The school year is winding down but for me it doesn't feel that way because I will have to return from maternity leave for the last few weeks of school (If you read this blog you've heard me whine about this 100 times already!). It almost feels like I'm starting the school year over! Yiiiiikes☺ I've been thinking a bit about behavior management when it comes to the last days of the school year so, I wanted to share a behavior system I use with my students that tracks their behavior everywhere in the school including your classroom! A veteran teacher told me about it my first year teaching and I've altered it a bit to what works for me.
The system is Class Compliments and the way it works is simple. I tell my kids that anytime an adult at school compliments our class in the hallway, the lunchroom, the playground, etc. we get a tally. If an administrator gives us a compliment, we get two tallies! They loooove this. When we get 25 tallies we get a party! They get to vote if they want pizza, ice cream, doughnuts, and so on. You can reward them however you see fit. You can use tallies, puzzle pieces, marbles, or this freebie I created to keep track of your compliments. Click on either image to get the freebie!
I plan on printing it in color, laminating it, and using Velcro stickers to tack on the flags as kids earn compliments. I might even make it poster size!
I also plan on adjusting this system for the last 15 days of school. For example, if the kids get 5 compliments by the second to last day of school, I'll bring cupcakes for breakfast the last day!
The cool thing about this tool is that it can be adjusted to meet your class's needs. If you have an exceptionally well-behaved class that always walks in a perfect line, behaves well at specials, and rarely makes mistakes in the hallway (everyone is jealous) then maybe you tell your kids they have to get the whole 25 compliments. If you have a more challenging class, perhaps you make the goal smaller at first and build up. My first year using this, I had a very well-behaved group. It took about 4 months to get all 25 compliments just to give you an idea for when you're deciding how many compliments to expect from your class.
I made sure to clue in administration that my class was working on receiving compliments. This way they're more likely to give them to the kids if they're deserving of them. The kids go nuts when they see two tallies added to their compliment chart at once!
The other cool thing about this system is that it can be used to your advantage in your own room and not just the rest of the school grounds. My kids this year had a really hard time being respectful when an adult would come in our room to speak with me. I told them if they shaped up they could receive a compliment from that adult right there in our own room.
I hope this freebie helps you all survive the last few days of school and the school years to come!
I made sure to clue in administration that my class was working on receiving compliments. This way they're more likely to give them to the kids if they're deserving of them. The kids go nuts when they see two tallies added to their compliment chart at once!
The other cool thing about this system is that it can be used to your advantage in your own room and not just the rest of the school grounds. My kids this year had a really hard time being respectful when an adult would come in our room to speak with me. I told them if they shaped up they could receive a compliment from that adult right there in our own room.
I hope this freebie helps you all survive the last few days of school and the school years to come!
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