Classroom Behavior Catalog

Behavior management is one of those things that continuously grows and changes with time.  Like with anything else, trends and ideas come and go.

 

To help our classrooms with behavior management, my school started following SWPBIS (School-Wide Positive Behavior Support) about 7 years ago.  As time has gone on, we've tweaked a few things here and there to work for our school.  

 

However, there are a few original things that we have stuck with since the beginning:

 

- Everyone using the same three rules in their classrooms

(Ours are Be Respectful, Be Responsible, and Be Safe)

 

- Explicitly teaching these rules through modeling at the beginning of the year.

(We go through rotations at the beginning of the year where we model how these three rules translate into different areas in the school: the cafeteria, dismissal, the bathroom, the classroom, etc.)

 

- Distributing behavior bucks. 

(Each school that uses SWPBIS creates their own version of the bucks.  We are the hornets, so ours are call BEE Bucks.)

 

- Giving students opportunities to redeem their BEE Bucks through classroom privileges and school-wide events.

 (We have a Winter Carnival in December and a Water Day in May that cost a set amount of BEE Bucks to attend.)

 

One of the things I like best about our BEE Bucks is that every teacher, support staff member, cafeteria worker, and administrator can distribute them to any student.  So if a teacher from another grade level sees one of my kids being a great example of our rules, they can give my student a BEE Buck.

 

Our BEE Bucks have different colors and the colors show how much they are worth.

 

Teachers have green bucks - worth $1

Assistants have yellow bucks - worth $2

Administrators have pink bucks - worth $3

Cafeteria workers have white bucks - worth $4

 

I've always been pretty good at giving out BEE Bucks.  However, I've not been great about giving students the opportunity to redeem them.  (I do this in addition to our classroom clipchart)

 

So I decided to create a behavior catalog to help me.

(If your school doesn't use behavior bucks you could create your own for your classroom, use Dojo points, or something similar to determine rewards for students.)

 

Here is an example of one of our bucks.

(Yes, I know how to spell my name.  I'm not sure what happened with my signature on this one.)

For the past 7 years that we've used these bucks, I've taught kindergarten.  In kindergarten I kept these little library pockets on a bulletin board.  I hung them up a little high so that I had to put the bucks in them.  I also was the one who counted them to see how many bucks each student had earned.

 

This summer, knowing I was moving to first grade, I decided to change up a few things.  First, I put the buck pockets in the student cubbies, so my kids are responsible for putting away their own bucks.  Whew!!  So much easier.

 

Second, I decided that I was going to let my kids count their BEE Bucks and choose a reward on Thursday, that they could then redeem on Friday.  This way I have time to send a note home letting a parent know that its okay for their student to wear a hat.  And it keeps things organized where my students know that they are saving up and will get to choose a reward on Thursday.

 

So every Thursday, during my reading small group time, I call one student at a time to go get and count their bucks.  I have four students in each group, so while we're looking through the catalog, the others are reading from their reading textbook.

 

After the student retrieves their bucks, they count them in front of me.  It can get a little confusing for them to switch counting by 1s, 2s, and 3s if they are counting up different colored bucks.

 

Next I ask the student if they want to spend or save.  Most want to spend.  But some of my girls are wise and are saving up for some of the nicer rewards.

 

 When I made the pages for the behavior catalog, I created way more than I actually planned to use.  This way I could pick things each year that worked for my class.  And so that friends at my school, whom I shared the catalog with, could pick and choose rewards that were best for their class.

 

After I printed about 20 pages, I divided them out by how much I wanted each one to be worth.  Then I printed little labels with the prices on them and  put them on each page protector.  This way, students will know how much each reward costs when they look through the catalog.

 

So here are a few that I choose to be worth $5 BEE Bucks. 



Bringing a stuffed animal is definitely the most popular reward in my class.

Only one student gets to choose this reward. 

 

Some rewards occur one time on Friday; chewing gum happens during Fun Friday time (the last 30min of Friday class time).

 

Others happen throughout the day; choosing a spot in line or playing on the computer.

 

But the reward is only good for Friday.  So if a student picks to be the line jumper, that reward is for the day only.

Next up are the $10 items.



Only one student gets to pick Calendar Helper a week.

My kids love to be the line jumper!

 

I let the entire class line up, then the line jumper gets to pick where they want to stand.

 

I only let one child per week choose this reward.

And obviously only one student gets to pick line leader.

For this reward, I have my student choose a student to eat with them right after they pick the reward, and then they go ask the person if they'd like to eat in the classroom with them.  The reason I make my kids choose a lunch friend right away is so that other "friends" don't have time to promise things in return for getting to eat lunch in the classroom. 

 

Yes, we've been dealing with some major girl drama in my room this year and I'm trying to prevent girl drama from happening with this reward.  (When the first girl chose this reward, I immediately heard the other girls telling her that they wouldn't play with her at lunch if she didn't pick them.  I told them they were too late, that she had already picked someone)

 

Seriously!

 

Apparently first grade girl drama is comparable to middle school girl drama.

Some of my girls have been saving up for this reward.

I also created a chart so that I can keep track of who choose each reward. (This also keeps me from forgetting to let someone be the calendar helper or get to chew their gum)

 

This page is editable, so you can type your student's names down the left side and type your reward choices and prices on the top.

 

I keep several copies of this page in the back of my binder and use one for each week.

Yes, I know that Talent Show actually says Talent Shoe.

 

LOL

 

I had already printed several before I noticed, and since I'm the only one who looks at the these pages each week, I decided it wasn't worth it to reprint until I ran out of the current pages.

Here's an example of a week from August.

 

The first week I used this behavior catalog, I had to write a little note to each family letting them know that their child could bring a stuffed animal or wear a hat the next day.  This took way too long.  I wanted the process to be a bit more efficient and have premade notes readily available. 

 

So, I created little notes for each reward that required something from home.  I printed them on different colored paper and keep them ready to go in this little pouch from Staples.

 

So now, when a student chooses to spend BEE Bucks on bringing a stuffed animal to school, all I have to do is get out a little note, write the student's name on the line at the top, and send it home in their BEE Book.

 

My parents have also caught on to this and know that if they don't get a little note in their child's BEE Book on Thursday, that they aren't allow to bring a stuffed animal.  No matter how much of a fit they throw.

 

Yes, this has happened.



Having this little catalog, classroom chart, and ready notes has made redeeming student behavior bucks so much easier!

 

Now that we have our Thursday routine down, my students are quick and efficient when they choose rewards.  Which gives us more time to do our small reading groups.

 

If you're interested in this set, you can check it out here.