :)

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  2. This is so wonderful!! We do random parties a few times a year (usually the last day before a break) and students who are caught up at the time can go. The others go to the "work room". Your idea takes so much time and organization. I would love to work with my team to do this but I think it would be overwhelming to present.

    I had to laugh about some of your parties needing to be organized better:) That always happens to me and I dread parties for that reason. I really like structure and parties are difficult to structure!

    Thank you so much for linking up!
    ~Holly
    Fourth Grade Flipper

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    1. I just saw your comment. Thank you for the heads up about my button!! It's always something with code...I just can't wrap my head around it!

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  3. Hi :) I am your newest follower and also a future teacher. Right now in my education classes we are talking about classroom management and writing our own management philosophies right now. Is it alright if I bring this method up with my class?

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  4. What a great idea! I love that your whole grade is in on it. I'm definitely going to suggest this to my grade for next year!

    Sarah
    MissKinBK

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    1. It really does help that the whole fifth grade is on the same page. There are always the few kids that won't be motivated by anything, but it has really helped most of the kids :)

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  5. I really like making your rewards seasonal. We do a Fun Friday program something similar to this, so I might considering incorporating some of your reward ideas into our program next year. Thanks for the ideas!

    ~Courtney
    Polka Dot Lesson Plans

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  6. I like this idea. I want to see if I can get my teammates and principal on board for next year!

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  7. Wow that seems like something that the kids would love...but my memory would not function well! Then again I teach all subjects so it would be easy to remember. I may have to modify this for my class next year! Thanks for linking up!
    Gina
    Third Grade Tidbits

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  8. This is a great idea!!! What do you do with the students that do not turn in any work while the others are enjoying the reward?

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    1. One teacher stays with those who do not qualify and they work on missing assignments or read.

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