Beat those winter blues with a hot chocolate classroom party... the perfect incentive during those long winter months! Your students will literally be "flipping for good behavior" as they work to earn letters and spell out the words "hot chocolate." We all know those winter months mean days and days of dreaded inside recess, so why not reinforce good behavior with a hot chocolate reward? This classroom management strategy will keep your students engaged and promote positive behavior during the winter season!
To set the stage and get students excited about their future reward, you will need to create a "hot chocolate" bulletin board. Black fade-resistant paper makes an excellent backdrop and coordinates nicely with this buffalo plaid bulletin board border. The top of the board was lined with two sets of buffalo plaid paper fans. Peeking out just below the fans is a Small Triangle Pennant Burlap Garland. Of course, you'll want to begin with all of the burlap letters flipped over backwards.
This is where the "flipping for good behavior" comes into play! As my students make good choices, I flip over a letter. It may take them a week or two to earn all of the letters. To make it more challenging, you could add the word "party" to the bottom. Once they have earned all of the letters in the words "hot chocolate," we have a hot chocolate party! Little do the students know, I was already secretly planning to have a hot chocolate party, so this reward isn't anything extra on my part!
To kick off our party, the students decorate their own DIY Winter Mug! They sip their hot chocolate reward from this very mug, which of course, they keep after the party. The removable insert makes this mug easy to customize, like I did with this snowman face insert for my students' Snowman Soup gift.
Before we head to the hot chocolate bar, the students also make Melted Snowman Slime using this simple, three ingredient, no mess recipe. We store our slime in these Clear Round Favor Containers. The students decorate the top of the container using self-adhesive foam to look like a snowman face.
Remember that "hot chocolate" bulletin board? Well, it doubles as the backdrop for our hot chocolate bar!
For the hot chocolate bar, I include all of the normal necessities, as well as these Holiday Twist Lollipops for stirring and Marshmallow Snowman Candy Treat Packs. These Mini Silver Candy Scoops are perfect for scooping hot chocolate and chocolate chips into our DIY Winter Mugs. In keeping with the spirit of the season, I also adorn the table with some Jumbo Goldtone Jingle Bells.
You could definitely use this "flipping for good behavior" classroom management strategy just before your holiday break. A hot chocolate classroom party is an excellent alternative to the traditional holiday party, but it also works well during any wintry month!
