Have a 5 Star Day! Management Update and freebie!

****(See here for updated post 6-28-13)*****


 I have been thinking and thinking as we all do over the summer about how to change things up in my classroom for next year. I really struggled with behavior this year so I'm determined to get back to Whole Brain Teaching (check YouTube for more info) and making sure I'm very consistent with discipline. This is my weakness. I need to make sure I always enforce the rules and keep the students accountable.
Here is a freebie of the rules I made. 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 started the "5 Star" day at the end of the 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 write 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 pack 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:

Students are given a star chart for their desk.I have pink, green and blue. Their goal is 5 stars a day. The students keep track of their own behavior throughout the day with a clothespin on the star chart. I could have done a class star chart but I didn't want behavior displayed and if it is taped to their desk it will be a constant reminder.

 If a students needs a 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 made the 5 star behavior calendars for each month with 2 or 3 different options to fit any school calendar as well as included blank templates in case other teachers'  rules are different than mine. I tried to think of every possibility! There are 33 pages! If you like this idea and want to try it next year, check it out (here) on TPT for $1!!!. I'd love some feedback if anyone downloads. :)

I just added the student star charts as well.