Clipping Up Behavior

 

Last year, my first graders responded really well to a clip chart.  I'm sure you've seen the basic idea by now.  Students start in the middle and then they clip up for good behavior and clip down for bad behavior.  I had a couple students that were great in class because they would do anything just to clip up.  I'm not just talking about the "good" students.  The students that constantly got in trouble were the ones that got really excited and motivated to clip up.  I wouldn't even have to say anything to get my class quiet.  All I had to do was point to a student and point to the chart and they knew to clip up.  A couple students would see and start doing what they needed to and it was a domino effect.  I love it when managing the classroom takes minimal work from me.

I'm not sure how my third graders are going to respond to the clip chart, but I figure it can't hurt to give it a spin.  Plus I'm revamping a little.  This is all a theory, but I'm crossing my fingers and my toes and pretty much anything else I can cross that this will work.  My biggest issue with incorporating this was that I was bored with the plain old rectangular clip chart.  I like pretty and fun.  It was not.  Then I ran across something on Pinterest (imagine that).  It was a pin chart made from frogs.   Check it out here.

Well, I am not using frogs anymore, but I loved the idea of using a different shape.  Since I'm using polka dots as a classroom theme, the logical idea is to use circles.  My next problem was how to get the clips to fit.  So I'm putting it together with ribbon so I can clip all the way around the circle.



I'm not sure my third graders are going to be quite so excited about clipping up for their good behavior, so I'm also implementing a new reward system.  Last year, my kids only got something when they clipped all the way to the top of the chart.  That rarely happened, but they were usually just excited I noticed their great behavior so it was no big deal.  This year, I want to make every clip count and I want to focus on moving up, not down.  The plan is to use behavior cards that the students are in charge of keeping up with.  Once again, Pinterest was my friend and provided me with a punch card that has only ten punches.  This is what I am going to use for my kids and you can find it here. 

For every time they clip up, students will receive one punch on their card.  If they clip up to the top of the chart, that means three punches in one day.  After they fill up their card, they can use the card to redeem things from the classroom store. What I'm really excited about is that I'm going to offer some different choices.  For ten punches they can get a prize out of a traditional prize box (candy, pencils, toys, etc).  They can also save cards.  For two cards (twenty punches) they get to choose an individual coupon like a homework pass, assignment pass, help from a friend, sit where they want for a day, etc. They can also save three cards.  For three cards, they can get a coupon for the class. These include a dance party, movie time, extra recess, popcorn during work time, etc.  I'm hoping some of my students will be encouraged to work hard for more than just the regular prize box and go for coupons which are pretty much free for me.  Plus it means they learn delayed gratification.  We will see how the theory holds up to reality.  If it doesn't work "Monitor and Adjust." :)