The Brown Bag Teacher

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A PBIS Idea: Positive Notes Home

Happy Sunday, friends! Today I wanted to quickly stop by to share one of my favorite notepads and a simple, no frills way to keep track of which students have received a positive note.

Since opening 4 years ago, our school has used PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention and Supports) as a school-wide system for setting expectations and managing behavior. (Read more about PBIS whole-class rewards our school uses here.)

What is PBIS? Why?

As a part of PBIS, we have a school guideline of 5:1 positive to negative interactions when working with students *and* staff. These positive interactions can come in the form of a high-five, a smile, a cheer, a note, a phone call, or so many other things. One of my favorite ways to praise students is a hand-written note. At the end of the day, I’ll slip the note into a Home Folder and my friends’ faces *light* up. If they can’t read it themselves, they love asking me what it says…even if they can read it themselves, it adds to the excitement if your teacher reads it to you! #ohtobesix

Tracking Notes Sent Home

To help make sure all of my friends receive some type of written praise every 2-3 weeks, I attach a class list to the back of my notepads, boxes of cards, and sticky notes. Then, when a write a note, I turn over the notepad and put a date or a check.

On my “A Note from My Teacher” pad, I write the dates so I see how frequently a student received a note. Since a sticky note is a lot smaller (and most of the time written on the fly as I see something great throughout the day), I use checks and dots. Checks are positive notes and dots are “Today ______ struggled with ___________. I know tomorrow we will _________!”

Printing Your Own Notepads

I designed the above “A Note from my Teacher” notepad and had it printed at UPrinting in the 4” x 6” size, 100 sheets to a pad. I snagged enough for my team and a few blogging friends. For 30 seconds, I considered selling/shipping them, but honestly, there are not enough hours in the day. Plus, I *hate* the Post Office…just about as much as I dislike Voicemail.
If you are interested in printing your own notes, you can snag a PDF version here. You are interested in the Class List grid you can snag them here. If you would like to print your own notepads, you can snag the image here. (Please know this image is for personal use only. You may not see this image or anything created with this image!)

How do you track positive notes? I’m always looking to streamline my systems and would love to hear your ideas! If you are interested in other FREE classroom resources, you can sign-up here for teaching freebies to land in your inbox every month and check out other ways I reach-out to families here.

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Comments

  1. Ashley Weiss says

    Love love love this idea. You're so on top of this! I send one positive postcard home a quarter. I address them in the summer so the tedious part is done and then I know who hasn't received one.

    Reply

    • Sara says

      I do the same but print of my kiddos names/addresses on labels. I have positive postcards that I send home and like Ashley said, I put the label on ahead of time so I can always tell who still needs one sent out. Once I get through everyone once, I start over again. Of course I still send extras here and there as needed.

      Reply

  5. Katie Kubski says

    I just ADORE this idea! My co-teacher and I are always looking for ways to praise students for the little and big things they do throughout the day and week. Currently, we use Class Dojo for our behavior management system. It has made it a lot easier to shoot parents a note to tell them the great things their child has been doing, but I think that being able to walk in with a tangible, "fridge-worthy" note makes such a difference.

    Thanks for sharing! My co-teacher and I still love following you, even though you no longer teach fifth grade, thanks for all the ideas!

    Reply

  9. Kayla says

    2-3 happy notes has been my (mostly successful) goal so far this year. my kids have loved it so much! starting tomorrow im also incorporating happy bracelets for them to wear. there are lots of good freebies on tpt!

    Reply

    • Kayla says

      they say something like "i am a great writer", "i am a kind friend", or "i was a great listener all day". i am handing them out at our closing meeting (which is new this quarter – we need that reflection time!). i wanted to do brag tags, but honestly, that was too much to manage right now (maybe a goal for next year). the bracelets are perfect – easy to manage, easy to keep track of on a checklist, and motivating. i handed out the first ones today and my kids loved them!

      Reply

  10. Philicia Mollere says

    To be totally honest- yes brutally honest, I have been so overwhelmed with a new school, new grades, all subjects, could go on forever- anyway- that I have NOT been doing this. I am starting tomorrow. I plan on getting back with you to report how I am going to track this. I am thinking of using a post it template, or getting pads made with student names- going to talk about it with my paras tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me- I need to slow down, and remember what's important.

    Reply

  15. Mrs. Frost says

    I have a daily sunshine award as part of my afternoon meeting. It is a sunshine notepad and I choose one student who has brought sunshine to our classroom for the day. To recognize students in the moment I have a warm fuzzy jar. Students who show expected behavior earn the class a warm fuzzy and when the jar is full the whole class earns a reward.

    Reply

  16. Linda Groce says

    I love this!! What a great organizational resource for sending home positive notes and I've enjoyed reading all of the replies to get more ideas!! Thanks, Catherine!!

    Reply

  18. kdgunter says

    Thank you for sharing your idea! I am a new teacher, and I have been looking for ways to address positive behavior. Can't wait to start using these tomorrow!! 🙂

    Reply

  20. Erin says

    I teach 2nd and we do "shout outs" every Friday – the kids LOVE IT! I highlight their name when they get a shout out and try to make sure they get at least 2 a month. Thanks for the template!

    Reply

  23. Tami says

    My school also uses PBIS and we have 2 positive interactions. 1 is Gotcha tickets, a small token of appreciation for good behavior and Ranger recognitions (our mascot is Rangers). One of our office ladies keeps track how many and which students receive these on a monthly basis. We as a class keep track how many Gotcha tickets are turned in monthly and when we have met our monthly goal the entire school gets free dress.

    Reply

  24. Crystal says

    Do you have the “Note from a teacher” in an editable form? I would love to add/change some of the things that are already written on the note.

    Reply

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