Wednesday, July 11, 2012

"Caught Ya"- Positive Reinforcement

Being a guest blogger has to be one of my favorite things to do...I really enjoy sharing my blog with others and I have found so many great blogs this way as well.

Even though I love being a guest blogger I tend to get a little anxious...I mean who doesn't get a little nervous posting something out there for people to see? On my own blog I am nervous enough...but when it's someone else's it has to be perfect! So here is to hoping my little post is perfect ;)

Today I want to share one of the behavior management pieces from my classroom. It can be used with other behavior management tools...but if you are lucky enough like I was last year it may be the only thing you need!

I'm really big on positive reinforcement and I have found that rewarding the kids that are doing what is expected often times motivates the other kids in the class to do the same. At the beginning of last year I wanted to find a visual/tactile way to reward those students to encourage the others.
My first step was creating my "Caught Ya Being Good" Jar that sits in the front of the classroom. I wanted it to be something cutesy and big enough for the kids to see as a reminder throughout the day. I got this fishbowl at Wal-Mart and the stickers at Hobby Lobby.
Then I made "Caught Ya Being Good" slips to hand out at any point during the day to reinforce the positive behavior I was seeing. (I had a parent helper cut a ton of these out at the beginning of the year!)
When a kid receives a slip they write their name on it and put it in the fish bowl. Now, we all know that just a slip of paper won't keep the kids motivated for long, so what I did was any time I needed a teacher helper, someone to run to the office, really anything at all I would draw a slip out of the fish bowl and whoever's name was on the slip got to be the helper. I always reminded the kids that the more times their name was in the bowl, the better chance they had of being chosen! Also, at the end of each month I would draw out 6 names and those 6 kids would get to eat lunch in the classroom with me and I would always bring a little treat! I wasn't sure how well this would work at first, but let me tell you this was the best way to get all the kids on task and doing what they were supposed to be doing! The minute I picked up my stack of "Caught Ya Being Goods" the room was silent and they were all on task!

This method worked really well for me because it was low maintenence. I gave slips to the specials teachers and subs to hand out if they saw good behavior. Also the monthly lunch/treat was a relatively inexpensive way to offer a reward in my classrom.

If you would like copies of my "Caught Ya" slips you can get a copy HERE and HERE.

If you have any questions about this please feel free to ask! Thanks for taking the time to read my post and if you get a chance stop by my blog "Hoot Hoot Hooray!"

Ms. Walter

Hoot Hoot Hooray!

27 comments:

  1. this is precious!! wehave a 'caught doing good' throughout our school & each child has a sticker shart hanging outside in the hall to diplay their caught doing good -it is also called over the announcements:) I love this as a classroom version...:)

    ~ Kimberlee ~

    Two Fulbright Hugs

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  2. This is super cute; I love it. thanks for sharing!

    Katie
    Dirty Hands and Lesson Plans

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  3. I love it!! What an adorable idea!! I'm definitely pinning this. :)
    Lisa
    Learning Is Something to Treasure

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  4. I do "Caught Being Good" tickets, but they aren't NEARLY as cute as yours! Love the fish bowl idea! :)

    Jessica
    Mrs. Heeren's Happenings

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  5. I love your Caught Ya container and idea. So cute! Thanks for sharing!
    Tracey
    Third Grade All Stars

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  6. Great idea! I will have to try this out! We cannot display behavior charts in Pre-K so this is a perfect idea that to positively reinforce students! I will be making one of these.

    Jessica
    Wild & Fun in Pre-K

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  7. Thanks for a great post!!! Great job!!

    April
    Wolfelicious

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  8. Thanks. This seems like an easy system that would be very effective. I'm going to try something like it next year.

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  9. Thanks. I'm going to try a system like this next year.

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  10. LOVE that idea!!! I think it would really get students motivated! Another idea may be to put the cards with their names into a separate jar and "draw" out of it for a prize at the end of each week...maybe? Just a thought!

    You did a great job guest blogging!

    Marie
    The Hands-On Teacher in First!

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  11. Great idea, I am going to use this next year.
    Barbara
    happyteachingfirst.blogspot.com

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  12. Thanks for sharing the idea! We are going to use a modified version for our sons, and I think it will work perfectly.
    Thank you!

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    Replies
    1. I finally around to posting, and here is our version of your great idea. Thanks again!
      http://www.happinesscubed.net/craft-post-caught-ya/

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  13. I think this will be a great idea to incorporate into my speech therapy sessions. Thanks!

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  14. I might try a modified version at home. I love this!

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  15. So cute! Sends a great message :)

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  16. Thanks for the idea. I am a SAHM right now and I think I am going to use this with my 2 and 4 year olds along with another child I watch. I am thinking I will add ping pong balls to the fishbowl as I catch them being good. When it's full we get to pick a special treat or movie to share.

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  17. This is such a great idea. I will be doing this my five kids. I am not sure what i will use to put in the jar but the reward will be a special outing.

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  20. Thanks for this great idea! My boyfriend and I are going to use it for his 6 yr old daughter. It's hard for us to teach her manners and no attitude when her mom has her the majority of the time. I think this will work but we will use it so she can fill it with marbles and go somewhere special when it is filled. She usually lives with a great attitude and is better in school but not when we first get her. I feel for her. Hope this works. Thanks!

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  21. Thanks for the idea! I'm a primary teacher from Spain. This year I'm working with 8 year-old kids and I was looking for a good way of working rewards and I think I've found it. I will work on it and start using it when going back to class in January. THANKS!!!

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  22. I loved your idea that I did my own version! I shared it on my blog, and I made sure to give you as much credit as I could. Let me know if I need to make some changes, and I'll do just that!

    http://brownpartyofchaos.blogspot.com/2013/01/getting-crafty.html

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  23. So glad to have discovered this post on Pinterest! :-) This is an excellent tip that parents could use as well. Hats off to creative teachers like you!
    PS. Couldn't resist sharing this on our Facebook page. Here's the address, if you want to take a look: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=483688381692506&set=a.120952127966135.17439.113269218734426&type=1. :-)

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  24. hi, i found your post through pinterest and have created one of these for my kids. We just started this week. And my oldest really wants to get rewarded for being good. Plan to share on my blog wit ha link to you for inspirations. Thanks so much for sharing! Jaime@FSPDT

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  25. positive reinforcements works extremely well. When I was teaching preschool, I had a caught you being good tree, and each child I caught doing something good got a leaf to pin to the tree.

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