I don't know about you, but over the summer I constantly think about improving classroom management. More specifically, my behavior plan. How can I make this year run more smoothly? How can I make sure to balance positive and negative consequences? How can I ensure everyone has a chance to be successful?
Last year, I came up with a behavior plan that I call "5 Star Day".
Here is a freebie of the rules I made. I use Whole Brain Teaching ( search on YouTube). Feel free to edit if you want because I changed the last rule to "Keep everyone happy" because this includes me as well! Click on pic to download!
I used "5 Star Day" last year to keep students motivated to follow the rules and they seemed to really enjoy it. This was developed to also help lessen my load during pack-up time... See I always stamped the calendar of students who had a "good" day and then wrote on the calendars of those who broke rules. It took me forever and then the students just started talking and goofing around rather than stand by their desk as they were supposed to do when they are done packing up. I tried to have a student stamp while I wrote but the wrong day would get stamped or a student who shouldn't have received a stamp did and I felt like it was making me look unorganized to parents.
This new system held students accountable, helped me with recording problem behavior, saved time at the end of the day and made those wonderful, rule-followers shine!
I added this star behavior calendar to our STAR take home folders.
I love this because students can color in the number of stars they earn at the end of the day to save me time. I just check on the ones " who struggle" with behavior and write the rule(s) they need to work on. This helps students have a goal for each day. It also helps me distinguish those with great behavior from those with good behavior rather than just focusing on those with poor behavior.
Here's how it works:
I just added a whole group clothespin chart if you want to do that instead.
If a student needs an individual consequence, I will quietly motion or whisper that they need to move to 4 stars on their chart. I also write the rule number he or she broke on my class clipboard recording sheet by his or her name. This method also helps me with behavior documentation. Saves so much time!!! I then have students color in the number of stars they earned at the end of the day. This saves me time as I used to stamp everyone’s folder at the end of the day. Now I just check those students who had less than a 5 star day and write which rule they struggled with. I really like this because I can reward those with great behavior at the end of each week or month and keep track of those struggling! I also like that the behavior recording chart is not posted for everyone to see, it is portable and permanent. Parents like that they know exactly how their child is behaving every day.
I also want to announce the winners of my Spelling Tic-Tac-Toe pack. Yay, Rachel and Lori! I will email you girls soon!
