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Clip Chart

Clip Chart – Reward Idea

Clip Chart October 11, 2015

In my classroom, I still use the Clip Chart. While I know some people are against it, I find that it works for my kids and they have responded well to it. I do have two kids on a separate plan because the all day system was too much for them. Their plan is broken more into subjects and scheduled times.

Anyways…this year with the Clip Chart I wanted to have some way to reward kids that got to purple or outstanding on the chart. In the past, students put a jewel on their clip. They still do that now, but they also get two extra very easy and cheap rewards!

One – I put this frame on their desk. I got the frame from Michaels – I think it was a $1. They get to have the frame on their desk all day as a way to show how awesome they did the day before. The kids have loved this! The neat thing too is that when other adults stop in the classroom, they notice this and comment on the child’s good choices and behavior so they get even more positive reinforcement!

Two – They get to pick two GoNoodle brain breaks the day after they got to purple (also the day they have the frame on their desk). You would be surprised – but they ate this up! The best thing of all it only cost me like a $1 for the frame and that was it. And, I use the frame each time so really I ended up spending hardly anything!

To see how I use the Clip Chart in my classroom, check out this blog post here…

How do you reward kids for reaching the top of the Clip Chart in your classroom? Can’t wait to read your ideas!

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New Clip Chart!

Behavior System, Clip Chart August 18, 2013

I finally have made my new Clip Chart for my new classroom. I went simple with just the traditional colors, but I love how it turned out. There’s just something about a fresh new Clip Chart – weird I know, but it must be a teacher thing. This year instead of clothespins with names on the side, I’m going to use student numbers. So, I’ll put the odd numbers on one side and the even on the other, so there is enough room in the “Ready to Learn” section. Still need to laminate the chart, but here are a few pictures below..

To find out more about how I use the Clip Chart, see this blog post here.

Colored paper all cut and glued!

Brand new Clip Chart. Sorry at home so all I had to hang it on was the door to the garage :-).

Hope everyone has a great Saturday!

Teacher Week – Thursday – Taming the Wild

Behavior System, Clip Chart August 16, 2013

I’m back for Thursday’s link-up for Teacher Week. This week I’ve been linking up with Blog Hoppin’ for Teacher Week 2013. Today’s installment is another one of my favorites…classroom management.

My favorite tool for classroom managment is…the Clip Chart! I know many of you use it and I’ve seen many cute versions of it, but I tend to go for the plain and simple. This is mine from a few years ago… (I still need to make my new one for this year. That’s one of my weekend goals.)

One addition I’ve made to the chart is an additional positive level. Between “Great Job” and “Outstanding,” I have added “Role Model” as one of the additional positive levels.

Here is what the clips look like. When a student reaches purple, I add a jewel to their clip. When their clip is full of jewels they get to take it home and get a new one. They love getting a jewel and love when they finally get to take it home. It’s funny how a simple jewel from Michaels that probably cost a penny is like gold to them :-).

I love the Clip Chart for many reasons and blogged about exactly how I use the Clip Chart in my classroom here. But to give you a quick snapshot, two of the main reasons I love it are –

1. Kids who make good choices get to move up and be rewarded. Before I had the traditional green, yellow, red stoplight system. This worked ok, but I felt bad for those kids always on green who were always doing the right thing and who were even going above and beyond sometimes. The Clip Chart addresses those good choices and provides teachers a chance to not only positively praise the student verbally, but also let them clip up, which is an added step of recognition for that student.

2. Kids aren’t stuck on a certain color. With that stoplight system, once a kid was on red, they were on red. What was bad about this is they knew they were on red and they couldn’t move up – so my day with them tended to be poor because they figured I’ve already ruined the day why not continue my bad behavior. With the Clip Chart, students aren’t stuck. If a student makes a bad choice and clips down, they have the chance to make better choices and move their clip back up throughout the day. No one is stuck one way or another.

I have seen super positive results from using the Clip Chart and received positive feedback from students, parents, and administrators. It’s definitely my favorite behavior management tool!

Can’t wait to see some new behavior ideas through the linky party. Make sure you link up and share your wonderful ideas!

Clip Chart

Behavior System, Clip Chart May 19, 2012

Another favorite thing, that I love, love, love is the Clip Chart. During one of my most difficult teaching years with a rather challenging class, I used the typical old green, yellow, red stop sign system for behavior. It didn’t work. My kids that were difficult were on red by 8:30 and were stuck there so they continued to have a hard day. This was rather frustrating as a teacher and frustrating for students as well.

After this difficult year, I was having a hard-time getting in the teacher back-to-school spirit, so I started researching new behavior ideas. While researching I stumbled upon the Clip Chart by New Managment. I read through the e-book that is on their website and fell in love with the idea of the Clip Chart system. Gone are the days of kids being stuck for making one bad choice. Gone are the days of the good kids always being on green when they are always the ones going above and beyond to make good choices. Gone for me were the days of focusing on the negative behavior going on in my classroom.

I implemented the Clip Chart system two years ago in my classroom and got one of the other first grade teachers on board. The main point of the clip chart is if a student makes a bad choice they clip down. If a student makes a good choice they can clip up. Students aren’t stuck on one level or another and can move up and down the chart throughout the day. Also instead of one or two levels, there are multiple levels above and below. And the best part of all – it works! Instead of focusing on what the kids are doing wrong, I was spending more time trying to find the positive and what the kids were doing right, which leads to clipping up. I noticed a huge change in the kids too. They weren’t tattletaling as much (which is a huge step for first grade). Instead of tattling to me about something they saw a student do wrong, kids were telling me about something good they saw another child doing.

The beauty of the Clip Chart is you don’t need prizes or treasure box items. If a student reaches purple (Outstanding) on the chart, they get to add a jewel to their clothespin. Once their clothespin is full of jewels, they get to take it home. Now, I know you’re probably thinking do kids really care about a jewel? They do! The jewel to them is like winning the lottery – they love it!

This Clip Chart has changed the way I teach and manage a classroom. Most teachers at my school have also started using it in all grade levels and also see the benefits. I hope it can help you as well!

Below you will see a picture of the Clip Chart and clips that I use. I bought the stick-on jewels at JoAnn’s.