Teacher Tuesday: Rewards

This week it's all about the rewards. I'm pretty sure this is every kids favorite part. Most of my students think they should be rewarded for everything. Not so fast there slick!

I've tried several different reward methods but only a few have actually stuck. I tried Beth Newingham's Classroom Economy for a year but it was a fail. It was just too much for me to keep up with, especially when I don't see my class all day. I still adore Beth Newingham!! {check her out if you haven't...she's seriously amazing}

When deciding how rewards go in the 4th grade we all used a clip chart.

My personal image made on Photoshop & printed out by Vista Print

How To Use: Each student starts their clip (clothespin) on "Keep up the great work" every day. Through out the day they can move it up or down. If they end up on "Noon detention" on Monday, then Tuesday morning they go back to purple. However, if a student moves their clip to "Wow" it can stay there until we ask them to move it, which it would go on to purple.

Reward: The only reward with this chart is that if a student is on "Wow" at the end of the week. If you land on "Wow" on Friday (not matter how many days you've been there), you will earn two tickets. I often do this more times than just Fridays for those kiddos who have a great day on Tuesday but maybe have to move their clip on Wednesday.

Overall: Even though all of the 4th grade teachers have a clip chart, we do not all do it the exact same way. Only two of us give out tickets and some don't even have "Wow". However, we all follow the same disciple format of "first warning", "noon", etc. While it works for our team it may not work for everyone.

**note: Noon detention is not the entire noon recess. We usually give them 10-15 minutes at the end so they can still run around and get out some of their energy**

Next year I am moving to 5th grade. They do not use they clip chart as a team; instead they "punch cards". I'm not quite sure how this all works yet, but I know rewards include a pizza party at the end of the year.

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How To Use: As I said above, I pass out tickets to those students who have moved their clips to "Wow". I also pass out tickets to students who come into the classroom and get to work right away. It's so easy for them to get off task or want to have social hour after coming back from recess. Tickets have been a great incentive for them. 

Tickets are also use as payment for their jobs. We switch jobs every two weeks and they earn four tickets (two per week) if they are diligent about completing their job. If they are constantly forgetting then sometimes they may loose a ticket or two.

Reward: When a student earns a ticket the can put it in one of four containers. I draw out of these containers every Friday as long as we haven't lost our minds for the day:   1) Treasure Chest  2) Comfy Chair  3) Bean Bag  4) Lunch with me

Treasure Chest

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Unfortunately, my treasure chest does not look like this. In fact, I just use a big plastic tub with a picture of a treasure chest. Works the same way and I can fit more junk in it...which is basically what the treasure chest consists of. Think the dollar Target isle and anything from the Dollar Store the 10-year-olds would just go crazy for. That's all in there!

Comfy Chair

I have an extra small teachers chair in my room that kids will take turns sitting in weekly if I draw their name. Hopefully I will still be able to use this but the more students I have the less space I have, which means it gets pretty tight for the comfy chair!

Bean Bag

Just like the comfy chair above, but instead with a bean bag! They may sit in this during read alouds, silent reading, or other appropriate times during the day.

Lunch with me

For the past four years my team and I have had a rotating duty schedule where there was one week a month we didn't have a duty. During that week I would pick four students to have lunch with me. They would get to choose lunch from Wendys, Subway, or Taco Bell. 99% of the time they would choose Subway {thank goodness!!} Yes, it did get expensive but they loved this and it gave them special time with me. I would make sure every kid in my class had this opportunity and no one could have it more than once...I'm not made of money!

 

The last big reward we have goes with our Missing Assignment Binder. This is somewhat difficult to explain {if you really want to know, shoot me an email}. I love how we have this set up! At the end of a semester the students will earn a movie. Depending on the amount of missing assignments they have had during that semester, some students may miss out on 10 to 30 minutes of the movie. They all know the rules up front when school starts so they get to set their own goals. This is something we did in the 4th grade. I think 5th grade does something similar.

It's so important for me that I reward every kid. When students have not missed any assignments, I send home a postcard via snail mail...because who doesn't like to get mail?!

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