Alternative to the Stoplight System (Classroom Management) --- "Safe Pocket/Life Skills"

[umsami]

I just saw this on a blog and simply loved it.  My kids have been in stoplight classrooms--and I wished I had a good alternative to suggest to the teacher.  Who knows, maybe one of your kids' teachers might like this or be willing to try it?

http://fairydustteaching.blogspot.com/2011/01/no-more-green-light-yellow-light-red.html

"Each day, I looked for the children to demonstrate these five life skills - being helpful, being careful, being respectful, being responsible and being patient. ..."

[stefka]

What a sweet system, focused on kids gaining control of themselves in important ways.  I'm still not a huge fan of the public display aspect, but this one feels so much more supportive and less punitive than the traffic light system.

[arb]

I love it and plan to share it with my child's teachers.

[nwatt]

The stoplight system caused a lot of difficulty for me when I taught 1st grade.  All the other teachers who had been at the school forever used it.  They really couldn't fathom not using it.  I decided to do something that would look similar, but we based completely on positive behavior.  I set up a solar system and put each child's name on a star.  Whenever I caught them making good choices I would tell them to move their star.  The kids' stars traveled through the solar system and when they reach Neptune/Pluto they got a ticket for a raffle.  On Fridays I would pull a raffle ticket and that student would pick a fancy pencil.  I tried really hard to have every student move their stars on a regular basis.  It was amazing how if the whole class was being noisy, that when I had the one quite student move their star the whole class settled down without me addressing them.. all it took was a "Adam I love how quietly you are working.  Go move your star."

[LynnS6]

My kids' school uses something similar. Kids earn "gotchas" when they're 'caught' being Kind, Safe or Responsible. The focus is on reinforcing the behavior that you want to see, rather than catching kids being 'bad' and calling that out. The gotchas are put in a bin, and every couple weeks, there's a drawing for a gotcha prize (read cheap Oriental Trading toy). I could do without that aspect. The class can also earn class gotchas for good behavior walking between the classroom and PE/music/library, or for lunchtime behavior (and I think for subs sometimes).

I will say that it works really well, and we don't have the drama associated with getting a yellow or a green. It's also  based on research-based practice (PBIS) and I'm more comfortable. There are sanctions for egregious misbehavior (you get sent to the "Thinking Room" during recess and a note gets sent home). Kids who have continual problems get behavior plans and the teachers work with them to implement the behaviors they'd like to see. This is perhaps the best aspect, because it reduces the constant "you got a red today" stuff - if it's clear the child needs extra support to succeed behaviorally, they get it.