I would like to have a star student each day (maybe only once a week). However, I've gotten mixed reviews from my fellow teaching friends close to home. Some say third grade is too old to have star student--that it is too babyish. What do you guys think?
What will the star student get or get to do? How will a student become a star student? I think every day sounds a bit much, but weekly could work depending on details.
I did a Student of the Week when I taught 3rd grade, and the kids loved it. I had a bulletin board set on the door. The Student would answer the questions and bring in pictures to put up if they wanted. It stayed up Monday-Friday. Then on Friday I let them bring something to show the class (kind of like Show and tell), explain what they out on their board, and answer questions about themselves. The kids loved the time for questions.
Find a way to include those kids who aren't normally stars for their high achievement. You may have to look really hard for some of them, but I bet it will make a world of difference to them. Some of those kids are disenfranchised because of shyness, or because of lack of native ability.
I think that this is definitely a great idea for any grade. It just depends what you want to do with it. I know that a friend of mine does a simple captain of the day. This student gets lots of responsibility in the classroom for the day, but she doesn't do the whole create a poster about me or anything.
My team mate did students of the week in 6th grade and they loved it. He always choose 3 or 4 because we share 90-95 students. I would suggest unveiling the student of the week and letting the students know why that student is being recognized, or train them to be polite if they don't agree with your choice. We did have some students outright ask why certain students were recognized, which of course is rude and could hurt the feelings of the star student.
Target had Star Student chair backs in their Dollar Section for the last couple of weeks. They still had a few left in my store this morning.
I'm doing something like this. I have a bulletin board with "Star Student" on it. I have categories like favorite food, etc. I'm going to draw a student's name at the beginning of the week and he/she will be the Start Student and will basically be the leader for the week. They will write on paper, in COMPLETE sentences, their answer to each category. For example, "My favorite food is..." and I'll post their answers on the board next to the appropriate category. Beth
I just wanted to add....when I did Student of the Week I randomly picked students. Each student got to participate-it wasn't based on academics, behavior, or anything. I also did it myself the first week so they could see what it looked like and got an idea of what to bring or put up.
I started doing M.o.D. (Musician of the Day) once a week last year. I would choose 2-3 students who really put forth effort that week. I kept track & tried to choose every student at least once a quarter.
