Behavior Management Linky

I am a couple days late to this party! However, better late than never. It's just been one of those weeks, I guess. I am linking up with What the Teacher Wants for an incredible linky party on behavior management.

I think behavior management is one of the most important things to establish in the classroom from Day 1. The key to making any system work- CONSISTENCY!  

I have made a HUGE change in my behavior management system this school year. For the past 14 years I have been using the ever so popular color card system. (I can hear all of your groans as you read this) It actually has worked really well for me and most of the teachers at my school. Most of us used it school wide. This year I wanted to make a change and switched to the color coded clip chart. The main reason I made the switch is because I really liked the idea of rewarding positive behavior as well as having consequences for negative behavior. Here is the chart I use:

Every student has a clip with their classroom number on it. This makes it slightly more anonymous than using names. Also, I am hoping the clips will be able to be used for more than one year- fingers crossed. It has been a bit of a change of mind frame for me. I have to remind myself to reward those that are doing well. Sometimes at the end of the day if I see that I haven't had that many students move their clip from green, I will have them move it up before they leave. At the end of each day the students fill out one half of this behavior chart:

They color in the circle with the color their clip is on at the end of the day. At the end of the week, they take their chart home and have their parents' sign the chart. They bring the signed chart back on Monday. When they return the signed chart, they get a ticket.  On Friday, any student that has been in the top three colors all week gets a treat from me. The treats can be small snacks, bookmarks, stickers or even special erasers. I also use tickets throughout the day to motivate my students during class. Tickets can be given out for any number of reasons: quiet in line, smooth transition, answering questions etc. They can save their tickets or enter them in our class rewards jar to be one of the possible luck winners that get to choose a prize from our classroom treasure chest. Some kids save their tickets all year to see how many they can get, while others spend them as soon as they get them. 

What is your behavior management style? Link up and share!