The Power of the Plink

It's all about positive reinforcement in my classroom.  Yeah, I have a behavior chart, but I'd rather reward the good behavior and have the kiddos want to be on their best behavior than discipline the unruly ones.  Not that I don't do both.  I'm just saying how I feel...

So, behavior wise I have a lot of positive reinforcement going on that I love for my class.  We've gotten it all started the past 4 days, and it's working so well.  My class has been staying on green (well, almost all of them).      So, what am I doing?
*Tickets for individual praise
*Team Points (glass gems in a cup) for group praise
*Warm Fuzzies for whole class praise
*Mystery Hero
So, what's with the power of the plink?  When the class has been doing any independent work coming off of summer, they start to chat.  I think it's in their DNA.  I'm not against chatting as long as they are moving forward with their work and as long as other students are still able to concentrate.  It's when students start getting distracted that I have an issue with it.  
So, PLINK!
I drop a glass gem into the plastic cup and the sound echoes throughout the classroom.  In past years I have used tally marks on the whiteboard - it works too, but that doesn't have the sound aspect to it.  A drop of the glass bead into a plastic cup that happens to be positioned on the metal whiteboard tray gives off a lovely noise that stops the chatterers in their tracks.  
You can almost see their minds start to whirl with questions - "Who won the gem?"  With the immediate follow up thought of - "I want one too."  It's such a little thing that has made a big difference this week in my classroom. 
Happy Moments!