You'd be Surprised...

... about the things my 8th Graders LOVE! And this goes for ALL of my classes though I will say I think part of what they love is the presentation of these things. 

In our classroom  stickers aren't just stickers! I usually give out ONE BIG STICKER per class period. I tell the kids "I have a big sticker!" and I show them the sticker!  Whenever I put a sticker on a paper I usually say whatever the phrase on the sticker is I'll say something like "I gotta tell you this work is 'Impressive'". I joke about a "decapitated monkey" sticker which is really just the head of a monkey smiling. 

I usually just give out stickers for the first fifteen or so students. WHENEVER I put up the stickers the kids ALWAYS whine that they wanted to get a sticker or they didn't get a sticker! And these are thirteen and fourteen year olds!! 

This is a set that I have used before! I highly recommend animal stickers with puns!

Another thing that surprises people fairly regularly are how much 8th graders love stuffed animals! They add a lot to the classroom environment. I use them for classroom demonstrations! I let the kids take them and sit with them during class. Various classes try to rename them but they have names that I gave them. I work at Salyards Middle School and we are the Bengals so down below you can see what I named my crew of bengals!

From Left to Right: Benny the Bengal, Sally Salyards, and Tony the Tiger

My kids LOVE these tigers. It is the second week of summer and one of my students brought up one of my classroom tigers on Instagram. (I have an Instagram for my classroom that allows me to update students on what's happening in our classroom. If you choose to do this be sure you are being smart about what you post and I use discernment when deciding who you are going to follow.) ANYWAY! Back to the tiger mention! I will say my kids really feel like the tigers are a BIG part of our classroom!

This is probably my most popular stuffed animal, Benjamin the Bengal.

The kids USUALLY try to get into the classroom first to see who can get Benjamin first! It's pretty fun :-)

In large part in your classroom DON'T BE AFRAID TO HAVE FUN WITH THE LITTLE THINGS! The little things you let yourself have fun with your students WILL remember! :-)

Hope you are enjoying your summer!