Caterpillar Wings: Back To School Weekly Linky

I am joining Miss V's Busy Bees and Mrs. D's Corner for their back 2 school weekly linky! I love how each week focuses on a different topic!

This week's topic is behavior management. Always a toughy for new teachers. Even those of us who thought "oh, we got this" we thrown for a loop our first year. But I promise it gets better and when you find what works for you its smooth sailing! Teachers are a creative bunch and I LOVE reading what other teacher's do for behavior management - like Miss V's "party puff's"! I am going to add that to my list this year! Here are a couple of tips for behavior management. Enjoy!

Couple Rules of Thumb:

My #1 (and I mean absolute must): Be consistent with whatever you decide to implement. You start it, you finish it and if it was horrible - chunk it after that year. If it was amazing - keep it.

#2 What works for one class might not work as well for another. It all depends on the group dynamics and individual personalities. Be open to new ideas and suggestions. Sometimes outsiders have the best advice.

#3 When addressing a sad choice try to speak to that kiddo one-on-one to make sure they are focusing on you and not the fact that the rest of the class is staring at them. This can be a challenge and sometimes I forget in the heat of the moment (we are human after all) but something to keep in mind.

#4 MODEL MODEL MODEL!! I can't stress this enough. I always tell new teachers to pretend the kiddos have never done it before. This may pertain more to the younger ones than older kiddos but, if you do this, I promise things will run smoother throughout the year. Take the time in the beginning to lay down expectations and practice them before expecting them to follow them. How are they supposed to know if you didn't teach it? I have even confessed to kiddos that "It was my fault, I didn't take the time to explain what I wanted you to do." Our class motto: We all make mistakes (even Santa) so admit it, do you best to fix it and move on.

Some of the Management Tools I Use:

Clip System:

The whole Kindergarten team uses this. It is a chart that has 4 colored circles and a star at the top. The colors are in descending order - green, yellow, orange, red. Each student has a clip with their class number on it (I don't write names so that it remains semi private).

Every day the kiddos start out on green (another class motto: new day is what I always say!). They can move up or down the clip chart depending on the kinds of choices they make.

Wrong Choice: They get two warnings and then it is a clip change. I use the same language every time to make sure I'm being consistent.

First Warning: Please don't (be specific about what you don't want them doing). Let's make a better choice.
Second warning: Warning two. Next time it's a clip change.
Third time: Got move your clip (they know to move the clip down only on color unless I say otherwise).

They also have the opportunity to move their clip back up the chart if they make better choices throughout the day. So their clips can go up or down depending on their actions.

The star at the top is for Superstar. This is for going above and beyond what is expected. I don't give these out a whole lot. Typically one superstar per kiddo each 9 weeks (so 4 times a year). Superstar is a HUGE deal in my room cause it is so rare - the kids all clap and congratulate the kiddo who earned it. The superstar gets the title of "Superstar" the rest of the day, gets a superstar sticker, treasure box at the end of the day and is the first one to pick a social center at the end of the day. Like I said...BIG DEAL!!!!

At the end of the day we record what color they were on along with any notes (positive and explanations). If they were on green they get one check on their treasure box sheet, superstar gets two checks. They get treasure box every time they earn 20 checks.

High Fives:

This is a class based compliment reward system. Every time an adult (can be a parent, teacher, aide, principal, etc) compliments the entire class, they earn a high five. I just bought cute colored hands for the "high fives" and haven't set it up yet but here is last years. The pocket chart is a Target Dollar Spot Find (I have seen a couple in the bins this year).