Happy Friday, y’all! How’s it goin’? Last night, I was going through some of my teacher stuff and I ran across a handout titled
“50 Student Rewards That Don’t Cost Much Money or Rot Teeth.” Pretty gripping title, wouldn’t you agree? I did chuckle at a few of the items on the list: operate the filmstrip projector, use the typewriter, and take a tape recorder home for the night. What a hoot! I wonder if kids these days even know what a typewriter is!
Other rewards on the list have withstood the passage of time: sit at the teacher’s desk, be a helper in another classroom, sit by a friend for the day, keep an animal at your desk (toy or real), invite a friend from another classroom to have lunch with you, and so on.
What are your favorite student rewards that don’t cost much money or rot teeth?
Love to hear from ya!
Diane
A positive phone call home costs nothing but a small amount of your time. Many parents get nervous when they hear your voice but will be pleasantly surprised when you have great things to say about their child. 🙂
I give pencils a lot–they are cheap if you buy a gross. They always need those. I also get cheap books and have those on hand. I also crochet snake bookmarks that they love.
A reward I use for my preschoolers is that they get to be “Leader of the day.” They love this.
The kids love notes home. I let them feed the fish, water the plants and set the table.
I use stickers and stamps on their hands alot too.
With my PreK class I let a child be the special circle time helper. This has worked well. I also give out stickers alot. They love to count how many they have.
Stickers are a big hit in our room – amazing what they will do for a sticker! We have a take home animal – I have also tried “clubs” I make a sign for coat club or alphabet club or days of the week club – whatever skill we need them to get through. we post them and if they can do the skill we put there name on the poster. Can’t tell you how well that worked this year for putting coats on and zippered!
I give out stickers and each child has a sticker chart. When their chart is full, they get out if the treasure box. 🙂
I am always on the lookout for packages of little this and that. Cars, bracelets, tattoos, erasers, bouncy balls, bubbles, pencils, books, and even extra toys from McDonalds go into my Treasure Box. I have a seasonal colored cutout that I put each child’s name on and then laminate. Every day if the child stays on my ‘List of Fabulous Kids!’ they get a sticker (usually I just give out small stickers). If the child can get more than 15 stickers for the month then they get to go into my Treasure Box. If everyone on the class has managed to stay on the list then they get a big sticker which counts for two. I also give out stickers here and there for students who help others, show great friendship or sportsmanship, and say nice or positive things to other kids. The trick is to always change what is going in the Treasure Box. I usually tell my class that I just added something new to the Treasure Box- which gets them excited.
I pass out Bunny Money for student jobs. The students save their money until we have our money unit and then they use their savings to purchase bunny items and learn about coins and the dollar bill. We also learn about counting by ones, fives, and tens.
Each of my pre-k students has a sticker chart. There are 20 squares that need to be filled in. Once they fill the chart, they earn a trip to the treasure box.
The charts act as math lessons. The students tell how many stickers they have, how many stickers they need, how many more stickers they have than someone else, etc.
I look for treasure box goodies at garage sales and thrift stores. I went to a garage sale this weekend, and the people having the sale gave me a box full of small toys for free when I told them that I was a teacher! 🙂
I use the sticker charts as well; full ones merit a trip to the treasure box.
I ask parents to donate little trinkets: gently used fast-food restaurant toys, leftover party favors. Like Ruth, I find bargains at garage sales and thrift shops. I bought a dozen 4-packs of Mickey Mouse favors (bubbles, 4-piece Rubik’s cube type puzzles) for a quarter!
Another favorite treasure is to eat lunch at the blue table in the housekeeping center.
My Pre-K class loves having free time to play in the communal Pre-K play area in the hall. It is a “special” place with great toys such as a sand table, fully equipped doll house, computers and lots of Lego. They earn extra time on the last day of the week when they have been good listeners.