My Behavior Clip Chart and a Few Other Behavior Tidbits

Happy long weekend!

I have been going through and updating my teaching portfolio (which I do at the end of each year) and I thought that I would share some bits and pieces with you!

I have been using the clip chart for about three years.

I love using it because I firmly believe in learning from your mistakes.  I think that first grade students need to not only receive consistent consequences but they also need to learn from their mistakes.

I have grown a lot this year professionally.  I had a challenging class that forced me to think more like a student.  One item that I didn't have before were spelled out reasons for clip moves.  I had multiple students that needed items completely spelled out.

Here are some of the signs that I made:

I also share the bucket filler philosophy:

These are some charts that I used mostly for special occasions like camp week:  (They worked REALLY well for most of my students.)  When I use these- I do not use the clip chart.

I have also started playing with class dojo for the past month. 
http://bit.ly/JwTgne
I have told my students that they were my little guinea pigs.  I plan to work on some charts for this system as well this summer.  I think that I might LOVE this- even if I just use it for a few selected students.  I can just walk around with my (okay- my husband's) Ipad and track student behavior.  The great thing is that you have the option to email reports to parents. (Or even print them off for documentation!)

Each student is assigned an avatar.  Student names are also written down the left column.  You can click on individual student name/ avatars and assign them the positive or negative points.

You can click at the top of the left column and it will highlight all students.  You can click on the names of students that you do not want to be highlighted. 

Then, you click select award, and can give all of those students the same positive or negative awards at the same time.  :-)

So- next year, I am thinking of staying with the clip chart system but using the online system for some of the kiddos that I need to monitor a little more closely.  :-)

I hope that you have a wonderful long weekend and get a lot of valuable family time! 

I'm sure that I will find some other fun tidbits to share with you soon!

Mystery Sticks

A few years ago this idea was in mailbox magazine and a colleague pointed me towards it!

This is a really easy and fun little trick for tough behavior days.

Materials Needed:
-A cup or container to hold sticks
-1 popsicle stick for each student in your class
-a permanent marker

Directions:
-Write a student name or class number on each stick.
-Place them in the container.
-Pull out 3 and read the names secretly. Tell students that you are watching only these three students to make sure that they are following the rules.
-----If one of the stick kids is not following the rules-you put it back (without saying the name- but make a big deal and tell the class, "Oh no, unfortunately have have to put one of the sticks back because I saw that someone was walking around the room when they should have been working."
----- At the end of a selected amount of time the sticks left over will be announced and they receive a prize.

I always will be a little silly and look really wide eyed at certain students and glance at the names on the sticks.  I usually do this right as I pull out the sticks and as I look at my "behavior" kids.

This is just a fun little trick to keep in mind for really tough times! Just don't use it every day. It is more effective when you just use it randomly.