Easy Behavior Management with Game Charts

Easy behavior management?  Yes, please!

It's the end of the year, with spring fever, final assessments, and the full moon--all at once.  My easy solution?  Behavior management charts.

 As soon as my kids walk in the door, I color a dot on the chart and say, "Thank you for walking in so quietly.  You just got a dot."

 When they open their homework books quietly they get another dot.  Same for...

• Doing their morning work
• Putting book bags in the closet 
• Continuing their morning work
• Closing their books and organizing their tables
• Coming to the meeting area

Sometimes they get two dots in a row, just because they're so wonderful.  By the time we're at the meeting area and we've finished a little morning talk, they have 10 dots.

Their prize?  I open GoNoodle.com on the SMARTboard.  The very best behaved child of the day gets to choose a fun action song.  Some of our favorites:

• Peanut Butter in a Cup - Moose Tube
• Purple Stew - Moose Tube
• Chicken Dance - Maximo
• Clap it Out - Blazer Fresh Hip Hop Trio
• Class Dismissed

We get a few minutes of respectful zany-ness.  By that, I mean, no touching or talking, and no dangerous moves.  If someone breaks a rule I stop the video, and say "You're talking."  (or whatever they did)  Then I ask the child to move to a spot a little further out from the group and we all continue dancing.  Sometimes I simply point to a child, and put a finger on my lips while smiling, or wag a finger.  No bad feelings.

It's a great way to punctuate the day!  We have more dots and other treats during the day:

• Run outside for 3 minutes
• Free-style dance to a pop song
• Stomp around the room while we count to 100
• Talk to a friend for 3 minutes

I recycle my behavior management charts.  The first time around I put a neon dot.  Next go-round, I place a black dot in the center.  Then I put a big circle around the dot, then an X, and finally a check mark above it.  

I use my behavior management charts for other things, too.  They work wonderfully well for a single child's good behavior--with a bonus letter home and an award certificate.

And I'm using a chart to count down to the final day of school:

 Now that my kids' behavior is stellar, it'll be bitter sweet to see them go!


Then the silence really will be deafening.