Sally Sage

Some of my ideas as originals, but I must be honest, the majority of them are knock-offs from teachers much cuter, more creative, and smarter than I am!  However, they say we teachers are the best stealers of ideas, bandits if you will, so I will consider myself in good company!

I wanted to share-for-the-stealing one of my best stolen ideas from last year.  Meet Sally Sage!

Sally was our class mascot that I snagged from the farmer's market last summer. Isn't she cute?  The idea is copied from a fellow kindergarten teacher at the Illinois Kindergarten Conference two years ago.  Her mascot was a Build-A-Bear.  My school district's mascot is a Sage, which is a very wise person, which we represent with an owl.  I wanted to have something to go along with our school mascot (and my classroom theme is owls), but you really can use anything.

I introduce Sally on the first day of school and explain that Sally loves sitting with kids with wonderful Kindergarten behavior and pass her around for all the students to inspect, snuggle, and enjoy.  We talk about what that beautiful behavior would look like.  During those first few weeks of school, Sally stays in our classroom and sits with students exhibiting behavior and work ethic I expect.

After the novelty has worn off, I allow students to take Sally home for about a week, from Friday to Thursday.  The parents sign up for their week during our parent orientation night.  Sally comes home with a binder complete with directions and writing paper for students to write about their experience with Sally.  The student then "reads" their entry to the class when they return Sally.

It was a huge hit last year!  I'm including a link to my letter and stationary if you'd like to add a mascot to your classroom.

One word of warning, Sally came out looking a little worse for the wear, but very loved.   Here is what Sally looks like now (I am planning on sticking her in the washing machine tonight!).  You may want to choose your mascot accordingly!

Enjoy,
Amanda

For a generic, unchangeable version, click here for a link to my TpT store.
For the version I use in a PDF format, click here. (and here for the horizontal pages) (and here for the sign-up)
I was hoping to upload a changeable version, but I can't find a way to keep the writing lines fonts, which I suspect is the most valuable part of this! 
Don't worry, all versions are free!