Wednesday, June 19, 2013

An Apple A Day - Behavior Management

Back in September, I posted about my behavior management plans for this year.  The Applicious Teacher's linky is giving me the perfect opportunity to look back on how those systems worked!



The Clip Chart


Unfortunately, I never took another picture of the clip chart later in the year.  It was so colorful as the year progressed.  Students were so excited each time they got a new clip!  Some were on their third glitter clip by the end, and all but one student got a new clip at least once during the year.  (That student with from the clip down/clip up anecdote from my previous post got his black clip during the last week of school.  He was beaming with pride).  I will most certainly be using my chart again next year.

However, there were two problems:

  1. Numbers - their numbers were taped on (so they could easily be switched to a new clip).  After the first couple of months, about half of the clips didn't have a number because they fell off.
  2. Clips - I made 32 black clips, 32 purple clips, 32 blue clips, 16 green clips, and 16 red clips before school started.  This hardly lasted me the first trimester.  After that, I never did another huge batch of clips.  I'm sad to say that some students had to wait a week before I got their new clip ready.  It was stressful for me and not really fair for them!


So, this summer ...

I am going to make 34 (to be prepared for new students - that was another wrench in the plan) of ALL of the colors.  I am going to glue numbers 1-32 (and just have two extra of each) on to them.  I know not every student will use all of the clips, but that will just mean I have a head start for the next year, right?

Raffle

Having clips and raffle were just too much.  I had a hard time being consistent with both.  Next year, I think I will still do a math raffle (since I can't use clips then) and will probably still do a raffle from unused bathroom passes at the end of each month.  Not too long after my last post, the allure of the raffle diminished and it wasn't a good Afternoon Routine motivator (I have another idea for that - it will probably be a Monday Made It sometime this summer).

Class Chain

I never started it!  I think I will try doing something whole class next year, though.  My kiddos were jealous when other fourth graders got their marble/button jar parties!

What's your behavior management?  How do you balance the different aspects of it?

2 comments:

  1. I'm going to try using clips this year, so thank you for the tips. They really help! :)

    Kelly
    First Grade Fairytales

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad they are helpful! Feel free to stop back by and ask if you want any more tips!

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