behavior

To keep our classroom buzzing happily we need to follow the rules and practice beautiful beehavior! We need to be good listeners, keep our hands to ourselves, raise our hands to speak and be good friends to everyone. To help us learn to keep the rules, we have a behavior management system called "Turn-A-Card".

A pocket chart is displayed in our room and each child has a "packet" of colored cards. Every day the pink card will be on top, signalling appropriate behavior and a fresh start. When a rule is broken, a child will be asked to "turn a card". The next card in the stack is orangewhich means the child has been given a verbal warning. If a second rule is broken, the child turns to the third card in his/her stack. The yellow card signals loss of recess time (10 minutes), during which he/she should reflect on the behavior and find ways to change it. If a child's behavior is inappropriate a third time during the day, the last card that is turned is the green card. A green card results in loss of recess and the child's parents will be notified either
by note or telephone call.

Each day, the cards are returned to their original order, with the
pink card on top, so that each day can be a fresh start and another chance at displaying appropriate behavior. By having the child physically turn his/her own card, I am asking the child to acknowledge inappropriate behavior and to take responsibility for it. If a child consistently gets a green card, I may ask the principal to become involved in the discipline process.

As an incentive for the whole class to work towards appropriate behavior something new has been added this year. For every day the behavior chart is "in the pink" - meaning no one has turned a card - we will add one scoop to our ice cream cone poster. When 10 scoops are earned the class will be rewarded with a small treat to celebrate.