A Couple More Behavior Ideas…

This is an idea that I learned from my wonderful friend, Kim Adsit!  She spoke about it at the Minnesota Early Childhood Conference that I attended last summer.

It’s super simple, all you need are some wooden cut outs like this:

You can find them at Michael’s or Wal-Mart, they are about $1 each, I think.  I bought 5 because that’s how many they had! You’ll want all of the same design.  You will also need a cookie sheet, and some magnetic tape (or magnets).

Put the magnets on the back of your cutouts and place them on the cookie sheet in your teaching area.  (I put some velcro on the back of the cookie sheet and stuck it to my easel!) Focus on one behavior at a time.  I needed to focus {BIG TIME} on blurting and interrupting.  These behaviors got really bad from when I was out on sick leave. ugh.  Each time someone does the negative behavior, you simply take one piece off of the cookie sheet.  I started with all 5 pieces on the cookie sheet, and as they continued to end each day  (or lesson) with pieces left, I started taking them away.  The behavior was improving, so they were getting fewer chances to blurt.

If they kept all 5 smiley’s on the cookie sheet, they got to add a piece to Mr. Potato Head!

When Mr. Potato head had all of his pieces, the whole class received some sort of incentive – extra recess, extra free choice, a special treat, etc. I found this fun idea {here!}

Kim wrote a post about this system back in September.  You can read it {here}

Two other ideas I use to reinforce positive behavior are Happy Rocks and Power Pellets!  Kim and I must have been on the same wave length with Happy Rocks – I have been using them before I even saw them on her blog! I saw the idea for Power Pellets on Rachelle’s blog! You can read about those {here}.

Here are my versions:

The power pellets are just skittles ;)  I like to use the sour ones! I just used a paint pen to decorate the jar.

I use glass gems for the Happy Rocks.  Again, i use a paint pen and just draw a smiley face on them.  There is a LOT of gems in a bag, but it goes really fast to add the smiley face.  If a child is caught doing the right thing, or going above and beyond, he gets to take a Happy Rock home!  The kids LOVE collecting them!  Next year, I think I’ll buy them in seasonal colors!

I’m also IN LOVE with this idea from Katie over at Little Kinder Warriors.

She uses these awesome Scentos Scented Bubbles:

 

and a bubble blaster:

and blasts her kiddos with bubbles when the whole class is doing the right thing! HOW FUN IS THAT?!!  I am heading to Michaels TOMORROW to pick up some scented bubbles!

Are you behaving?

It’s a Saturday night, are you behaving?  Just got the kiddles tucked into bed and ready to sit down and watch a movie with the hubby.  So, yes, I am behaving.  No party animal here!  Maybe I’ll make myself a Chocolatini-that’s about as naughty as I get!

My kiddos at school are starting to figure things out thanks to lots of teaching of expectations and routines.  We are just in the transition of become an RTI-B school (officially – we’ve already done most things!), so we do a lot of positive reinforcement with the kiddos.

I started right away with “The Day the Monster Came to School” story – the kiddos loved it and can’t believe the monster would behave so badly!

We then talked about above the line/below the line expectations and completed this chart together.  I have it hanging up and many little kiddos still refer back to it.

I also have the kiddos do a sort on their own.

The pictures are from Board Maker – I got them from a friend and don’t have a digital copy to share. Sorry!  But, if you check with someone on your special ed team, they should be able to make some for you!

We also did our class promise (I found the words here and thought they were perfect for kinders!)

I love their sweet little drawings, don’t you?!

I have also implemented the fabulous rainbow behavior plan that Julie Lee has created! This is the only picture I have – you can see it on the left.  You can also read more about it at Julie’s blog.

Here is a pic from Julie’s blog:

And for the little sweeties that just can’t seem to figure it out, this is my version of Lynda’s clipboard from Curls and a Smile.  I loved this idea when I first saw it.  I never liked having clip charts on display because others (especially parents) could see how each child was behaving.  I love the clipboard because it can stay private between me and the student and it can also travel with them to specials.

I use the red note from Kim Adsit’s site.  You can download it here.  She has posted both a pdf and a word doc so you can modify as needed.  I modified mine slightly to fit our needs.  If I can find it on my computer, I’ll post it!  I print it on red paper so parents are sure to see it!

I keep track of the behavior throughout the day with the tracker from The Polka Dot Patch. I just love it!  It’s so easy to keep track of behavior throughout the day – great for when you need to go to those BLST meetings and have to have documentation of behaviors!  You can download it from Ashley’s blog right here.

What is your best behavior management trick?