I know that I get so excited for the Christmas season, from decorating the house, to spending time with friends, family, and my bed, to knowing that I will have student-free weeks to rest, relax, and plan for after the Break. So it's no surprise that the weeks before Christmas can be difficult with regards to behavior problems. Our sweet students are still our sweet students, just our sweet students pumped full of excitement with the prospect of Christmas coming!
My team is really consistent with behavior expectations, and all the students know what the expectations are. We have a class binder that switches with the students as they travel to different classes throughout the day. This allows any misbehaviors to be documented, while the conduct marks accumulate. However, we needed to do something in addition, that would be visual, to entice the students to maintain their good behavior over the next 2 1/2 weeks. One of my teachers had this amazing freebie from Second Story Window, and we began with the great ideas here and discussed how we could make it work with our grade level expectations. So yesterday afternoon, we came up with a plan that we could use with us switching classes; last night, I printed, laminated, and cut it out; today, we implemented it.
Get this awesome classroom management plan from Second Story Window here:
LOST REINDEER....HELP THEM FIND THEIR WAY TO THE NORTH POLE!!!!
Each class has a reindeer. My class is Vixen, because she was super cute! And, hey, I figured since I printed and cut them out, I could let myself be the cutest one!
We hung them up on the library windows, which happen to be right in the middle of our 5th grade hallway. Every time we line up to switch classes, the students see their class reindeer.
The students need to move their reindeer 10 spaces so that it can get back to the North Pole.
We decided on some things that we really want our students to do in order to get to move spaces. Classes can move more than one space each day, too, and they are really trying to do just that!
When they reach 10 spaces, that class will have earned an extra recess!
Today, all classes were able to move 1 space because our principal gave a compliment on their cafeteria behavior. One class (not mine *tear*) was also able to move another space because they did not receive more than three total conduct marks as a class.
We are discussing adding other incentives, such as a Christmas craft when they reach the 5th or 7th space, but haven't reached a definitive answer yet. We just want to keep it interesting so the students stay on board with the program!
How do you help keep disruptions to a minimum during the weeks before Christmas? Any fun ideas?
Have a great week everyone!
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