I think it is a discipline system, @CWOTUS. You give a card to a student as a reminder that they are not behaving appropriately. Like a yellow card would be a warning before giving a red card. The red card would mean stop immediately. Other colors would mean they lose a privelege or go to the principal’s office.
I walked into my son’s third grade class just before Christmas one year. His teacher was sitting at her desk bawling her eyes out while the classroom was erupting in the last day of school before Christmas break chaos. I was beyond shocked. I yelled in a loud voice for everyone to get in their seats…NOW!
My son and his friends, who were the instigators in all things funny trouble, looked like the cat that had eaten the canary. It took me about ten seconds to straighten their butts out. I then proceeded to tell them to sit tight while I went and got the principal.
Those boys were good kids. They just knew the teacher was weak. Too weak for them anyway. They would have used those cards as airplanes or swords if they’d been given out for their unacceptable behavior. It would have been like giving an inmate something to use to make a shank.