Positive Reinforcement Plan

School is so close I can feel it! Oh my goodness, the new school year is only 2 weeks away!! I'm already getting emails from school staff and parents. It's starting to feel very real again! So much for the lazy days of summer...

Today I got sucked into back to school shopping. Target and Dollar Tree are dangerous places this time of year! I've decided my theme for this year is going to be Positive Reinforcement and lots of it!! So today's Dollar Tree adventure yielded some great parts of that plan.

I've decided to go for a star theme this year. I found cute little star card pockets, and star themed "Great Work!" and "Superstar" reward coupons. I plan on giving the coupons out as rewards for good behavior and letting the kids put them in the card pockets until they are ready to redeem them. I my little guys are famous for losing things and destroying pieces of paper and then becoming very sad once they realize their mistake. I'm hoping a designated place to put the coupons will prevent tragedies such as a lost reward coupon (oh no!). I also found fish themed "Caught Being Good!" reward certificates to take home (sadly no star themed option). I thought these would be a great part of my positive plan!

Last, but far from least, is the new online positive behavior program I found! It's called Class Dojo and it's a SUPER EASY to use online program that lets you give points to positive behaviors or take away points for negative behaviors. I really like that you can change the names of the categories. This will work really nicely with our current system so we can use the same "language" for both pieces of the behavior plan. You can also send emails directly to parents to show all the good things their child was praised for in class. It is set up in a way that 2 clicks on a smartphone, interactive whiteboard, or laptop will give a kid a point and a happy ding sound.

I've been playing with the system at home this week and it looks wonderful. Even more importantly... I think the kids will really get into it! I think I'll let the kiddos pick their own avatars as a first day of school activity to get them motivated to participate in the new system. Oh and did I mention this whole program is FREE!!!! Click on the image below to check it out. Have any of you tried it with your kids? If so, how do you like it?