Kriston,
In general, I agree with the idea of natural consequences. That's pretty much how I do things at home. And I know that your examples of clapping erasers and not getting to use your favorite color are just examples. The little punks at our school would laugh at a consequence like that! If kids are routinely yelled at and whupped on the behind as a form of discipline at home, timeouts and changing colored cards at school are just not going to make an impression. This is a tough crowd...
It's really an intractable problem which takes so much time and energy away from actually learning anything.
I like the idea of service consequences. I don't think the school will go for it, though, because it would require too much teacher supervision and possible school liability. They only have resources to punish en masse.
