Super Improvers Team

Last year I tried using the clip chart that is famous on Pinterest. I've seen it in a lot of classrooms in my district. It wasn't for me. I liked certain aspects, but not others. I liked that I could recognize students for their achievements, but it got to be a hassle to ask someone to move their clip up. It disrupted the flow of the lesson. I don't know. I just didn't like it.

This year I'm using the Super Improvers Team from Whole Brain Teaching. 

To set it up, get 10 different colored sheets of paper. Create different levels. I went with a sports theme since it was in the book, and also the name of the system has "team" in it. Other themes could be related to science terms, colors, be creative! I just used the paper that was available in the office. I used left over name plates for each level. Then you cut paper for each student that matches the color of the first level. The book says to use a half sheet and put the students' names on the paper. I used a quarter sheet and put their student numbers on the paper. This is what it looked like before school started.

This is what it looked like last week. I've added the rest of my WBT cards. You can see some stars on student's cards already. For each academic and behavioral improvement, I put a star on that student's card. When they get 10 stars, they move up to the next level. One of my students has nine stars. When she reaches 10, I'll take down her card, write a quick note home about how she's improving at school on the back of the card, and put up the new color for the next level. I've awarded stars for improvements in keeping shoes on, Rocket Math improvements, tidier desks, whatever!

When I check their notebooks, I write notes to them.

When they make an improvement, I stick a star inside. Then they put the star on their card.

So far, I am loving the SIT. The kids are liking it, too. You can only go up, I control the star distribution, and the kids look for ways to improve.