Behavior Management System

When I first started my job in the schools, my plan was to NOT put a behavior management system into place.  I felt that my 3-5 graders should just know how to behave in school and shouldn't get a prize if they do.  Well, after only a few weeks, I realized that was not going to work!  Most of my groups did behave very well during our sessions, however there were a few that did not.  I thought maybe I could just have a system for those particular groups but with this age group that just does not work.  Plus I started shifting my thinking and realizing it wouldn't be so bad give them something to work hard for.

Last year, my district started requiring data walls in every classroom, so I focused that wall on behavior management.  Since we usually only have 30 minutes with each group 2-3X per week, behavior is definitely something that impacts the success of those sessions.  My data wall last year looked like this:

Each student had a snowman/leaf/flower (depending on the season) with their first name on it.  Through out the session I would keep track of how many times I had to redirect each child.  If they never had to be redirected, they put their snowman on a level 3.  If they had to be redirected 1-3 times, they put their snowman on a level 2.  If they had to be redirected more than 3 times, they were down at a level 1.  At the end of each session they would move their snowman to the appropriate level and I would write the level number on the snowman so I could see the their whole behavior history!  If they got 10 3's in a row, they got a prize.

Now the kids absolutely loved this data wall as they could visually see their progress and didn't want to be embarrassed by being one of the few on a level 2 or 1.  HOWEVER, it was a pain in the butt for me!  I was already in enough of a hurry trying to get my entire lesson crammed in 30 minutes so having to keep track of redirections for each kid then go over to the wall at the end of EVERY session and move them to the correct level and write down their number just wasn't efficient.  And trust me, the kids ALWAYS noticed if I forgot to write their number down from the previous session!  It just wasn't working.

So this year I tried something much more simple.  I went and bought a plastic fishbowl from Petco and put it on the welcome table by my door (got the idea from Pinterest of course!).  I bought some letter stickers from Michaels and wrote Peachy Speechy Behavior on it, then jazzed it up with some star stickers. 

At the beginning of each session I tell the kids that they are working for tickets.  I say that in order to get a ticket, they must be good listeners, stay on-task and on-topic, participate in group discussions, and follow directions immediately.  I put the tickets right on the table or carpet where are sitting so they can see them as a reminder.  At the end of the session I simply use my judgement to determine whether or not they deserve a ticket.

Tickets are from the 50/50 Party Store in my town.

Each month I draw 7 names out of the fishbowl and post the winners' names on a piece of paper on the back of my door.  The winners get to pick a prize.  The kids have been loving this system and haven't said a word about my system last year so I think it's a winner!  And since I only do the drawing once per month, I am not spending a ton of money on prizes.

Simple. Manageable. Gets the job done.