discipline

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discipline
By Patti Wilkins

I teach 2nd grade. I have used a variety of methods for discipline, but last year's method I liked the best. Our school uses a combination of Lee Canter and Harry Wong, so we do the name on the board and check marks for
bad behavior. I like to reward those with good behavior. This past year I had a treat tree on my bulletin board. I changed it according to the month. I used kites for March and so on. I drew a large tree and the die cut shapes were leaves. On the back of each shape, I wrote a treat. I had the children brainstorm what treats they would like. I used those and some of my own. We had

computer time, sit by a friend at lunch, chew gum for the day, coke at lunch, desert at lunch, free snack at recess, sit by a friend for the day, use ink for the day etc. Normally I would spend a lot of money on rewards. This way I spent very little. The children earn a treat of the tree this way. I had a popsicle stick with everyone's name on it. I had a cup with a sad face on it. If the children got his name on the board or didn't do his homework, I took his stick out. I put the stick in the sad face cup. At the end of the day, I choose two remaining sticks. Those students choose a secret treat off the board. They loved this. It a child had a bad day, he or she could work on doing better the next day. It was a real motivator. The day ended on a good note without focusing on the bad behavior.