Free Santa Behavior Chart to Keep Students on Track!

For a short month, December can sure be full of distractions for young kindergarten students! From excitement about decorations around the school to wishlist discussions with their friends, it can be tricky to keep students motivated to do their jobs. In this post, I’m going to share a free Santa behavior chart that you can use to keep learning on track in your classroom all month long.

3 Reasons to Use a Behavior Chart in December

A whole-group behavior chart is an excellent classroom management tool all year round, but it’s especially helpful in December! Here are just three of many reasons:

• Cut Through Distractions: There are so many seasonal distractions in the classroom during the month of December. As winter break creeps closer, it can start to feel like you’re competing with more and more schedule disruptions. A behavior chart is an easy way to grab your students’ attention with positive recognition!
• Get Back to Basics: By the time December rolls around, the “honeymoon period” is definitely over when it comes to student behavior. This is a great time to bring your classroom management back to the basics for a bit of a reset. Focus on foundational behavior goals that will help your students get back on track.
• Improve Classroom Community: As winter break approaches, students are usually ready to take a break from each other. You can almost feel the tension in the air! A whole-group incentive is a great way to encourage teamwork and improve classroom community.

How to Use the Santa Behavior Chart

I wanted to share a free behavior chart that you can use to encourage positive behavior choices during the month of December. This Santa behavior chart is a fun way to add a bit of festivity to your classroom while improving behavior at the same time! 

Keep reading as I walk you through the details of how you can implement this simple reward system in your own classroom. You’ll see that it really doesn’t take much effort to put together a classroom management tool that will make your life easier during this jam-packed month!

1. Prep the Materials

The first step is to prep the pieces of your behavior incentive chart. You can laminate them for durability, then find a place to keep the pieces until they’re ready to be used. I like to put the incentive on a bulletin board and then put the pieces in an envelope nearby. This makes it easy to use throughout the day!

2. Identify a Target Behavior

The next step is to identify a behavior that would be most helpful to target during this time of year. Are your students extra chatty with all of the seasonal excitement? Set a goal to work quietly. Are they having trouble focusing on their work? You could choose a goal that encourages students to do their jobs.

No matter what behavior you choose to target, be sure to communicate your expectations to your students. Explain to them why you chose the goal you did and keep it visible so students can be reminded of what they’re working on.

3. Choose a Reward

After identifying a target behavior, it’s time to choose a reward that will motivate your students to stay on track. Try to choose a simple reward that’s easy to follow through with during this busy time of year. It doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive! A little bit of extra recess or a dance party at the end of the day can go a long way in keeping students excited about working toward a reward with their behavior choices.

4. Consistently Recognize Positive Behavior

The next step is to build the reward one piece at a time. As students exhibit the target behavior, you can choose someone to add a piece to Santa. I don’t suggest waiting for the entire class to display the target behavior at exactly the same time. This can open the door for attention-seeking students to sabotage the whole-class reward.

Instead, look for individual students who are displaying the target behavior. Take a moment to acknowledge the student’s good choice and then invite them to choose a piece to add to the incentive chart.

The key to an effective whole-class behavior incentive is to consistently recognize students who are displaying the target behavior. This keeps the class goal top-of-mind for both you and your class! Try to display your Santa behavior chart in a convenient location that will remind you to actually use it!

5. Reward and Repeat

Another important part of a behavior incentive is to be consistent and reliable when it comes time to give students their reward. Try to reward your class as soon as realistically possible after they earn it. This will help you keep up the momentum of your whole-class reward system! When students don’t get to enjoy their reward until the end of the week, it’s not quite as motivating for them to work toward it.

Once students have earned their reward, you can disassemble the Santa, choose a different goal and reward, then try again! You can repeat this process as often as you need to help your students stay on track until winter break.

Free Santa Behavior Chart

I have put together a freebie that you can use to keep student behavior in check during the month of December. It comes with two different skin tones for Santa, as well as all of the other visuals you need to remind your students of what they are working toward. Just fill out your information below and I’ll send the Santa behavior chart straight to your inbox!

Save This Santa Behavior Incentive

Be sure to save this post so you can find this freebie whenever you need it! Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to quickly find this Santa behavior chart when you’re looking for a way to keep your students on track until winter break!