Behavior Clip Chart

I am enjoying my second official day of Spring Break, but I still wanted to share something that I have tried this year that has really helped behavior.  Since I am on Spring Break, I didn't want to go down to school just to take a picture of it, but luckily, I had a picture I had already taken that had it in there!  Happy Dance!

I can't find the exact one I have (I printed it out a few years ago) but here is a similar Freebie I found on Teacher's Pay Teachers.

This is the behavior clip chart that I have my students use.  I love the fact that students can move up instead of just down.  When I ask a student to clip down, I try to find at least two students who are modeling the appropriate behavior and I ask them to clip up.  I really want to encourage making good choices instead of just focusing on the bad.

Each student has a copy of this sheet in their planner.  Each afternoon before we pack up, the students use a crayon or marker to show where they ended up by the end of the day.  They take their planner home to their parents who must initial it.  I give each student a sticker in our sticker economy the next morning if they have their parent's initial.  I collect them at the end of the week and give an additional small prize to all students who have initials for the whole week.  I save these in their files and share them with parents during conferences.

You can download a free copy of this clip chart weekly behavior chart here from Classroom Compulsion.  It is editable, so I edited for font and to match my own clip chart.


 I am linking up this week with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday.

First Few Days Back - Reviewing Expectations and Re-Building Daily 5 Stamina

Well, I have survived the first two days back after vacation!  They haven't been bad, but I have been exhausted after resting for two weeks straight.  The behavior has been amazing so far (knock on wood) and may be due in part to the fact that I planned to review expectations and re-build Daily 5 stamina this week.  Just like the first week of school we have been reviewing and practicing.  I started with a True/False PowerPoint review of our rules.

You can download this freebie at Teachers Pay Teachers here.

Even if you have already gone back to school you can pin it and save it for next year : D.  It is fully editable.

Then, we practiced building up our Daily 5 stamina.  We reviewed the expectations and wrote them on the board.  Then we practiced just like the beginning of the year with me calling them back to the carpet as soon as one person was off task.

(ignore my messy handwriting!)

I am not going to lie - it was a little ugly the first day - our best time (not shown) was a little over 9 minutes.  Luckily, by day 2 we were back on track.

23 minutes - can I get a woot woot?

Ahhhh!  Daily 5 Bliss - ready for me to work with small groups and meet for individual conferences!  A few days of reinforcing those expectations is so worth it!  What have you done to reinforce expectations since you have gone back to school?

Should Old Procedures Be Forgot... Reviewing Expectations After the Holiday Break

Last day of the holiday and I can no longer procrastinate any longer - I have to get in the lesson planning mode again unless I want supreme chaos in my classroom tomorrow morning!  Speaking of supreme chaos - after two weeks away from school, I know that I am going to have to remind my kiddos of what our classroom expectations are.   I was absolutely inspired  when I saw this post from The Science Penguin to make my own True or False PowerPoint to review my own classroom expectations during our morning meeting tomorrow.  I will show the students the PowerPoint and have them use either a thumbs up for true or a thumbs down for false (or I might have them show me a T or F in sign language).

We use Whole Brain Teaching in our class, so several of  the slides address the 5 rules.

Well, I'm sure you know what the answer is to that one!  LOL!  I have uploaded a file that you can customize to meet your needs as a FREEBIE on Teachers Pay Teachers.

What things do you do to review expectations after the holiday?

Kiss First Day Jitters...Goodbye Linky Party!!!

I am joining Mrs. Saunder's Lovelies with her Kiss First Day Jitters Goodbye Linky Party.  The purpose of the linky is to alleviate those first day jitters with a checklist of all of those procedures you want to remember to teach your new students.  It is always a challenge to leave your well trained students from the year before to meet a whole new set who don't know what your expectations are.


Here are a few of the things I need to remember to teach:


1. The class rules - I will be using the 5 from Whole Brain Teaching (Google it - AMAZING)
        1. Follow directions quickly
        2. Raise your hand for permission to speak.
        3. Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat.
        4. Make smart choices!
        5. Make your dear teacher happy!


2. Pencil rules - I HATE the sound of the pencil sharpener, so I keep tons on hand for them to exchange.


3. Lining up and hallway expectations.  I am a stickler for not disturbing other classes.


4. Lunchroom behavior - when I student taught in elementary we ate with the students for the first week to model expected behaviors. If my new school allows this I will do it again.


5. Daily 5 procedures.


6. Beginning of the day procedures - I like to have the students work on something when they come in to make that transition to this is class time.


7. Morning Meeting Procedures - I plan on incorporating this in this year, so I will need to teach the expectations for greeting, sharing, morning message, and group activity.


What are your beginning of the year procedures?  Link up!