Behavior Calendars

Thanks to Pinterest and other social media sites, teachers have gazillions, literally gazillions of ways to keep up with behavior management in the classroom. So, why not create one more way...I thought...and after thinking about this last summer and testing it out this past school year, I decided that I really, really, really liked it.  Liked it enough to blog about it!

So, I will share with you how I track behavior in my classroom.  For better or worse...

I have a clip chart in my classroom.  While that doesn't work for some teachers, it works for me.  I don't make a huge spectacle of moving clips down, I do make a big deal of moving them up for positive behaviors.  If a child is not following a rule, I try to be as discreet as possible.  I do realize it is embarrassing for some students, but I also look at it this way.  If a child isn't embarrassed to act that way in front of his/her peers for whatever reason (attention seeking, defiance, whatever) then he/she can't claim "embarrassment" when called out by the teacher.  This also translates into their adult life (if I'm going to be a true realist about this) If I am speeding and get caught, then of course I am going to be embarrassed when a cop pulls me over.  But I am the one at fault, and I will hopefully learn from my mistakes.  

My students have the chance to move their clips up, even if they are below the "ready to learn" spot on the chart.  We all make mistakes, sometimes we need them to learn from them.  Sometimes, quite often, that learning happens that same day, especially if it isn't a common occurrence.  Heck, I'm not as on the ball in the morning myself!

So, again, for better or worse, this is how we do behavior in room 202!

On the morning of the first school day of the month, each child will get a behavior calendar (and it matches the current month!!  #petpeeve - especially with writing journal calendars...just saying).  As part of their morning assignment, each student will quickly color in the chart and then place in their homework folder.  I put them in a plastic page protector (it worked out wonderfully last year!).  At the end of each day, before we stack and pack, each child colors where they landed on the clip chart.  SN: For August, we only color. After the first two weeks of school, I begin using a code so parents know what behavior was shown during the day). At the end of each week, I ask parents to initial on the Saturday box so I know they have seen their behavior.   

Here's a sample of what it would look like for my students:

Throughout the year, I would add upcoming dates of PTO meetings, conferences, tests, etc. to the calendar so parents could see that as well.  If an event popped up, we could always write it in!  I loved the idea of it being a functional calendar as well... can't have enough life lessons for your students! It's great practice for them to look ahead, plan, budget time, even as 2nd graders.

Here's an example of a calendar from February 2015.

I had a lot of positive feedback on my calendars from my students and parents.  The kids loved seeing how many of each color they'd gotten on (great graphing and math activity!) and the parents liked having a calendar of events to help keep track of what's going on.  

I created this calendar with editable pages and an editable clip chart to match your needs. I also included my own clip chart and calendars if you'd like to use them. The entire set is only $3.00 and will be updated each year.

Click the image below to head over to my store to pick up your own copy!