Tried it Tuesday: Sticky-note management

I am linking up with Fourth Grade Flipper for this weeks Tried it Tuesday.  I have mentioned several times that I have a very challenging group this year. They are sweet (for the most part- wink, wink) but impulsive and chatty does not even begin to describe them.  I have tried lots of management techniques this year. I use a combination of Whole Brain Teaching and a clip chart system but after awhile it stopped being effective for this group. Getting everyone to move their clips up or down was starting to cause more problems. Kids would push, talk, move someone else's clip (seriously?)  Then I tried Class Dojo. Loved it but I wasn't consistent enough with it. I don't get cell service in my classroom so I couldn't use the app and it was unrealistic to have it up on the board all the time. Often, I would be teaching and need to give or take away a point so I would have to stop teaching, pull up the screen, etc. As you can imagine, that was tedious and lead to more off -task behavior. If I can ever find a way to use the app in my room, I will go back to it. Love the idea and the kids did too. That brings us to where I am now. Each day each student gets a sticky note to add to the top corner of their desk. They draw a line down the center and add a happy face to the left and a frown-y face on the right. Then, just the same as using the clip chart but without having to leave their seats, students can earn tally marks on either side. I like it because I can quickly look around the room and see who needs more positives and I can even save or transfer the data from the sticky for RTI data. 

At the end of the day, students either earn a ticket for our class drawing or have to pay me Cougar Bucks (school money). The kids love it and I find I give more positives than when using the clip chart because I don't have to worry about a "pile up" or worry about getting in and out of their seats over and over. At the beginning I had the kids bring it home each night for their parents to sign. Now, I only do that for a few friends! *side note* If we are at the carpet or away from their desks I just tell them to add a smiley and they add it when they get back to their seats... they don't forget, trust me!