We have talked as a class about our 4 main rules in Room 15’s Classroom. Learning, Respect, Responsibility, and Safety.
You may not take the learning away from anyone. You are expected to be respectful to all, inside and outside the classroom. Responsibility is key, and you must always be safe. I as a teacher am constantly modeling and talking about these 4 rules. By June I hope your child is a Learner that is Respectful, Responsible, and Safe.
I have a discipline plan that I borrow from baseball: three strikes and you’re out. In our case this means that if a child has three checkmarks in a day, they will spend a recess with me. We will talk about why they received three checkmarks and try to brainstorm ways to improve the situation. Checkmarks are typically given when they break one of our four main rules: Learning, Respect, Responsibility, & Safety. Not paying attention and/or following our classroom procedures i.e. raising your hand to talk, hands “off” someone, etc. are just some examples that fall into these categories.
I also believe in rewards for jobs well done. The class as a whole will be rewarded for following our 4 main rules of Learning, Respect, Responsibility, & Safety. I fill a ping pong jar with ping pong balls as a visual reminder for procedures and rules followed. Once the jar is full, I treat the class to something special. Individually I reward the children with PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE. There can never be enough of this in my eyes.