Behavior Management - Pocket Pets for Positive Behavior Reinforcement

When I need to reinforce positive relationships with students, I have several methods I turn to.  There is no perfect Positive Behavior Reinforcement.  I tend to have 3-4 throughout the year to keep things fresh and I just understand that some things will work and others won't work with particular groups of students.

Also, doing this helps me to refocus on what is going well instead of how far we need to go.

We did it in three stages.  First students had to earn each stage by filling a page full of good behavior rewards.  Sometimes I do it for the entire small group or class, and others I do individually depending on what students and the class needs.  After the page is all the way full on one side, they would earn a small box for their pet to live in.  Then students had to fill another page full and earn food so their pets would be safe and fed when they got them.  Finally students filled out a final page for earning their pets with.  I let my students earn two once, and just one another time.  

In the beginning, I make sure to fawn and praise every teensy little good thing students do right.  Then as a few days go by, and students are independently excited about which pet they are going too pick I start to taper off on the praise.  Finally, about the time when students are earning their pets in the third stage, I reward with a dabber dot more and more randomly, awarding someone a pet only when I see that I have perhaps pushed it as far as they are able to tolerate.  Then when we finish, students are happily behaving well, I am in the better habit of noticing positive things, and we can phase out of the behavior management for a bit.

First I bought eraser Pocket Pets.  They look like this:

They can be found here.  They were $17 with a $2 coupon (making them $15) for 60.  Last year more than half my students chose not to take their pets home with them so I recycled almost all of those and I had about 45 left for this year.

Then I bought food and houses for the Pocket Pets to live in in student cubbies.

 

Our box full of pet "houses" which can be found here if you wish.  I use the other smaller box cases for pieces of centers.  Students first earned a house for their pets.

This is eraser food which students had to earn before they earned their pets.  It can be found here at $10 for 30 pieces. 

 

One Inch Graphing Paper This is nice and big, and fits a dabber circle in it perfectly.  We filled in one side of the paper all the way up to earn one phase.

Dab and Dot Markers These have gone up $2 since I bought them in 2018, but they work well and still have good reviews

 

We kept some papers to be proud of in a binder, and we sent the rest home.  I sent those home with my newsletter explaining what they were prior.

When the program is finished, students just keep their pets in their desks.  If reviewing this program works, I do two pets or two food items, etc.

There you have it!  Hopefully that is helpful for you.  We haven't even put a dent in any of it and it's well into the second year so the supplies were an smaller investment than I had thought.  Good luck!  Have fun with and enjoy your students.  It's the best way.