Celebrate success with CCBA. What’s CCBA?
Catch Children Being Amazing! It’s an acronym I created to remind teachers to focus on amazing student work. When we notice the great things happening around us, rather than negative things, more great things can appear. By talking about the wonderful things you see happening in your classroom, young learners will strive to do these wonderful things, too.
How do you do that?
Describe what you see happening in your classroom. What do you see? What do you hear?
-Be specific about what students are doing. Consider your goals for the activity. You can add descriptions to help students come up with more ideas.
For example, the goal of the activity below was for students to make letter shapes in different ways. At first, I’m describing individual student actions. You’ll notice that I’ve pointed out body parts, letter names, size, and students working together.
I see Yuya making the letter d with his fingers.
I see Sara making the letter D with her whole body. She made a big letter shape.
I see Anna and Noah standing back-to-back. They are collaborating by making their letter together.
By describing the many different students’ ideas, students will try out varied ideas, too. Try to acknowledge as many students as possible during your class. That builds self-confidence, too.
You can also acknowledge something that the whole class has done.
Look at how quickly our class tidied up our classroom. Everything has been put away.
Our class now knows all the words to our new song. I listened and heard you singing by yourself.
Celebration Chants
I use Celebration chants with my young learners (and teachers). They’re easy to do and bring positive energy to your space. First, teach them to your students. Then, use them throughout your day. Let’s get started.
Here’s a video with all three chants listed below.
We Did It
My Japanese students used to say, 先生、やりましたよ。Sensei, Teacher, I did it! I wrote this chant to celebrate my students’ successes. It’s called “We Did It!” Maybe you know this popular chant. It’s available on my Jump Jump Everyone album, too.
We did it! We did it! We did It today!
Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap.
We did it! We did it! Hip, hip, hooray!
Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap. Roll your hands. Arms up high.
4-3-2-1
Why not celebrate in a new way? My students loved counting backwards.
Four, three, two, one,
Use fingers 4—–3—–2—–1
Hooray for all the things we’ve done.
Shake hands up / Clap. Clap. Clap.
SUCCESS
This last chant is called “SUCCESS.” This may work best for your elementary students since they know how to spell words and do handclapping games.
S—U—C—C—E—S—S— That’s the way we spell “success.”
Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap. Pat. Clap. Pat Jump up high.
My students like to do this chant with a partner, too. Here are several ways students can do it, from the easiest way to the most complicated way.
Variation 1: Pat own legs—clap both partner’s hands.
Variation 2: Pat own legs—clap own hands—clap both partner’s hands—clap own hands
Variation 3: Pat own legs— clap own hands—clap partner’s right hand—clap own hands
—clap partner’s left hand—clap own hands– clap both partner’s hands—clap own hands* (repeat—last time omit last *)
All of these images can be found in the Google Slides here.
Do you have a celebration chant that you do with your students? Share it with Kathy!
magictimekids@gmail.com
Songwriter Kathy Kampa is a passionate educator of young learners. She seeks to nurture children’s imaginations and spark creativity through fun and engaging activities. Kathy believes that music and movement should be a part of every young child’s education. Kathy’s songs for kids (Kathy Kampa’s Special Days and Holidays and Jump Jump Everyone) are available on iTunes.
Kathy uses a globally-minded and inquiry-based approach to teaching through which students develop 21st-century skills. She also supports the development of English language skills by creating songs, chants, and TPR/movement activities targeted to young learners’ needs. Kathy is an author and teacher-trainer with Oxford University Press. She is delighted to be teaching young learners in her hometown.
MagicTimeKids 