School Rules… For Top Dogs…

School Rules…

For Top Dogs…

Over the years, we have tried some different behavior plans.  Through trial and error, we have created our own plan that we have found really engages the preschool brain.  It starts by introducing two characters.  One character is the “good guy” and one character is the “bad guy”.  For example, in the Top Dogs Class, we have Chip the Wonder Dog, and Awful Augie. We have pictures of them on our “behavior board” and use different adjectives to describe their character during class daily.  Then, the teachers talk about different scenarios the characters end up in.

Also, in the Top Dogs Class, we will use the HOW I ACT chart.  Each letter stands for a behavior we would like the students to steer clear from.  The behaviors are as follows:  H-Hullabaloo, O-Out of Order, W-Whining, I-Intentional disobedience, A-Attitude, C-Clowning around, and T-touching each other, tattling and throwing.  Through the school year, we will  use our classroom characters to act out appropriate classroom behavior, as well as the behaviors on the HOW I ACT chart.  For example, the students viewed how Chip the Wonder Dog walked with slow steps, a controlled body, and no sound to the rainbow rug and sat down like a pretzel. (criss-cross applesauce)  The students also viewed Awful Augie run, yell, scream, bump into people, jump in a bean bag, knock over books, and cause a big ruckus and commotion when dismissed from the snack table to the rainbow rug.  We then compared and contrasted the behavior, and discussed which behavior was appropriate school behavior.

Next, we talk about choices and that the choices we make have a consequence.  It could be a positive consequence, like a stamp at the end of the day, or a negative consequence, like time in a  thinking chair, that we affectionately call the dog house.  We also look at our How Am I Doing chart that has every student’s picture on it.  Every student  has a dog ball and a dog bone. If a student is not following one of the class rules, they start by “losing” their dog bone, which is just a reminder to make good choices.  If the behavior continues, the student loses their dog ball, which means no stamp at the end of the day, but still a hug.  We still love them, but do not love the choices they are making.  Finally, if poor choices continue the student in placed in the dog house, or thinking chair, to think more about their behavior choices.  Everyday is a fresh start with receiving their dog bone and dog ball back, and a reminder to make good choices.

During “D” week, we read the book by David Shannon, called “No, David”.  We talk about the choices David made and the consequences of them.  We also discussed how even though David made some bad decisions, his mom still loved him, but not his behavior.  We applied this to our classroom and explained to the students that we would still love them even though they may make a bad behavior choice.  Throughout the school day, we will be reminding students to act like Chip the Wonder Dog and not like Awful Augie.

We also love to reward good behavior by allowing students to pick items out of our “Top Dog Treats” jar, which is filled with lots of fun toys and gadgets which preschoolers love!

Finally, we teach out Top Dogs to “Stop, Think and Act”.  If they are tempted to make a bad choice, we ask them to try to Stop what they are doing, Think about they are doing/want to do, and then Act out a good choice.  We teach this through the Preschool Pal books.