Behaviour Management

It's been months since I last posted. I've written on my class blog, our kidblog and have done a lot of tweeting... but I've neglected my own personal blog. Now is the time to get this up and running again.

I've realized that the posts I put on our class blog could go into so much more detail and I should be doing that here. 

I have a challenging class this year. They have challenged me in the way that I teach. Sometimes it feels like September everyday, reviewing routines and structure. Then I remember what September was really like and realize how much my students have grown!

Today I started a classroom/behaviour management strategy. I don't like to always put these in place, because I like students to WANT to do well in class, not because they get something. HOWEVER... I also realize that I need to teach to my students' needs and we need to do something, so I will try this!

I've done a lot of searching and reading and talking lately and have come up with this solution right now. I'm creating a class goal that we will work on for a few weeks (or however long it takes to get it). When they show me the appropriate behaviour, they'll get a fuzzy to put into a jar. Once the jar is full, we'll have a celebration. Today we brainstormed celebrations. They got so excited thinking of the possibilities. Their ideas were very creative! Some suggestions were: a popcorn party, movie, extra art time, free time, outside time, pizza party, a trampoline party (at someone's house!), and even extra writing time.

Our first goal is to work on coming to the carpet quickly and quietly, ready to learn. In order to get my students to understand this goal - we discussed what it looks like and sounds like and took a picture of them doing it the right way. I posted the list and picture on our easel (at their eye level when sitting) so it should help them with the goal. 

I've done some research into the Clip Behaviour Chart - where each student is responsible for their own behaviour. Each day they start at "ready to learn" and have go up or down, depending on their choices. 
The tricky part with something like this, is managing it without it becoming onerous and eventually neglecting it. I want something that can work that can keep everyone is our class accountable. I have a few students that struggle with this and feel this might help.

I would love your suggestions. What has worked in your class? Do you have a behaviour management strategy that works?