Classroom Management

The discipline systems used in our classroom are designed to meet the needs of each of our students and to help them better manage their own behavior and make good choices. In order to meet the individual needs of our students, not all students in our classroom use the same discipline system.

Time Away
Some of our students use a “time-away” based system. Students are given verbal and visual warnings. After a set number of warnings, the student is removed from the current activity for a short period of time. This may mean being sent to their desk or a certain spot in the room. After calming down and correcting their behavior, the situation is discussed, and the student is invited back to the activity. Of course, all students are monitored at all times.

Rainforest Tree
We are using a new classroom discipline system this year. Each student is given a monkey on the rainforest tree. At various times throughout the day, we check in on our behavior. Students that are making good choices get to move their monkey up to the next level on the tree. The goal is to reach the top of the tree by the end of the day.

Panther Pride
This is a building-wide initiative to encourage good behavior choices. There are two aspects to the program. First, students are given a punch card each month. Each day a student has appropriate conduct and effort, they receive 2 punches on their cards. There is also a box on the card for Mr. Estes to mark. If students do something that warrants Mr. Estes' attention and the action is severe, he may choose to mark the student's card. If Mr. Estes marks their card, the student is not allowed to go to the incentive. As long as students have appropriate behavior throughout the month, and do not receive a mark from Mr. Estes, they will earn the monthly incentive. Incentives may include extra recess, a special treat, a craft, or other fun activities.

In addition to the punch cards, we also give students “Caught Being Good” tickets. These tickets are given randomly when students are seen making good choices. Examples might be helping another student or teacher, holding the door, saying thank you, participating in class, or returning a note on time. We keep track of tickets on a bulletin board in our classroom. When individual students earn a certain number of tickets they earn a star on the wall in the hallway which is announced during a restroom break and applauded by those in the hallway. Students are also given recognition on the morning announcements when they receive a star. We may also have classroom incentives when the class as a group earns a certain number of tickets.