Classroom management with a Puppy theme

Hello!
I have been using the traffic light system in my classroom for behavioral management for many years. Plus, we are required to use this system in my school for grades K-2 to provide behavioral consistency as our students progress through the grades. I am allowed to tweak the system to meet my needs, although, so this year I decided to use a puppy theme as my motivator. I am going to share with you details as to how to use it and you can create it yourselves with your own clip art if you want OR if you would like all the components ready to use, then you can click on the image below to find it in my TPT store!

Here are the details:

The chart to the left shows you the way I arrange the pieces on my poster board. It can, of course, be arranged in any way that works the best for you! I attach the pieces to the board with Velcro. The bones have dog commands written upon them. Green is stay – We want to stay on green!
Yellow is wait – Be careful! Wait and think!
Red  is sit – Please sit and think about a different way to behave.
 I have a stuffed puppy sitting in my wait chair. I also have plain bones printed on paper that my students attach to a clip board and draw a picture or write a note about why they are in the wait chair. I have a large plastic dog bowl sitting next to the wait chair. When the child has finished their bone, they put it in the dog bowl and return to the group. I do move my students from yellow to green if their behavior improves.
At the end of the day, students color the correct dog paw on their behavior recording sheet the color of the bone that their puppy is sitting next to at the end of the day.
The puppy clip art that you see at the top of my chart is from DJ Inkers. Because of copyright rules, I cannot include that puppy in this package!

 
The chart to the left shows you the way I arrange the pieces on my poster board. Again, it can be arranged in any way that works the best for you! I attach the pieces to the board with Velcro.
The title of this board is “Best in Show.” I attach 3 dogs to the board with Velcro. The dog house, the bones, and the sign can be permanently attached.
I use this board as group behavior management. My students start with 3 dogs out of the doghouse at the beginning of each day. If the class is being too loud, being unkind, not following directions, etc., I remove one dog and place it in the doghouse. This dog must stay in the doghouse for the rest of the day. As the day progresses, the dogs stay out of the doghouse if classroom behavior is positive. But I will remove another dog if classroom climate does not improve. At the end of the day, we count how many dogs are out of the doghouse; that is how many bones come out of the jar and into the dog bowl. I use a mason jar to hold the bones and a plastic dog bowl in which to place the bones earned. I do this at the end of every day. When all the bones are gone from the jar and are in the dog bowl, the class earns a treat such as an extra recess, a movie and popcorn, popsicles – whatever works for your class!
The number of bones that I put in the mason jar varies throughout the year. At the beginning of the year when my students are just learning this system, I have fewer reward bones in the jar. 

Here is a picture of the dog bowl and Mason jar that I am using for the dog treat reward bones. Because my classroom theme is apples this year, I hot glued an apple to the top of the mason jar as a decoration and tied with apple colored ribbon.  

Until next time! Blessings to you!


8 comments

  1. Very cute! Thanks for sharing!!! Amber ~ Kindergarten Rocks Blog

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  2. Your are very welcome, Amber! I'm glad that you feel this is something that you can use!

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  3. Ok, that dog theme is ADORABLE!!!! I love the dog and dog bowl, too!!!! Thanks for linking up!!!

    -Rachelle
    whattheteacherwants.blogspot.com

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  4. I'm a HUGE dog lover, so I LOVE your behavior plan!

    Ѽ Lori
    Teaching With Love and Laughter
    luvyorkies@gmail.com

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  6. Hi! I was wondering if you could tell me what you have written on the bones you use have in the jar please. I zoomed in and thought I saw outstanding. Are they just positive word bones? I am using this system this year for my 2nd grade bulldog themed classroom. I love the system and appreciate you sharing the idea!

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    1. Hi there, I actually do not write any words on the bones. We set a number of bones to earn and then work towards that goal. But, I think adding positive words to the bones is a great idea!
      Take care,
      Cindy

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