Bringing Toys from home
In elementary school, bringing toys from home can be a major classroom distraction. The students who bring the toys become distracted by them and can distract their peers. This may also cause a problem if the student does not wish to share his or her toy. Other students may treat the toy as a classroom item and play with it without the student's permission. Toys from home are also at risk of getting broken in the classroom, which leads to angry calls from parents. Even if you were to ban bringing toys from home, there would always be one student who would bring one in anyways. Therefore, it is more effective to find strategies to manage the toys and even use them to your advantage.
- Use it as a reward: This is a situation that can be used to the teacher's advantage. Create a system where bringing toys in from home is a reward. An example of this could be students are only allowed to bring toys in from home if they have earned a certain amount of classroom money. This will minimize the amount of toys brought in and motivate the students to earn classroom money.
- Toy Home Base: If a student brings a toy in, create a "Toy Home Base". A Toy Home Base is an area in the class where all toys must stay/live during instruction. This base could be on the teacher's desk, in a toy box or house, or in a corner of the room. This will ensure students are not playing with the toy when they are not allowed to and keep the toy safe during the school day. This Home Base should be in a spot that is within plain sight of the teacher at all times to ensure no one, the student or the classmates, takes the toy without permission.
- Toy Jail: Similar to the Home Base, a Toy Jail is an area in the room where toys must be kept if they are brought in without permission, become a distraction to the class, or are played with at an inappropriate time. This can be any area of the room that is within plain sight of the teacher, and the teacher could decorate the area to look like a jail with masking tape bars. Unlike the Home Base, students may not get there toy out until the end of the day when they go home. It may also be beneficial to chose an area that is also out or reach of the students. To add an extra incentive for good behavior, if a student is working hard they could be rewarded with a "Get Out of Jail" card and get their toy of of the jail. These cards cannot be saved and must be used the same day they are given.