Behavior Management

Does your school have a required behavior management system? My school asked us to use a clip chart with green, yellow and red. I'll be honest, at first I really didn't like this. But it was required, so I was determined to figure out how to make it work for me! I realized--after a little self-reflection--that what I didn't like was that the basic green, yellow, red clip chart didn't reward positive behavior and just focused on a student's negative behavior. I made a couple of small tweaks and now I have an awesome system that works for me!!

To add a positive component to our clip chart, I added a blue section for "role model." I usually only had a couple of students a day reach this. It was when they were awesome at following directions, were kind, or demonstrated perseverance. Pretty much anytime they were just awesome! You can get my behavior chart here. It is fully editable.

I also made the clip chart more anonymous with student numbers. It added a little privacy for the kids. Each student also had their own behavior chart each month in their take-home folders. At the end of each day, the students put their folders on their desks and I put a colored sticker on the day for the color they ended the day on. We don't track how they moved through the day. It's all about how they end the day. This lets them make mistakes but still recover from them. I didn't anticipate how motivated the students would be for one tiny sticker. They reminded me if I forgot to hand them out. Some parents even incentived student's behavior with the stickers. I had parents initial the box each night, but I didn't make a big deal if they didn't. I created these stickers to go with my behavior chart. They are a weird size of labels that I usually order here. They are small enough to fit onto most calendars, so they are worth it for me. This is the behavior calendar I use, as well.

But as most of is us know as teachers, we sometimes forget to reward the students who do well day in and day out. I use a punch card that each student keeps in their desk. At the end of the day, if you end on green or blue, you get a punch. The hole puncher is another one of my classroom jobs, so the students do this themselves. It's great because they regulate themselves. If they are absent, or leave early they don't get a punch. It's an honor system largely because when their entire punch card is filled they get to pick a coupon from our coupon binder! I use these punch cards.

I've considered making a slightly smaller one because this is a lot of punches for a first grader, but it seems to work for now.

There are many ways that students can earn a coupon in our classroom. Here are the reward coupons I use. First, they earn a coupon whenever they fill the punch card explained above. They also earn an automatic coupon when they get moved to blue on the clip chart. They can also earn a coupon for secret piece, part of our end of the day routine. The coupons are great because I get to pick their choices. I usually switch these out every quarter. Some examples are drawing on the whiteboard, treasure box, read aloud to the class and write with a pen. The students loved most of them! And I loved that most of them were free or inexpensive! I store them in trading card page protectors in a binder. It works really well for my class.

I hope this post has inspired you for classroom management in your classroom. I love how it has allowed me to focus on positive behaviors and reward students who make productive choices.