The Rainbow Fish

During the first days of school we will be reading The Rainbow Fish, a book I love for both its beautiful illustrations and its positive messages about sharing, kindness, and making new friends.  If you've never read it before, here's a link to the story being read aloud on YouTube: The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister

This year I'm going to make The Rainbow Fish an important part of our classroom.  I like to reward positive behavior in my class because I want my scholars to feel proud of themselves for making the right choices.  I use a clip chart in class to monitor behavior.  Scholars start the day out on "making good choices" and may be asked to move their clip up to "super scholar" for showing outstanding behavior and effort, or down to "warning" or other possible consequences.

At the end of the day, any scholar with their clip on "super scholar" receives a special sticker.  Last year I noticed many of my scholars making rows on their binders with their stickers to keep track of how many times they had earned super scholar during the year.  I thought that was a great idea!  This led me to my Rainbow Fish idea that I am trying out this year.

Each month every scholar will have a Rainbow Fish to color that will represent themselves.  At the end of each day, any scholar on with their clip on "making good choices" will receive a sticker to put on their Rainbow Fish's scales.  Any scholar with their clip on "super scholar" will receive a special sparkly sticker to put on their Fish's scales.  This will help them make their fish beautiful and show how many great days they have had in class.

At the end of the month I will send the Rainbow Fish home in your child's Friday Folder so that they can share it with you.  Of course, if your child is having trouble with behavior I would let you know long before that.  Believe me, I would rather work together with you to fix a problem and help your child learn at their highest potential.  There should be no surprises when the Rainbow Fish come home!  Rather, I want them to be a chance to celebrate the good choices that your children make at school.

Look for your child's first Rainbow Fish in their Friday Folder at the end of September.