Friday, July 6, 2012

I Work in a Button Factory

For some strange reason, I'm still very familiar with a song that I learned in elementary school. It went something like this:

Hi, my name is Joe and I work in a button factory.
One day, my boss came to me and said, "Joe, are you busy?"
I said, "No."
He said, "Turn the button to the right..."
Hi, my name is Joe...

You get the idea. The song continues in a round-like fashion. It's painfully brutal and impossible to get out of your head. Today, I had myself a little button factory in my living room. These are no ordinary buttons though. These buttons have the sole purpose of celebrating success in my students. The idea was first introduced to me by adorable Miss Kranz here. She mentioned that several of her coworkers attended a workshop with none other than Ron Clark. Are you familiar with Ron? He's wonderful. I'm sure you've stumbled upon one of his many books or articles.

Miss Kranz created celebratory buttons for her kiddos to wear after receiving a positive score on a test. What a GREAT idea! Who doesn't love to be celebrated? Letting kids wear buttons all day long and bask in the glory of their hard work sounds pretty stellar to me. On top of that, other students and teachers are complimenting them on their hard work! 

On my drive home today, I stopped into the oh-so-wonderful Hobby Lobby. I picked up 3 packages of "Design a Button".  As soon as I got home, I did a little spray painting (#craftoholicproblems) and rushed to my computer to make a design for my buttons. 



Just like any other button factory, I started making button...after button. But, hey! They turned out pretty schnazzy. Now I just have to wait a couple months to actually use them. Arg! The agony. 



I made my buttons on a basic word document. The circles were 2.25" by 2.25". Then, I printed them on scrapbook paper to add a little extra pizzaz.  If you're interested, I made another version on the document and put it on Scribd. All you have to do is just download and print it on your own! I suggest enlisting others to participate in your button factory.


Button Template

12 comments:

  1. this is such a cool idea! i think it would be neat to make reading and math buttons, too...like "i've read 25 books" or "i know my 2 times tables"...now to find a hobby lobby :)

    ps i found you on pinterest
    Teach~Play~Smile

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Definitely! I love that idea. I would totally make more right now, but I ran out of buttons and my fingers started losing feeling :)
      Thanks for finding me!!

      Delete
  2. This may be a strange question, but will the students be keeping these buttons or is it to wear for the day? I'm just thinking that it could get expensive since I have a larger group of students, but I love the idea.

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    Replies
    1. I thought about the same thing! I have around 45 students, so I plan to have them wear it all day and turn it in to me at the end of the day. That way, I can still hold onto them!

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  3. I made some of thees earlier in the summer. My plan is to let the students wear them for the day then return them. If you can't find a Hobby Lobby near you, you can order them from their online site. That's how I got mine because the nearest one to me is over an hour away.

    Julie aka Southern Teacher
    southernteacherwbt.blogspot.com

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  4. I love this!! I know what I'll be doing in the near future!!!

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  5. I love those buttons! What a great motivator for students to try their hardest and do well! Thanks for sharing the idea and for the freebie!

    Delighted in Second
    Hope you will join my $20 TPT gift certificate giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Super great idea! Now to find the time to make them...

    Laura
    Will Grade For Coffee

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Actually, it only took me about 2-3 episodes of Friends to complete! :)

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  7. They also have the create your own buttons @ Michaels!

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