A first for my first grade friends...

It's been a while since I blogged on my first grade friends, so at the end of the day when a couple of kids mentioned that no cards had been changed and all my friends were all on green, we had something to celebrate and I had a blog entry!

My first grade classroom discipline plan follows a card system and it's a system that follows students from kindergarten to second grade. It doesn't matter who your teacher is in my big school...K-2 teachers all use it. Over the years, we've ironed out the cinks and made efforts to be consistent and fair.

Green is the desired outcome of course, but cards are changed when our classroom rules are not followed. Our rules include: raise your hand (in first grade speak, this means talk one at a time), be safe, and follow directions. The students change their own cards and the students get to monitor their progress through out the day and week.

Different colors correspond to sequential consequences. Green = go and continue to make good choices. Yellow = slow down and take warning. Red = stop and take a ten minute time out. Blue = loss of recess. After this, a detention.

Each day the students start new on green.

At the end of the week, if my first grade friends have three green days, they choose a prize. (Thank God for Family Dollar and Oriental Trading!)

Needless to say, I'm proud of my first grade friends. Generally they come to me well-rested at the beginning of the week, but this made Tuesday pretty terrific.