The Best Behavior System Your Students Will Actually Love
It’s that time of year where you start questioning whether or not your behavior system actually works and to start thinking about what you want to do next year. Anyone else there right now? No, just me?! A solid behavior system can really make or break a classroom. I’m here today to share a behavior system that is so easy and your students are actually going to by in and love it! This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase. This helps me continue writing this blog and providing you with teaching tips and ideas. Thank you!
You guys, this seriously is the best and easiest behavior system I’ve ever done and all you need is ONE thing. If you’re anything like me you’ve tried a TON over the years.
I always question, do I punish the poor behaviors? Reward the positives? Ultimately, I think that rewarding the positives or what you want your students to do is the best way to go.
Now don’t get me wrong, I often have individual students on a daily behavior chart, especially when parents want to be involved, but this is one for the whole class.
As I said above, all you need is one thing: TICKETS. A ticket could be a piece of paper cut up, carnival tickets, or anything else you might have that your students can write their name on.
I like these. You could buy these and probably be set for years!
Click >>HERE<< or on the image to buy from Amazon.
How This Behavior System Works
Remember how I told you this was the easiest behavior system ever?
Well, it truly is!
Here’s how it works: give a student a ticket for positive behavior. That’s it. When you see a student or group of students making a good choice you give them a ticket. They write their name on the back of the ticket and put it into a bucket. Then at a time you specified, you pull tickets for a reward.
Don’t mind the sticky note. I had grand plans on silhouetting something cute, but never got around to it. It’s May and I probably never will. #reallife
I typically pull tickets on Fridays right before our dance parties. It’s a great time to recap the week, discuss great behaviors you saw, and have students make a behavior goal for the following week. After our discussion, I pull some tickets.
Depending on your class size you can pull however many tickets you want. I have 18 students so I typically pull 4-5 so each student gets a reward about once a month. I also keep track of who I choose so I can strategically pull students who haven’t gotten one in a while.
That’s it! Seriously, easy peasy, right?! Keep reading to get more tips and ideas.
Things To Think About For Your Behavior System
Now for this work you need to make sure you explain it completely to your students. As you would with any behavior system you want your students to truly understand and have complete by in. Before you introduce it, make sure you think about these things:
What is the expectation when they get a ticket?
Do they get up right away?
Wait until a transition?
If it is independent work time or a time they can be moving around the classroom I have them do it right away. If I’m in the middle of a minilesson or starting to teach I have them wait until a transition time.
What if they find a ticket on the floor?
If they find a ticket and honestly bring it to me and say they found it, then I usually let them keep it for being honest.
How do they fill it out?
I have them write just their name. I also have fun pens and markers for them to use.
How often will you pull tickets?
I pull on Fridays, once a week.
What will they earn?
My students earn books. I have collected fun and engaging favorites from thrift stores, Scholastic bonus points, Donor’s Choose and library sales. I make sure they are new or like new. Then when they choose their book, I write to and from. They LOVE it!
What behaviors will you reward?
I reward any positive behavior. Our 4 school expectations are: be responsible, be respectful, be safe and be a learner. I try to tie any behavior to one of those. You can see some of the behaviors I reward below.
Behaviors to Reward
As I said above I try to tie any behavior to our 4 school expectations. I state specifically what they did and why they are earning a ticket, usually loud and proud so others can hear.
Behaviors I especially like to reward: being kind, being a helper, following a direction first, trying their best or working hard, solving a tricky problem, doing their homework for the first time in a while, whatever it is, make sure it’s positive. Sometimes I’ll pull a student over and quietly give them a ticket too. If they did something that was really hard for them, or I don’t want everyone to hear, I pull them over and quietly give it to them.
Whatever it is, they will most likely try to do it over and over again to earn more tickets. And if someone sees someone getting a ticket for something they usually try to do what they are doing immediately.
Give those tickets out like they’re free!
There is no harm in anyone having too many tickets for making good choices.
Reward Ideas
When I thought about the reward I wanted to give, I thought long and hard. I’ve done treasure boxes, free rewards, and other things, but I knew I wanted it to be something that would benefit their learning.
I came up with the idea of books.
Here’s our box of books that I keep filled with our favorites: Fly Guy, Piggie & Elephant, Henry & Mudge, really anything they like.
I have done several Donors Choose projects to get even more awesome books for them to choose from. You can see those projects >>HERE<<. I love the idea of books because they are so excited to get to take one home to keep and it helps their learning.
Some of my students don’t really need books, but a lot do and that’s why I chose to give them out. So far, I’ve done this for 2 years and none of my kids have EVER complained about getting a book. As long as they are favorites and engaging, they love them.
Besides books, you could do a treasure box or some other reward they choose from like: super supplies, hat day, chew gum, extra recess, extra iPad time, etc.
Whatever you come up with, I’m sure your kids will love it. So there you have it, the best and EASIEST behavior system ever! Do you have a behavior system that you LOVE? Please email me >>HERE<< and let me know. I’m always looking for ones to add to my toolbox and suggest to others. That’s all I have for you today, as always, please share and pin for others to see.
This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase. This helps me continue writing this blog and providing you with teaching tips and ideas. Thank you! 
