Classroom Management - Tribe Islands

I was extremely lucky this year to receive a sweet bunch of 18 kiddos.  Since fewer kids means lots of extra desks and more room, I decided to do something to help manage behaviors that drove me crazy last year - pencil sharpening, getting a tissue for a runny nose, throwing tissues away, etc. 

I have always had groups, but this time it was going to be different.  I have the jungle theme going in my classroom, so I created TRIBES.  But wait, there's more...  Each Tribe consists of either 4 or 5 students.  The student desks all face one "empty" desk in the middle of the group.  This empty desk is the Tribe Island.  I use the Tribe Island to store all those supplies that come in at the beginning of the year - Kleenex, glue, wipes, pencils, etc.  Okay, I would love to take credit for thinking of placing the extra supplies inside the empty desks, but that would be a lie.  My brilliant and creative teammate thought of this because she is brilliant and creative.  We steal each other's ideas all of the time and improve upon them if we can.  On top of the island is a cute basket with some jungle greenery (fake, of course - I can't grow anything) and a sign with the Tribe's number on it.  The island also includes a box of tissue, a small plastic trash basket, and a divided bin which holds pencils, crayons, highlighters, glue, and scissors. 

This has been heaven!  Not only am I finding peace in this new system, but the kids seem to really like that everything is right there for them. 

I know what you are thinking, "Who empties the trash?  Who gets another box of tissue?  What about those pencils?"  Well, one of my classroom jobs is Tribe Leader.  (see the picture below of my Jungle Jobs board)  Since I have four tribes, I have four Tribe Leaders.  They wear a cute little sun visor I made to identify them as the leader.  They are responsible for all of the above including handing out and gathering materials for their tribe.  It's such a perfect system.  I love it!

Now, just one more note on those pencils.  Kids eat pencils.  I swear they do.  Why else would I go through 100,000 pencils in one school year.  Okay, well, maybe not that many, but I was sure getting tired of the constant, "I don't have a pencil."  Now, I sharpen enough pencils for each student to have 2 a day.  They are placed in the bin on the Tribe Island.  Students are never allowed to sharpen pencils unless they want to use their own hand sharpener at their desk.  In the past, I allowed students to sharpen their own pencils and it was an all day affair plus they broke several pencil sharpeners (manual and electric - expensive ones at that!) in the process.  No more and it works.