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Behavior Management

Behavior Management Systems When Your Whole Group Behavior Management Doesn’t Work

Learning can only happen when your classroom environment is set up for success. A huge part of your classroom environment is behavior management. Of course all teachers set up their behavior management systems in different ways, but most of these systems are set to work for the whole group. I’ve found that sometimes a behavior management system works for some kids and doesn’t work for others. That’s why, I’ve tested a few different individualized behavior management systems to use when my classroom behavior management doesn’t work.

Individual Behavior Management Systems

What to do When Your Student…

Shouts Out

The behavior management system I’ve used is a shout out or “eruption” chart. In the beginning of the year, we read “My Mouth is a Volcano” by Julia Cook. If you haven’t read this book, it’s about a child who continues shouting out and explains it as a volcano erupting. It’s a great read for primary students at the beginning of the year. It’s even helpful when they need some behavior reminders midyear! After we read this, we use the term “eruption” in place of shouting out.

Here’s how the chart works. The student who has trouble shouting out has an individual sticker chart. This chart is chunked into different parts of your day. After one block of the day is over, you call them over and talk about how their shouting out was. If they did a good job at not shouting out, they get to choose a sticker for that chunk of time. When the whole day is over, you can see what parts of the day they did well and did not shout out and what parts they had trouble in. You can send these home to parents or just have it for your own records.

Is Easily Distracted

Another behavior management system I’ve needed is for students who get easily distracted. One way to encourage them to stay on track and focus is by setting a timer. The timer shows how long they’ve been working and how much longer they need to work and focus until you switch gears. This is motivating to students because they can see an end in sight (especially if they’re doing something they don’t particularly like to do).

This behavior management system also benefits from a sticker chart! (I’ve found that stickers are very motivating in the lower grades.) To use this chart, you also chunk the day. Then, you set a timer and if the student works until the timer goes off, they get a sticker for that chunk of the day. By the end of the day, you know when the child was focused and which parts of the day they had a harder time with.

Needs a Behavior Plan

My last behavior management system is one that I use often for students who need a little extra than just our normal clip chart. This sticker chart is chunked into those same parts of our day as the other two systems mentioned above. After each part of the day, I call the student over. We talk about their behavior during that part of the day. If they had good behavior, they get a sticker, if not, they don’t.

For parts of the day that they don’t get a sticker, I write a note of why. These slips go home to their parents each day because normally if they use this behavior management system it’s because I’ve met with the parents and we’ve decided that they need a separate plan. Since I use a clip chart, I also have students color in their ending color at the end of the day for parents to see.

If you’re interested in implementing these behavior management systems in your own classroom, check out this resource. It includes each of these sticker charts mentioned above and is editable to work for your classroom.

What do you need help with as far as student behavior? Do you have a behavior management system you love? Share below!

The Holiday Kindness Character – An Inclusive Holiday Activity

The winter holidays can be a very hectic time. A time filled with much excitement for the upcoming celebrations. Many schools and classrooms are incorporating holiday activities in their schedules during this season.

Since I teach at a Catholic school, I’m allowed to openly celebrate Christmas, however, I know that’s not the case for most schools. I know teachers who don’t celebrate the holidays or celebrate each holiday so all students feel included.

While reflecting on both school activities and what society sees in the stores, I’ve noticed that much of the holiday resources available are all geared toward Christmas, which not everyone celebrates. I even have my own Christmas resources in my TpT store that I know not everyone can use. This is how the Holiday Kindness Character was born. The Holiday Kindness Character is an inclusive holiday activity you can use in your classroom during the holiday season.

The Holiday Kindness Character

Similar to “Elf on the Shelf”, the Kindness Character watches you during the holiday season. It is a stuffed animal or doll of your choosing who joins your classroom during the month of December. This character brings letters each day that promote kindness during the holiday season. Each letter has specific ideas of what students even as young as Pre-K and Kindergarten can do to spread some joy.

The Kindness Character does not discuss any specific holidays but the holiday season in general. This makes this activity a much more inclusive holiday activity than the popular Elf on the Shelf. (Now, I’m not going to lie, I use the Elf in my classroom and we do celebrate Christmas because of my school’s circumstances, however, I want each classroom to be able to spread joy and love through the season, even if they don’t celebrate Christmas.)

The Resource

This resource includes 20 letters from your Kindness Character. These letters include ways to promote and spread kindness throughout the holiday season. It is editable so you can write your character’s name. It also includes an editable template so you can write your own letter.

Two Weeks of Training for a Year of Success

The first two weeks of a new school year should be spent training your students. Don’t worry about teaching curriculum, just focus on training, getting to know your students, creating a classroom community and assessing where your students already are. When you spend these weeks training, they’ll have a better understanding of your expectations, both academically and behaviorally, how to transition from subject to subject and the logistics of your classroom. These two weeks will set up your entire year!

Related: 6 Ways to Create a Caring Classroom

Expectations

It’s important for students of all ages to know what your expectations are. For the most part, students want to do well and want to be successful in your class. When you train them on your expectations, they feel successful because they understand what you want.

Academics

Train your students on what you expect academically. I tell my students that I expect them to always try their best. When I tell them this, I show them concrete examples of what it looks like when you try your best. We also discuss that everyone’s best is different.

A lesson I really enjoy teaching is “3-Star Coloring”. Now, I did not make this up and I do not know who did so if you know, put it in the comments and I’ll give credit where credit is due. During our 3-Star Coloring discussion, students learn that to try their best during coloring they need to stay in the lines (as best as they can), make the colors make sense, color until there’s no white space and use more than five colors. I ask the question “is this 3-Star Coloring?” many times throughout the year, but students know that this is an academic expectation and they know how to get their coloring to be 3-Star.

Behavior

It’s also very important to train your students on your behavior expectations. Some teachers try to be stricter in the beginning of the year and then loosen up by the end. I like to try to keep my expectations the same all year-long. Students learn very quickly that when they do something extra, like helping a friend pick up their crayons or saying nice words, they’ll get to move their clip up. They also learn that when they are not so nice or are goofing off (after having a warning) they’ll move their clip down. I also do not tolerate any hitting, kicking, or contact of any kind (intentional, hurtful contact). Students know that if this happens, I will contact parents and they lose a privilege.

It’s important for students to know your expectations when it comes to behavior so they can strive for good behavior and be successful. They know what’ll get them in trouble and what gets them recognized.

Transitions

Especially for the little ones, transitions are key to a smooth schedule and believe it or not, you have to teach this. Before a transition, I’ll get everyone’s attention and have them put their hands on their head (so they’re not playing with anything at their table). Then, I tell them to clean up and either stay at their table or carpet, or move to one or the other. I teach students that to clean up means nothing is on their table. Crayons, pencils, colored pencils, scissors, glue etc should be in their pencil box and in their chair bag and whatever worksheet or book or activity should be put away in its place.

Kindergarteners often need to be reminded that this should be done in a timely manner. I’ve had some students start cleaning up and putting their crayons in rainbow order only to get throw into their chair bag and get mess up again. I help them move quicker by giving them a count down.

Logistics

When I say logistics, I mean how your classroom is set up and where things belong. It’s important for students to know how to navigate your classroom so they can feel independent and successful and so you don’t have to clean up after them. I start teaching this on the very first day of school. I do this by giving my students a tour of the classroom. Of course they’ll forget where things are but after the tour, they have an idea what goes where in my room.

It’s also important to have an organized, well thought out classroom, so it makes sense to students. This means, they know where to get a new pencil if theirs breaks. It also means they know where to turn in papers that are done. Training students on the logistics of your classroom means you won’t spend time re-answering “Where do I put this?” (as much as you normally would.

The first two weeks of school are so important to a school year. When you take the first two weeks to train your students, you’ll set them up for a great year. How do you train your students on your expectations? Comment below!

6 Ways to Create a Caring Classroom

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Creating a caring classroom environment is the most important aspect of teaching. If a child isn’t comfortable, they’re not going to learn. One thing I highly stress (especially at the beginning of the year) is a caring classroom. These are non-academic things I do in my classroom to make sure all students feel loved and valued in my class.

6 Ways to Create a Caring Classroom

Crinkled Heart

I found this kindness activity on Pinterest (where all fabulous ideas live). I’m not sure who the original creator of this activity is so if you know please leave a comment and I will give credit where credit is due.

For this activity, you’ll need a large heart cut from construction paper. First, I show my students the heart and have them describe it. I prompt them until they get to the point that the heart is smooth and looks perfect. Then, I have my students tell the heart mean things. They think this is so silly and say things like “you smell” or “I’m not your friend”. Each time they say something mean, I put a fold in the heart.

Once the heart can no longer be folded, I ask my students to describe the heart again. We get to the point of, it no longer even looks like a heart! Then, I tell the students that we’ve been really mean and I think we better apologize to the heart to make it feel better. They do and every time someone says something nice to the heart, I let out one of the folds. Once it looks like a heart again we describe it one last time. We compare how it looked in the beginning to how it looked at the end.

In our final discussion, I make sure to hit home the fact that even if you say nice things after you say mean things, the mean things still hurt the hearts of who you’re saying those things to.

Many people also use the book Chrysanthemum to go along with this activity. Each time someone makes fun of Chrysanthemum you can fold the heart and then re-open the same way described above. Either way, this activity is great for promoting a caring classroom as it helps students choose their words so they’re not “crinkling someone’s heart”.

Expectations

At the beginning of the year, I set expectations with my students. One way I do this is by having them come up with what they think our classroom rules should be. Yes, even in kindergarten, students know what is appropriate classroom behavior and what isn’t. I like doing this because it gives students more responsibility. I even have them all “sign” the bottom of the chart to agree they’ll abide by these rules!

“I Feel” Statements

I like to help students solve their own problems instead of always solving them for them. That’s why “I feel” statements are so important. Whenever students have an issue and come running to me to tattle, I turn it right back on them. I ask them to tell the person they’re having a problem with how they feel and I prompt them by saying “I feel …. when …. happened”. Even kindergarten students are able to articulate how they feel and why they’re upset. This is another way I promote a caring classroom. When students know how their classmates feel when they do something, it helps them think about if they should do that thing again the next time.

Bucket Fillers

Each year, I read How Full is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Mary Reckmeyer. This book helps introduce our classroom bucket fillers and how we will be a class of bucket fillers, not bucket dippers. After we read the book, students practice drawing (or writing) a bucket filler form to a classmate and putting it inside their bucket.

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Kindergarten Family

Being a kindergarten family is something I refer to all year-long. At my school, there is one class per grade from kindergarten all the way up to 8th grade. So, if students start in kinder and stay at the school through 8th grade, they know each other very very well. I like to refer to our class as a family instead of a class because that’s exactly what we are. If students look at each other as family members, they treat each other like a close group.

Star of the Week

Star of the Week is one of my favorite activities because I get to know students on a deeper level and students get to know each other on a different level, than just how they are at school. Students take home a poster (the week before they’re going to be the Star of the Week) and they present it the first day they’re the Star of the Week. Then, that whole week, there are special things the star gets to do such as bring a show and tell, start free play first and we all listen to a letter written about them from their parents. This week is so special for the entire class and I love getting to see connections being formed between students.

These are some of my favorite ways to create a caring classroom and start the year off strong. What are some ways you promote kindness in your classroom? Comment below!

Free Rewards Your Students Can Earn For Their Next Whole Class Reward

Whatever behavior management system you use, your kids are most likely striving to earn a reward. For my whole class behavior, I use a system with happy face and sad face points. If students receive more happy than sad face points at the end of the day, they get a pair of eyes at the top of the whiteboard. Once we hit a certain number of eyes, they earn a reward. I also use the Kerplunk behavior management system. With Kerplunk, we work on being kind during recess and not hitting or hurting each other (I have a handsy class this year). With these two systems, my students have two ways they can earn a reward as a class.

Read more about my behavior management systems here.

My first year teaching, I would just rotate between giving them an extra recess or a movie party. As teachers, we don’t make tons of money, so I didn’t want to purchase anything to reward my students. I’ve come up with a list of FREE rewards that students can earn that are just as fun as an extra recess or a movie party.

10 Free Rewards Your Students Can Earn

1. Game Party

Students bring in one game and students rotate playing different games they’ve brought.

2. Reading Party

Students bring in a few books and read together. To add a bit of excitement, have them bring in sleeping bags and flashlights and turn the lights off while they read together.

3. Bring in a Stuffed Animal Day

Students bring in their favorite stuffed animal and get sit with them throughout the day.

4. Themed Dress Day

Pick a type of dress/theme and students can dress up. We have a uniform at my school so we very rarely do this. It’s so fun when we do though!

5. Relay Race Competition

Set up a relay race outside for students to complete on a team.

6. Bubble Party

This might not be totally free if you don’t have bubbles or a bubble machine but this is a fan favorite in my class! One year a parent donated a bubble machine (affiliate link) and it’s been a great addition to the classroom. Turn it on outside (or inside) and watch your kids go nuts!

7. Free Play

My students already get 30 minutes of free play a day but sometimes we have extra free play for a reward!

8. Dance Party

Turn on some music (I use Spotify – KidzBop) and the kids dance on the carpet. For some extra fun, turn off the lights, get glow sticks and make it a neon dance party!

9. Show and Tell Party

Students bring in their favorite show and tell item and get to share it with their classmates.

10. Joke Party

Students take turns telling a joke (or a few).

Of course a movie party or an extra recess can also be added to the list but now you have ten other ideas that are FREE for when your students earn their next reward!

What would you add to the list? Comment below!

Creating Individual Behavior Plans to Support all Learners: A Guest Post by Rachel Wilser

Classroom management can be one of the trickiest parts of teaching. It’s almost impossible to teach if you’re struggling to manage your class. And even if you have great systems in place for the majority of your students, it’s likely that there will be a few students who need some extra support, beyond what you have in place for your whole class. Even though it can feel frustrating at times, it’s essential to find a system for these kids. Unchecked, best case scenario these kids are just floating by and going through the motions of learning, and worst-case scenario they can hijack your classroom.

Today I’m going to share my top 5 tips for creating a behavior plan. (For our purposes, I’m considering a behavior plan to be anything outside of your normal management system that you use to help students manage their behavior, so that would include something as elaborate as a sticker chart, or as simple as a work tracker that students use to complete their independent work.)

1. Start small.

The ultimate goal is for students to be successful, so you need to set goals that students can achieve. They should be goals; they should involve some work, but they should not be unattainable. When you’re setting goals, you want to start with the most basic (or most bothersome) behavior first. It’s also important to make sure you don’t set too many goals; so even if your overarching goal would require 5 or 6 stepping stone goals overall don’t give them 6 goals at once. It’s too overwhelming, and you won’t have any success.

2. Make goals as tangible as possible.

The more tangible your goal is the more likely your students are to meet it. So, instead of saying “pay attention” set the goal as “track the speaker”, or “raise your hand to be recognized”. Pictures of your goal behavior can also be super helpful, especially with younger students who might not always be able to read the text of their behavior plan.

3. Students and teachers need to be on the same page.

The ultimate goal of any individual behavior plan is to change the student’s behavior, so the plan (and any rewards) must be motivating to your student. Otherwise nothing changes. I’ve found the easiest way to ensure that students are on board is to ask them what rewards are motivating to them. It’s also important that the plan is manageable so that you’re motivated to stick with it as a teacher.

4. Fidelity

You can only help your student reach their goal(s) if you use the individual behavior plan the way it’s designed to be used, whatever it is, whether it’s AM//PM check-ins, daily check-ins, clean up check ins, timer based, etc. It’s also important to give rewards to students when they earn them, even if they’re display some other undesirable behavior at the time. This was hard for me to get on board for at first, but if they met the goal they have to get the reward. So if their goal is to keep their hands to themselves during carpet time, and they did it, but they also were talking to their neighbor they should get the star//sticker//break that they earned because they met their goal.

5. Organized

Last, but certainly not least, is that staying organized makes managing behavior plans so much easier! I always keep a printed copy of the originals, and then I copy enough for each week either Friday afternoon or Monday morning, and put them in the bins for that day with other copies. I also make sure to have copies of any templates I use to communicate with parents ready to go so that pack up//dismissal can go smoothly. If I’m the monitor of the plan, I keep it on my clipboard. Sometimes students are in charge of their plans, and they usually get a special folder for that and keep it in their seat.

What’s the biggest challenge for you when creating individual behavior plans? What do you find to be particularly motivating for your students? My kids have always been big on time based rewards, like Lunch Bunch, or spending some extra time with me.

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The Ultimate Behavior Bundle for Any Classroom

Behavior management is a crucial part of the classroom. Most teachers will agree that learning can only happen when there is structure, routines and expectations put in place. That’s why it’s so important to take the first few weeks (or however long it takes) to establish these important aspects of your classroom. I have three behavior management systems in my classroom that you can read in another post. Here, I want to show you how I track student behavior and the importance of it.

Tracking Behavior

In my classroom, I use a clip chart for individual behavior management. So, I track behavior for each student based on where their clip is at the end of the school day. (For more information on how the clip chart works, read here.) I use a graph to color in what color each students’ clip ends. This graph is a visual representation of their daily behavior. What I love most about this graph is that it is so easy to see if a student just had a behavior slip up or if behavior is something they struggle with. When I notice a student consistently getting low colors on my chart, I use a behavior intervention strategy (mentioned below).

Behavior Intervention When the Clip Chart Doesn’t Work

Every student responds differently to each behavior management strategy. Throughout my experience in teaching, I’ve had to find ways to reach each student. So when I notice a student getting low colors on my chart for a period of time, I try a behavior intervention until I find one that works.

Behavior Intervention Strategies

Chunk the Day – Sticker Chart: This chart separates the school day into smaller parts. After each part of the day, I conference with the student about their behavior and they either get to add a sticker to their chart or they don’t.
Recess & Lunch – Sticker Chart: Similar to chunk the day, this sticker chart is specifically for recess and lunch time behavior. This year, I’ve had a few students that do fine in the classroom but struggle with the freedom at recess and lunch. This sticker chart works well for these students.

Blurt Chart: This is for the student who shouts out. They get three chances (or whatever you decide) and then get a consequence. I’ve never used this but there are lots of blurt chart ideas on Pinterest.
Kerplunk: This is a whole class intervention and something that has become very popular amongst teacher Instagrams. You set up the game Kerplunk and each time the class shows the desired behavior, you have one student pull a stick. Once all the marbles/balls fall, your class wins a reward! I started this last month and am absolutely loving it! My kids responded so well and are so excited when they get to pull a stick.

What behavior interventions work best for you? Do you track your students daily behavior? Leave a comment below!

Behavior Management Systems You Need in Your Classroom

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In my opinion, behavior management is the MOST important aspect of a classroom. If students don’t know expectations or are in an environment that is not structured, it will be very difficult to facilitate any learning.

In my classroom, I use three different behavior management systems: whole class, table groups and individual. I think it is important to have multiple behavior systems as different situations call for use of different systems.

Whole Class: “Eye Like What I See”

For this system, two large eyeballs sit at the top of my whiteboard. I draw a T-chart with a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other. Whenever students are showing good behavior as a whole class, I give students a “happy face point”. On the other hand, when students are not listening, they receive a “sad face point”.

At the end of the day, we count up how many happy vs. how many sad face points and if they earned more happy face than sad face points, they receive a pair of eyes that I draw on the white board next to our big eyeballs. I set a number of eyes to aim for and once they get that many pairs, they earn a reward as a class. Usually in the beginning of the year, I set the number of pairs at 10 in order to get a reward and then later on in the year, students have to earn 15 or 20 eyeball pairs in order to receive a class reward.

Table Groups: “Quit Monkeyin’ Around”

I use the table group system when I notice certain tables showing a desired behavior. I like to use positive reinforcement and compliment one table to encourage other tables to then want that reinforcement also. For this system, I give “table points” by hanging a monkey on the corresponding table’s hanging sign. Whichever table has the most points at the end of the day (before free play) gets to start free play first. This system is important as it encourages students to work together at their tables.

Individual: “Roarin’ to Learn” Clip Chart

For individual behavior, I use a popular system, a clip chart. Every student has a clip and begins each day on green. As individual students are following rules, trying their best, etc, I ask them to move their clip up. They can move up three times on my chart. At the top of my chart I have a ribbon and when students move their clip up to the ribbon, they have reached the top of the clip chart and had the very best behavior for the day. Students get to the ribbon when they go above and beyond normal good behavior.

On the flip side, when students need reminders and warnings, they are asked the move their clips down. The first time they move it down, it serves as just a warning and no consequence is given. When they get to orange, they miss five minutes of free play and red is when I contact their parent.

What I love about this system is that students are never stuck on one color of the chart. If they’ve needed a couple warnings but turned their behavior around, they are asked to move their clips back up and can end the day on a good behavior color. I consider green and above a good behavior color. At the end of the day, we record our color and at the end of the week, I send the slip home for parents to see. Students really respond to this system and are proud when they work hard to get to a top chart color.