Looking for an easy and simple way to build and maintain your classroom community throughout the year? I’ve got you covered! Have you tried star student?! It’s not only easy and FREE, but students LOVE it. In this quick read, you’ll learn all about how to set up this system in your classroom. Check out all the tips and tricks for Star Student of the Week!
Choosing Star Students
I always choose our star student of the week the Friday before they will be celebrated. Each star student receives the packet below in their weekly folder that explains that they’ve been chosen for the week, the weekly activities schedule, and their poster. Since they are notified the Friday before their week, this ensures that they are able to decorate their poster home over the weekend with their family.
When deciding who will be the star student of the week, there are a few ways you can do it. You can try and align their week during their birthday week to make it extra special, but sometimes this can be a bit of a challenge. You can also use an app to randomly choose or have your criteria to be chosen be based on behavior. Personally, I randomly choose a boy then a girl alternating each week. It’s important to remember that the goal of implementing this is to build and maintain your classroom community. Every kid deserves to be celebrated, ESPECIALLY if they’ve had a tough time. It’s a great motivation to do well and an awesome feeling for when they are in the spotlight. So what does the Star Student get to do? Read on to find out!
Weekly Activities
Below you’ll find a list of weekly activities we use. Again, this sheet goes home with families the weekend prior so they know what to expect each day. Each of the activities are free, simple, and the students love them! They are designed to make the star student feel special and able to share more about who they are. This list is also editable so you can choose different activities if some of these don’t work for you!
Making Memories
I am a big believer in making memories with my students so when implementing this system I wanted to include things that would be something they could remember for years to come. On Wednesday of the week students are celebrated, everyone fills out a“Why _____ is Special” sheet, while the star student decorates a book cover. At the end of their week, I’ll put everyone’s sheet together, with the cover and letter from their families that was filled out over the weekend, and it gets bound into a book for them to keep forever! I laminate their cover and use a binding machine, but you could easily staple everything together to give to your student. Take a look below at how it looks for students each week! 
Did Someone Say VIP?
Star Student of the Week wouldn’t be complete if they didn’t get some VIP treatment! They start their week off getting to see their displayed poster telling all about them. Next, they get to decorate a crown to wear for the week to show everyone they are the star! I’ve even created a special desk for students to sit at instead of their desk, as well as a V.I.P supplies kit designed just for them to use for the week. It’s a fun way for them to feel extra special!
Don’t want to create an entire desk? No problem! You can easily put together some special pens and pencils in the V.I.P supplies to be kept on their actual desk. You can decorate their desk with a frilly fringe or a character table cover around the edge, however you’d like to get creative. Remember, the goal is for them to feel exclusive and you can do that in so many ways that work for you and your students!
Keep Track
If you’re like me, it’s easy to forget who you’ve chosen each week. So of course I had to create something to help me keep track. THIS tracking sheet makes everything so easy to keep up with so you know who has had a turn and who hasn’t. You can print and write it out like I did or you can type and keep it digitally! Whatever works for you!
Everything Done for YOU
I’ve done all the hard work for with this jam packed Star Student Kit! It’s got everything you need to get this system up and running in your classroom TOMORROW. It’s all editable to meet your specific needs. The only thing you’ll need to grab is your own All About Me posters. HERE are some I like to use! They come in a pack of 30 so you’ll be set for the whole year!
What’s nice about these activities is that you can do as little or as much as you want! Don’t want to make a memory book? No problem! Leave that out. Want to change out some of the weekly activities, you got it! This system is meant to be an easy and fun way to build your community. Make sure to grab the star student kit HERE!
Have you heard of a movement code word before? This classroom management must have is a super simple way to help students transition to an activity WITHOUT chaos. You provide the word of the day, or week, and it’s the code to move to the next activity! The word can be as creative as you want to be such as “taco” or “robot”. Students know they can’t move, get started, or transition to an activity until they hear that word! It’s a fun and engaging way to get student’s attention and use it as an anchor to remember to move. Grab this Movement Code Word Freebie below!
Grab this free resource now!
If you LOVE this and want to do ALL the things to build your classroom community, I HIGHLY recommend you check out this bundle. It’s loaded with so many fun and meaningful activities to help foster and maintain a positive classroom community. You’ll get resources for star students, team building, kindness activities, bucket filling, and more. Grab the deeply discounted Classroom Management Bundle below!
Classrooom Management Growing Bundle
I really hope you enjoyed learning all about setting up star student in your classroom! Don’t forget to subscribe to my email list! Not only will you get the most up to date tips, tricks, and classroom projects… and of course more fun FREEBIES including the Movement Code Word FREEBIE! You will also have exclusive access to tons of digital how to videos! If you would like to learn about this and other things happening in my classroom follow me @sweetnsauerfirsties on Instagram.
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