A few years ago I had a class with a lot of little stinkers. It seemed like I was always getting after them to stay on task, to stop talking, to just follow the rules for five minutes, PLEASE!!! I always felt bad for the other students who always did what they should and never had to be reminded. I praised their behavior often and pointed out the good decisions they made but it didn’t seem like enough. So I came up with a new behavior plan. I had the card pulling system which had worked fine, but that year I needed something more. For those of you unfamiliar with the card pulling system here is the basic run-down. Each child has 3 cards: green, yellow and red. Everyone starts out on green every day. When someone breaks a rule (depending on severity) they are given a verbal warning. If it continues or they break a different rule, their card gets changed to yellow and he/she misses 5 minutes of recess and gets a note sent home. If they are having a really bad day they have to change their card to red. This results in losing all of recess, note home and sometimes a trip to visit with the principal.
For my new plan I made ten lily pads and gave each child a frog. I also made a yellow fish bowl and a red fish bowl. Everyone started out on the first lily pad. When I noticed someone making a good choice (especially when they were by someone who wasn’t) that child got to hop their frog to the next lily pad. When a child reached the tenth lily pad, they got a prize and started back at one. If they broke a rule they went to the yellow fish bowl, missed five minutes of recess and got a note home. If they continued misbehaving, they put their frog in the red fishbowl, missed all of recess, got a note home and a possible visit with the principal. A child on yellow or red would start back on the first lily pad the next day. Basically I just fancied up the old system and added some incentive, but it helped bring some positive reinforcement to my kiddos who made good choices. Sometimes I throw in a bonus day and if someone hops their frog during the bonus day, they also get a treat.
For this upcoming year I wanted to change things up a bit so I made a new design with bees. Each child gets a bee, there are nine flowers that they “fly” to, for the tenth spot I have a big bee that says "Way to BEE!" When the child gets to the giant bee, they will get a prize. If they break the rules they go to the yellow and then the red hive. Last year I had a “fairy tale” class (nickname from Kasey and Ericka) and never had to send anyone to red and only had to send a few to yellow all year. I’d like to give all the credit to my management system but honestly I just had a fantastic group of kiddos! Still, I like having something for the students to work towards.
For my new plan I made ten lily pads and gave each child a frog. I also made a yellow fish bowl and a red fish bowl. Everyone started out on the first lily pad. When I noticed someone making a good choice (especially when they were by someone who wasn’t) that child got to hop their frog to the next lily pad. When a child reached the tenth lily pad, they got a prize and started back at one. If they broke a rule they went to the yellow fish bowl, missed five minutes of recess and got a note home. If they continued misbehaving, they put their frog in the red fishbowl, missed all of recess, got a note home and a possible visit with the principal. A child on yellow or red would start back on the first lily pad the next day. Basically I just fancied up the old system and added some incentive, but it helped bring some positive reinforcement to my kiddos who made good choices. Sometimes I throw in a bonus day and if someone hops their frog during the bonus day, they also get a treat.
For this upcoming year I wanted to change things up a bit so I made a new design with bees. Each child gets a bee, there are nine flowers that they “fly” to, for the tenth spot I have a big bee that says "Way to BEE!" When the child gets to the giant bee, they will get a prize. If they break the rules they go to the yellow and then the red hive. Last year I had a “fairy tale” class (nickname from Kasey and Ericka) and never had to send anyone to red and only had to send a few to yellow all year. I’d like to give all the credit to my management system but honestly I just had a fantastic group of kiddos! Still, I like having something for the students to work towards.
Here is a picture of the new system (my frogs are locked away in my classroom).
Thanks for reading!
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