Sometimes the simplest things make such a huge impact in the classroom. My class, like most, does not like to clean up at the end of the day. Sometimes it takes so long that we end up leaving the classroom too late. One day, on the spur of the moment, an idea came to me. We have classroom supplies, and not individual supplies. We have lots of plain pencils, by no fun pencils. However, I have a stockpile of fun pencils from previous years that are just waiting to be put to good use. And so, I told the class that the group that cleaned up quickest (floor, projects, work, and table) would receive newly sharpened FUN pencils. I have never seen those students move so fast or be so thorough at cleanup time. Within about two minutes, everything was pretty much spotless and my first winning team, all smiles, was awarded the pencils to use the next day.
Throughout the rest of the week, those pencils were switched off each day...or they could be kept by the defending team. Whichever team was the quickest to clean up got the pencils the next day. Cleanup time went from a drudgery to an exciting game where teams now work together to get it done! After a week or two, I introduced a new set of pencils and that sparked more excitement.
If you don't have a pencil stash, might I suggest the dollar spot at Target or Dollar Tree. Usually you can get a pack of 12 pencils for about a buck. My groups only have 4-5 students so I can use those packs more than once throughout the year.
If you want some more cleaning solutions, check out my Making Cleaning Fun post over here. Make cleaning fun, ya'll!
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