A Sliding Scale of Encouragement

My daughter showed me this wonderful system of rewards and sanctions for a classroom, but it can easily be adapted for home use:

Set up a scale that begins in the middle with READY TO LEARN.  Then add steps going up that read GOOD DAY, GREAT JOB, and OUTSTANDING.  Add steps going down that read THINK ABOUT IT, IMPROVEMENT TIME, and PARENT CONTACT.  Either give each child his or her own sign or create a classroom sign large enough to accommodate all students.

Create a clothespin with the child's name on it.  At the beginning of each day, every child starts at READY TO LEARN.  As he or she does something remarkable, you clip the pin higher.  As he or she does something less admirable, move the clip lower.  At the end of the day if the child is at READY TO LEARN or higher, he or she earns a star on the chart.

What I like about this system is that if a child messes up at 10:00 am, causing the clip to go down, he has the rest of the day to redeem himself.  This prevents the child from giving up early in the day because of one misdemeanor.

To implement this at home, simply change the wording on the scale to suit your family situation.

Happy Teaching!  Here is a link to the source: http://www.newmanagement.com/ebooks/pdf/clip_chart_ebook.pdf