Mr. Nelson's June Box

You may have heard your 4th grader come home talking about "Mr. Nelson's June Box."  I'd like to take a moment to explain just exactly what my June Box is.  Whenever students are continuously fidgeting and playing with something instead of listening or doing whatever else they are supposed to be doing, I usually take the offending object away from them.  I usually give them a gentle reminder and then a stern warning, but if the problem persists, then it's right into the June Box it goes.

I call it my June Box, because anything that goes into it stays there until the last day of school, June 6th...with ONE exception.  Students can retrieve an item from the June Box if they have a note from a parent saying that it's OK for me to give it back to them.  Most of the stuff I take away is junk that the kids don't want back in the first place, or at least they don't want it so bad that they'll tell their parents that it was taken away!  Occasionally I'll collect something a little more meaningful or precious or that belongs to someone else, forcing the kids to 'fess up to their parents and bring in a note.

Mostly, the June Box is a good deterrent that keeps 4th graders from messing around when they should be listening, plus it's also a lot of fun going through it on the last day of school and reminiscing about all of the junk in there!