BEHAVIOR

As a class, we start the year out by determining how learners look and act.  Our Guidance Counselor comes in and talks about being "EAGLE listeners and learners" (an EAGLE is our mascot).  As a class we participate in team-building activities that help us to understand that in order for our classroom to function well, and in order for our day to go smoothly, we must be a team!  We work together to establish classroom expectations.  These expectations are our rules.  They go hand in hand with any school-wide rules that are set in place by our principal. 

In addition, our school has developed a school-wide (elementary) behavior system.  Although a few classrooms are moving away from this system in search of a better way to manage classroom behavior, and I am one of those teachers.  For classroom teachers that do use the red, green, yellow system, they tweak it to fit their own style.  The picture you see to the left is of the system that I used to use.  We had a "stop light" of sorts.  The faces you see are pizza pans [metal].  The "hair" for the faces are clothespins that have student names on them.  Students would begin the day on GREEN.  Moving to yellow means that a student received a warning or two and needs to modify his/her behavior.  Continuing the behavior constitutes a move to red.  Students on red must miss all of the next recess or free choice time.  Once the "detention" has been served, students immediately move back on green again.  Students always start fresh every day. 

Beginning in 2006, I started using a different system to manage behaviors.  VISIT THIS PAGE for more information.

Throughout the year, we read many books that help us to "build" positive character traits. 

Be sure to visit Mindy's rainbow wall idea.  I don't use it, but host the idea on my site for her.