Rewards

Something that I revamped this year (largely thanks to Pinterest) is my rewards system. I don't believe  children should be rewarded for doing what is expected, but I do think it is acceptable to reward those who have exhibited exceptional behavior and/or those who make good choices. In my class, I like to acknowledge students both individually and as a team (meaning how well they work together in their table groups, but I wasn't really happy with the way I had been recognizing the great things my kids had been doing. 

For individual students, I used to do a ticket system where students were given a ticket for either great behavior or great choices. They'd write their name on the back of the ticket, place the ticket in a jar, and on Fridays, I'd draw three tickets at random. Then, those three kids could either pick a prize out of a prize box or eat lunch with me in the classroom. I was never in love with that system, but I did it because when I first started teaching, that's what everyone else on my team was doing, so I followed suit. My two main complaints about that particular system were that (a) even if a student had earned a ticket because of their good choice/behavior, if I didn't pull their ticket on Friday, then that meant they'd actually earned nothing at all, and (b) my prize box was full of CRAP (think McDonald's toys and candy). I wanted to continue recognizing the great things my students do, but I definitely wanted an alternative to what I had been doing, and this summer I found the answers I was looking for.

First, I found this link via Pinterest (unfortunately,  I have no idea whose blog it actually came from - the original pinner didn't link back to the source!), and I immediately knew I could make that work for me. My crafty aunt had just given me a big box full of old craft supplies, and a bunch of fun shaped punchers (like this one) were included. So, I whipped up my own little punch card, printed a bunch on cardstock, and was able to start this system on the very first day of school. Kids will get a punch on their card for anything that I think goes above and beyond normal expectations, or if they are repeatedly doing something right when other students aren't (like saying thank you, for example - manners are a BIG deal to me!). However, just as Ron Clark says (among the many great things he's said!), a student will definitely NOT get a punch if they ask for one.

To download my version of the punch card, go here:

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B4VyzwufKsuuYTk2YjEwYjYtNzY5Yy00NjhmLTg3ZmQtMDg2ZWM3N2IxNmIy&hl=en_US

I also like to reward teams who were working really well together, treating each other fairly and respectfully, helping out when they can, etc. When I saw a table group doing these things, they'd receive a tally on the board next to their group name, and once they had five tallies, they got to pick a prize. This system didn't really bother me, but when I saw this (again, via Pinterest - God bless whoever invented that site!), I thought it'd be way more fun that boring old tallies on the board.

Barrel of Monkeys! I've always had group signs hanging above my table groups, so I knew incorporating the hanging monkeys would be easy. It's a great visual for my kids, and you should hear the way they talk about those monkeys! A parent even told me that her son came home one day and started hanging his own Barrel of Monkeys from a hanging plant on their porch! (She told me at first, when he was explaining "It's just like Ms. Reynolds does at school!" she was thinking, ummmm what?! Ha!) Once a table group earns five monkeys, they get to pick their reward, the monkeys get removed, and they start over. But, if one group earns their five monkeys before another group, it doesn't mean everyone starts over; each group works individually until they can meet their goal of earning five monkeys.

**Also, just in case you were wondering, my table groups have space-related names. We are Ms. Reynolds' Rockets (have I told y'all I love space? because I do), so I came up with six group names that tie in to the space theme: Shooting Stars, Comets, Asteroids, Galaxies, Nebulas, and Novas. Those names hang above each table group, and this year JJ helped make them better by finding images that match each name, so on the front, each group name is displayed, and on the back, there is a picture of that thing so the kids can see what it actually looks like. (And I know that technically the plural of nebula /nova is nebulae/novae, but I wasn't sure if the ae plural form would mesh well with my kiddos, and my version is easier to say!)**

Anyway, on to the rewards! Like I said before, my prize box in previous years was just a bunch of junk. One year I actually bought come cool prizes, but that ended up being way too expensive to maintain, so back to the picked over junk pile we went. Even with occasional parent donations, most of what we ended up with in the prize box were fast food toys and candy, so towards the end of the year, most of the kids were choosing lunch with me, and who could blame them? I really wanted to make my rewards more fun and meaningful, so this summer, I decided I was going to have a pencil/pen prize option or lunch with me. I started buying fun pencils and colored pens to begin a good collection, and then I stumbled upon this genius idea: a rewards book. All of her options for rewards were fun, and better yet, they were free! Some of her ideas I had never even considered given how easy they are, and after reading all the comments on her post, I found even more ideas to incorporate! I made my book (called Rocket Rewards) and used clear page protectors to hold the pages in a small binder. Having this book as a reminder has already worked extremely well for our class. As soon students get their punch card filled or their table group earns five monkeys, they can look through the book and make their choice. If they're cashing in a reward based on a punch card, they write their choice on the back of the card and give it to me so I can keep track of who wants what (and then I return the card to them after their prize has been redeemed so they can share their success with their parents); if they're choosing a reward based on table group points, I'll just make a list on a Post-It so I can be sure everyone gets their choice.

To see download my list of rewards, click below:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B4VyzwufKsuuOTYxNzViNTEtYWQ1OC00ZDRmLTllY2EtNzNlZWY4NGE3MjNl&hl=en

I hope these ideas can provide you with some inspiration on how to incorporate rewards into your classroom! How do you do rewards in your class?

**Also: if anyone has any advice on how to embed documents within a blog post, I'd be especially grateful! Every time I upload the embedded link, all that posts is the giant URL. How are y'all getting your documents embedded? Help!!**