I was wondering about how to deal with prevalent gum chewing. In my school it is a big no no. We catch them and they have to spit out, and on and on and on. I'm tired of stopping the class and asking them "Are you chewing gum," "Please spit that out," "If it happens again you have lunch detention," and so on so forth. Is there a way to finally discourage them from even thinking about chewing gum in my class room? Would the practice cards help in some way?

Congratulations!

You've discovered the beauty of Practice Cards and Rule 5, "Keep your dear teacher happy!" First thing to do is to have three kids "pretend" to chew gum. You "pretend" like you are teaching, go get a practice card for Rule 5 and slip it into their card pocket chart. Then explain that if a child even looks like they are chewing gum, they get a Rule 5 card ... as the year goes on, of course, you increase the penalty from two minutes of practicing a rule at recess to three mintues and so forth. We created Rule 5 for exactly these kinds of situations ... you don't need a rule for every type of negative behavior. Rule 5 is one size fits everything.

Your the name Biffle - I'll let you know how it goes. God bless, Marc Conley.