Brag Tag Revolution

No, really. That's what's happening right now. If you happen to not be familiar with Lucky Little Learner's Brag tags... let me scream to you tell you how this has forever caused a "sudden, extreme, or complete change in the way people live, work, etc." Go ahead. Look up the term "revolution." This is the exact definition and explanation to what Angie's tags have done for me, my students, and my classroom. I've been teaching for over 18 years and I could kick myself for not finding these gems earlier. And then I'm always reminded of Kayla's @Top Dog Teaching famous motto that she holds in her classroom, "Everyone's a teacher. Everyone's a learner." #ongoinglearner <I swear, I'm learning like 20 times a day!>  So, with this, I am grateful to just have learned late, than never.

Want the truth of why I initially jumped into the Brag Tag frenzy in the first place? Well, I'm going to tell you regardless. There's no stopping me when I get this excited and passionate about something. I just do and ask for forgiveness later. <there's another truth, btw> Ok, well, Lucky Little Learners just came out with the cutest, stock images of animals for her tags! I just knew that my kids would adore it as much as I did. I mean, the one where the cat gives a high-5, really?! I can't help but think of "Kitty High-5" on GoNoodle, too. Goodness. It is cuteness overload and I just haaad to have them! Wait until you see the rest of them. You. Will. Die. (you know what I mean!)

My journey then begins. Brag Tags, here I come... but first, the chains. I looked at Michael's and JoAnn's and could not find anything at a decent price. I needed 35! Ugh. These places need to be way more understanding that most of their customers run on a teacher's salary. Anywho, I found exactly what I needed on Amazon. Two days later they were on my doorstep. Yay, me!

Now, I'm not going to go over the ins and outs of how to use the Brag Tag, as the teacher author, Angie Olson, does the best job of that. So, go read that fabulous post! However, I can SHOW you exactly what my class has accomplished because of these tags! We actually renamed them to "Champion Tags" because the children hold their heads that much higher when you refer to them as champions. :)

We love our Champion Tags because...

1. We learned our 44 presidents, in order!

2. We learn to share.

3. We create bonus assignments for ourselves to present in front of other people.

4. We learned how to read Braille.

5. We think about others.

6. We strive!!!                                          

                                                                         

You may ask me how I personally hand these out... My rule of thumb for my students is that, "If you 'move' me in any way, where I want to jump up and down, scream from the rooftops, and you have gone above and beyond my expectations... then YOU deserve a tag!" My children may simply "move" me by the simple acknowledgement of kindness through others: "Mrs. DeMarti, you may not know this, but Johnny stopped playing with his friends to play with me because he knew that I was sad and alone." Seriously?! Both students, on both accounts showed excellent citizenship. It's important for the children to recognize the good in others at an early age. Bottomline, these tags bring out the VERY BEST in my students and are awarded not only something so "simple" as a tag, but the huge accomplishment that went along with it.

Now, go get your "Tag" on! And if you already do, pretty please let me know how they have revolutionized your classroom!

xo,

Janice