Mellow Yellow

The first month of 1st grade (for Aidan) and Kindergarten (for Clare) is coming to an end. Everything is going GREAT! Now anyone who has a child in public school in the state of Maryland is aware of the behavioral chart they use. It's essentially based on a traffic light. Some schools add more colors but it's basically all the same concept.

Here at Mayo Elementary we use the standard tri-color light, kind of like the peppers in the grocery store. You know:

Green = GO (good behavior)
Yellow = SLOW (verbal warning)
Red = STOP (principal's office)

So far both of them have been on green everyday and then- bam! Within 4 days they each were on yellow once!

Clare's behavioral chart came home last Friday (which means I didn't look at it til Sunday) and it had a yellow check on it for that day. Under the check mark was a note that said, "Clare stuck her tongue out at the boy next to her because she didn't like what he was doing." After a nice little chuckle, I approached Clare about said yellow check mark. It went a little something like this, "Clare why did you get on yellow?" She immediately starts crying and says she's sorry! he he!

Fast forward to Tuesday afternoon, Aidan's chart comes home yellow. The 1st graders have to color in the daily box themselves. When asked WHY he was on yellow, he responded, "Oh I was fooling around with HF." UGH! "Great well now you miss the dance party on Friday." The 1st grade gets a dance party the last 5 minutes of school on Friday for everyone who stays green all week. His response, "That's okay, the dance party isn't that long anyway." (Great so now he's adopting the I don't care-i-tude."

At dinner that night I simply said, "Okay guys, you both know how the behavioral charts work right?! Well, you each got your one and only time on yellow. It won't happen again this year!"

"Okay Mom!"