Our school publishes a "Code of Rights, Responsibilities, and Conduct" booklet with a section for students, one for teachers, and one for parents. It gets sent home every year and parents have to sign a form saying they received it (and, hopefully, read it). Behavior expectations, consequences, and disciplinary procedures are clearly spelled out.

A lot of the rights are soft and subjective (be respected, be able to appropriately express opinions), but some are quite clear (students can't chew gum, run in the halls, bring walkmen or radios into the school.)

Beyond that, a lot of teachers (at least for the younger grades) spend time early on setting up a list of maybe 5 "good behavior" rules for that classroom. The kids participate in setting up the rules. This year, my son's teacher included points to be added for good behaviors, and points to be subtracted for bad behaviors. She set up a list of rewards based on an accumulation of points.

My son was quite excited the other day. His class reached their first milestone, and the first reward is an outdoor class game. I think the next reward is extra recess, and the highest reward is an ice cream party. What comes after that, who knows? I'm sure my son secretly hopes they'll get an extra-long summer vacation!

We do something similar to some of the other ideas. We call it Character ED and each month we have a character that gets taught in the class that the kids work on. EX. self discipline, honesty, responsiblity. etc. We do plays about ways of using each character in everyday lives and at school. We also have special passes if your caught using one of the characters you can use it for a special prize from the pricipals prize box.

I would also mabye looking into getting helpers for the school and the classrooms when problems arise their is someone else to help out.

GOod Luck

Cindy

Our school does the Positive Behavior interventions and supports system (PBIS) our group actually has a huge part in the behavior incentives with our school store that only takes coupons that the kids need to earn. we also do alot in other ways to help promote this program!

At our school, each teacher can choose to run their own incentive program and most do. I have been known to donate special homemade goodies when classes meet big goals.
As a school, we run a compliment card program. It is a reward given when a class is good or has accomplished something that another staff member has seen. When a class gets 25 cards, they get a popcorn party. We have a popcorn machine and the PTO pays for the supplies, less than $100 a year. Most classes get 2-4 a year. We have a few other things that go one, but this one is the simplest and every child is willing to be good to work for it in addition to the things their teachers offer individually.

All smiles, Our district does the C.H.A.M.P.s program. Some others can probably give you more detail than me but what little I've got to be at the elementary school it has made a big difference already even though is supposed to be a gradual process. I think a school not far from you is doing this program also. I am not sure what county the school is in. There is books that you can purchase with the guidelines of this program. Our PTO was going to purchase one for each teaching team but SBDM stepped in and paid for that.

Yes our PTO and SBDM has helped with behavior incentives. When my oldest was in pre-k the teachers gave out certifs of those that were caught being good. At the end of the day the kids that received a small goody bag and drew a number. The principal had a bingo type board fixed up. The child's name was written on a number. When bingo was made those kids in the column or row got to eat with the principal. I am thinking PTO paid for the goodies. For all of our fun day and such, behavior is stressed.

You could also fund parties every so often from a system set up similiar to the one I described. A child can have a sticker card and when they fill that up then they may participate in a PTO sponsored party each month or so.

We have a behavior contest in the lunchroom. Not sure how it works but the two winning rooms get to do a dodgeball tourney.

I am a BIG advocate of the Make Your Day program ( www.makeyerday.com ).
As a kindergarten parent entering our school, I scoffed at the idea that a school would need to implement a program of this nature. Now, as a second grade parent, I can't talk highly enough about the success of the program. The kids want to "make their day".
You might want to check the site out and offer it as a solution.
Kelley
Madison PTO
Mount Vernon, WA