Weekly Behavior Logs

In an earlier post, I referenced the fact that I use weekly behavior monitoring logs to communicate children's behavior with their parents, in addition to helping to keep kids accountable. I thought I'd go into a little more detail here, as well as provide you with a copy (with English and Spanish on one sheet!) of the format that I use.

I store all the behavior logs on the back of a door in my classroom, so that they are visible and accessible at all times. If my kids are having some issues getting themselves together, I can walk over to the door and pick up the stamper. That usually helps to modify some behaviors pretty quickly.  :)

The front part of the sheet is basically just a grid, with the each day broken up into sections. Based on the students' behavior during a given period, they either receive a happy face or a sad face. You can use a marker or pen to draw the faces, but it can get time consuming. I use a self-inking happy face stamp that I found at my local teacher supply store; I've found it's the fastest way to get the job done.

On Fridays, I take all of the sheets down and fill out the backs while my students get some free time (it's a win-win for all of us!).  I usually write a very short note (1-2 sentences) about the child's behavior to the parents. The form also includes a place to indicate what related services they've received that week and how they are doing in each subject. I like that I'm able to communicate with parents each week, and it's not super time consuming. It also covers my you-know-what so that parents can't say I'm not keeping them informed about what's happening with their child at school.

Unfortunately, I was only able to upload the weekly behavior log file to Google Docs as a PDF, so you won't be able to modify it. I copy the two sheets back to back, and then cut them in half to save on paper, so each printed page makes two behavior logs. You can download it as is here, but if you need to change it to suit your needs (like if you don't have recess or you need three sections in the afternoon, etc.), shoot me a note in the comments and I'll try to make a version that works for you.

Happy monitoring!

Behavior Post-It Notes

I was so excited when I found this Post-It template on Pinterest (originally posted by Melanie at SugarDoodle- check it out here), that I actually screamed. Out loud. Which kind of annoyed the Hubs, and definitely scared the Pup. But I couldn't help myself.

For years (and I mean YEARS!), I have been looking for a way to quickly notify parents of their child's behavior on a daily basis. I haven't yet found any commercial sites or teacher supply stores that sell exactly what I need. For a while, I would send home daily behavior logs with comments for parents to sign and return each day. This obviously had a few obstacles. For one, it took FOR.EV.ER. Secondly, most parents didn't send them back daily, and so I basically made a bajillion extra copies and couldn't keep tabs on how the kids were doing over the course of the week.

Last year,  I started weekly behavior logs instead, which works much better from a management standpoint. I can monitor kids week-long behavior, and parents can find out how their kids did during the week on Friday afternoons. But for many parents, this wasn't enough. They wanted to know how their child did everyday. For a while, I gave stickers to the kids who did well, so their parents would see the sticker and know that their child behaved. Then I had one genius little stinker who began stealing stickers from other kids, peeling them off of walls, and soliciting from the bus driver so he could trick his mom. And they say SpecialEd kids are slow. Right!

So when I came across this template, I  pretty much died. And then I knew exactly what I would use them for: to create daily, mini behavior logs. I purposely made them extraordinarily simple, and left out a comment section. I plan to store these with a pen on a little clipboard by the door, so I can circle a face and slap them onto the child's homework folder on the way out.  Follow the directions below to make your own!