Do you Dojo?

Have you heard of Class Dojo?  Well, this is the first year that I use it and can I just say how much I love it!  I love it!  :) 

Class Dojo is a great behavior management system for your classroom.  Students earn points for positive classroom behavior and may also lose points.  One cool feature is that parents have access to their child's account and they are able to read their child's report.  To make you smile even more, teachers can see the dates and the number of times parents login to view their child's report. You can also post pics of your classroom on the page's class story and send and receive messages to and from parents.  I know, this sounds great! So let me begin...

You can create your FREE account by visiting Class Dojo.  No need to worry if you haven't used it, you can take a tour of the site and practice with a generated class demo on Class Dojo.  After you login, you can create your class by selecting that feature on your dashboard.  

Enter your basic class info, students' name (and you will see a Dojo assigned to the student, you can change it later).  A generated parent letter is automatically downloaded for you and you can directly invite your parents by inserting their email address.  Class Dojo has already the selected behaviors and you can add your own behaviors by selecting the plus sign.  For example, I added walking in line and weekly winning table as some other ways for the students to be able to earn points.  

Now for the fun part... You can award points to the whole class by selecting whole class and clicking on the point(s). Make sure to have the volume all the way up so you can see your kiddies faces when they hear the chime! :) You can assign or remove points to the whole class or selected students.  Just make sure to take attendance first before assigning points.  

On the bottom of your class, you will see where you can take attendance, award multiple students, have Class Dojo pick random students, and there is even a timer!  Wow!  I use the timer all the time and it works magic! 

The settings feature on the top of your class page is important because you can select to edit your class, connect parents and students, reset the bubbles, and choose your display settings. Click connect parents to send a personalized code to each parent so they may have access to their child's report. You can also download the PDF file and send it home. If you teach older students, you can also send them their personalized invite so they can keep track of their own progress.

You can click on View Reports to see a class report and/or individual report.  This is a great visual and print out you can save and use for parent conferences.  I use this print out to justify the students' conduct grade on their progress report and report card.  This is the same report parents and students see in their own dashboard, so everyone is connected.  

There are so many things I love about this program.  One of my favorites is having concrete evidence of the students' conduct so there are no questions about their conduct grade.  The report says it all!

The Class Story features is where you can post messages, reminders, dates, and even class pictures. Super cool and safe! Remember, parents need their individualized parent code to view only their child's report, so you can post with security! :)  

I also use Class Dojo to send and receive private messages from parents.  It's like having parents text you, but without giving out your phone number!  

And guess what else?  You can just download the FREE app on your phone and have access to Class Dojo on the go.  My kiddies love to look at my phone to check out their Dojo and they get really quiet to hear their fav chime!  I really like this app because when we are walking in the hallway, even out on a field trip, I just assign the students points right away.  When another adult gives us a compliment, I also give points to the class for doing the right thing! :)  

I like to set point goals in increments of 50.  For now, our goal is to get to 50 for a class popcorn party.  I have other treats lined up, like having a picnic lunch with me, taking off our shoes in class and walking around in socks, having a special dessert, having extra recess time, etc...  

My next goal is to create a Class Dojo wall.  Not sure about all of the details, but I'm working on it. You know, on our 1,001 items to do! 

Recently, I received an email from Class Dojo that I've been selected as my school's Class Dojo mentor!  I'm still excited and I received that email a week ago! :) Would you like to be a mentor too? Are you a mentor now? 

So do you Dojo?  Have you heard of it?  What do you think?
I would love to read about your ideas!
~Elizabeth from First Grade Stripes