Rewards and Incentives...My Battle Against The Prize Box

Rewards and incentives are the cornerstone of any classroom. I stare at my treasure chest, or my great nemisis, with such distain. I felt that box was an endless money pit as I struggled to keep it filled with prizes that students would actually want to work for. In my class we practice keyboarding, especially with the little ones, A LOT. It can become a tedious task but I found the children's kyrptonite... *dum dum da dum* The Treasure Chest. The worst part? It WORKED! They became typing feins. If they finish their classwork early they can have free time, I allow them to play on any of the approved websites (see my blog post about them!) during their free time. They would BEG and PLEAD to type. It was so bizarre at first. The stipulation from them always being, if I finsih all my typing, can I get a prize from the treasure box? My answer is always yes. Last year I had one requirement in order to pick from the prize box, finish the entire level of typing by the end of class. I kept it cut and dry. All or nothing. I realized it was many of the same children who would finish each time and it would be many of the same children who would work the whole class and just never be able to finish. This made me rethink my reward situation. I do not beleive in the 'participation throphy' theory. You must do the work in order to recieve the reward. Children need to learn the coping skills to deal with situations where someone else recieves something and they do not. (Disclaimer: I believe every child should be offered the same opportunity). Many of the children take the policy in stride. Those who do pick a prize learn to not gloat and brag and those who do not often simply shrug it off as, "it's okay if I don't get a prize. I'm going to just try harder next time"(as stated by my kindergarteners). Still there would be an occasional child who would become upset and would absoultly break my heart. I actually would hide my treasure box under my desk somedays!

I decided for the new school year that I would implement a completly different system. I decided to try punch cards, where the students could earn hole punches on a business card and trade in a full card for a prize. Well, it was quite a project to set up. I took each child's folder and stapled a sandwhich sized ziplock bag onto the front of the pocket. In the ziplock bag I placed one of the punch cards. The ziplock bag worked well. It stayed attached the whole school year, even with HEAVY folder use and the folders being packed full of papers. The cards I ordered from Vistaprint ( look in the Loyalty Card section!) I used the 10 punch type. They constantly run specials and you can get 500 for $10.00. I even bought a star shape hole puncher. Then...the school year started. The kids immediately bought into the premise. Then I ran into a few set backs. The first was kids forgetting their folders ( folders...my other nemesis!) so they didn't have their cards in class. If I had punched a new card and handed it to them thinking it would somehow find its way home and into the folder and then back to school for next class...well, I knew that kind of socercery just doesn't exist. Then the second problem was remembering to punch the cards, or just finding time to do it. I like to show the children as I punch the cards to reinforce positive behavior, but I was finding myself collecting all the folders and sitting there punching (inbetween helping students) and then handing them back. It was a tediuous task that often times I just didn't get to. Help the students....Punch their cards.... it was a no brainer for me. As my punching was getting fewer and further inbetween, my students didn't seem to even notice when I stopped punching the cards altogether. Another problem I had was forgetting my hole puncher in my room. When my class size exceeds my computer lab capacity I teach the students in their classroom on laptops. Somewhere in the transition between bringing my current students back to their room and then heading next store to my next class it would always be left behind.

The whole system just did not work for me...at all. My friend who is also a computer teacher uses the punch card method with her G&T students (when they complete a logic puzzle etc, they get a punch per sheet) and she has her students save their cards through the year and they get to go shopping the last week of school. I finsihed the school year, still at odds with my treasure box and sighed as I went back to the drawing board again.

This time...I think I got it!

I decided on a ticket system. You can then use your tickets to go shopping on the prescheduled shopping days ( about once a month). I wanted to make sure that every child could earn a prize, even a small prize, each time. I also wanted to add value to the items I was buying. Putting a number value on it instantly made 4 ticket prizes better than 2 ticket prizes. Once I was decided on the concept I started on the prizes first. I went to my favorite plae in the world...Dollar Tree (all hail the dollar store gods!) and picked out plastic containers. I ended up (after a few trips) getting 20 (i believe thier shoebox sized?) which costed $20.00. I also picked up the numbers at the Dollar Tree. I needed 3 for the boxes. You can use any denomination you want, I choose to use 1-5. Each value has 4 boxes. I labeled each box with a number, then using my left over prizes from the school year I seperated them into each category. Since I had done prizes the last few years I knew which items were big hits and which ones they avoided. Also my school has a strict no candy or sweets, or cookies and cakes etc. ( not even for birthdays!)

** this was during the very early stage. I then went to 4 continers of each with the same set up and each box is now bursting full of prizes :) **

For prizes my go to vendors are:

~Dollar Tree

~Oriental Trading

~Rhode Island Novelty

~Amazon

I took each box orginially and wrote in sharpie on the side what I had in each box. I love organization! After ordering new toys and realizing some didn't fit in one box, I decided to create labels for each ticket level and just put the few that didn't fit into another box of the same value. I taped the label to the inside of the box so it wouldnt come off and I removed my sharpie labels. I put a little nail polish remover on a tissue and it came right off! You can use any prizes you'd like but these are the ones that I choose.

1s- Stickers, Bookmarks, Pencils, Erasers, Tattoos( I'm not a fan of tattoos but they're cheap and kids love them. I make sure they get sent HOME. They are not allowed to put them on in school)

2s- Stampers, Krazy Straws, Rubber Bracelets, Cars, Vehicles, Planes, Assorted Small Prizes

3s- Assorted Medium Prizes, Spinning Tops ( a Favorite, Oriental Trading has great prices), small animals, sticky toys ( like sticky hands)

4s- Bouncing Balls, Jewelry, Frogs, Small Puzzles, Squirting Turtles, Springs (Slinky)

5s- Rubber Ducks, Noise Makers, Flying Ninjas, Paratroopers, Keychains

Box Labels:

What about values larger than 5? Well, introducing THE COUPON BOOK!

The coupon book has different prizes that students can earn. Since they are allowded to save their tickets throughout the year,my hope was to make them enticing and almost all of them cost me NOTHING! (Free=Teachers Best Friend). Here are my coupons:

In the coupon book I have each item set up with the coupons and the explaination. I make sure the cost of the items are clearly visible.

To Make some prizes more enticing I had a BONUS to them

**These coupons are good for one class, or one time use**

For 10 Tickets - All FREE

- Story Picker- They get to pick a story to watch at the begining of class

-Ticket Handler- They get to hand out tickets to the class

-Computer Assigner- They get to choose where everyone sits for one class

-Sit At The Teachers Desk- They get to sit at my desk and use my computer for the day

-DJ For The Day - They get to pick what we listen to ( a favorite song, or pandora station etc)

-Teacher's Assistant- They get to be my helper. They can earn 3 extra tickets.

For 15 Tickets- FREE unless otherwise noted

-Homework Pass Forgiver- Forgives homework you already missed

- Ticket Shop Banker- They can help hand out prizes, collect tickets etc. on Shopping Days. They can earn a 3 ticket bonus.

-Pick From Large Treasure Chest- (My Normal Prize Box) They can pick one prize from this box. Prizes include: inflatable mics and guitars, small stuffed animals, jump ropes, large noise makers, paddle balls, stationary sets etc. Avg about $1.00 per prize.

-Homework Pass- Skip a FUTURE homework assignment.

-Double Ticket Day- However many tickets they earn in a single day they can use this coupon to double it. So if they earned three tickets today, they can use this coupon and I will give them an additional 3 tickets.

20 Tickets- FREEEEEE

- Good Email Home- Ill send home an email about how wonderful they are. Popular with the older kids.

-10 Minutes of Free Time- My K-5 group RARELY have free time ( We're always so busy) so they can use this coupon to have free time for the LAST ten minutes of class. They can play games on any of the approved websites.

25 Tickets -FREE

-Typing Tag In - They can 'tag' me in, and I will TYPE for them for 10 minutes. ( or however long you'd like) They must tell me what to type (content). This is not a 'Do My Work'' Pass!

-Warm Up Activity Picker- They can select a warm up activity for the NEXT class from a list I provide. (I do the next class so I can make sure I have the supplies ready)

30 Tickets

-Pizza Lunch From The Teacher- Pizza is one of the few foods that our administration lets us have some wiggle room with. A whole pizza is about $10.00. 2 slices of pizza costs me maybe $3.00 in total and hey, I have lunch too!

I already had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to give tickets out for. My next step was to solidify a 'pay scale' of sorts.

Students recieve 1 ticket each class...yup, one ticket just for showing up. No strings attached.

This means if we have four classes a month, and you are present for all four, you have AT LEAST four tickets to shop with. This is why I wanted to emphasize the lower value prizes. They could get 4- 1 ticket prizes, or 1- 4 ticket prize.... They have Options.

I then wanted to make an incentive for doing homework. My older students are required to type at home for 30 minutes each week. I can't spare the class time once they get to 1st grade to teach it anymore, they know the basics now they need practice. Complete all your homework for the month...earn 3 tickets. I thought back to my younger ones and their excitment to type to get a prize. I then decided on 3 tickets for compleing the level ( see our typing programs post) and one if they complete at least half, and two if they complete 2/3. I also tell the students they can earn tickets randomly if I catch them working hard, being a good friend, following directions etc ( can be behavioral or character building traits). I DO NOT take tickets way if they misbehave. I just remind them that they are not earning tickets and if they ___ they can earn a ticket.

so, I had my prizes, I had my pay scale, now, how was I going to organize the handing out and keeping track of tickets. My mind went to the great Hole Punching Fail of 2014. Handing out physical tickets will be challenging. I thought about having the tickets pre-ripped and just having to pass them out. (remember I was giving one just for showing up). I wanted the students to track their tickets they recived and the tickets they spent, and I needed a way to store them.

My next brain child was born!

I decided on a Ticket Register that would be in the students interactive binders. During our warm up activity they would put the date, the ticket in ( along with the reasons) and add it to their total. Similarly, when they spent tickets, they deducted the amount (along with what they bought) from the register. Now, I could not possibly be able to go to each student and check that they are all up to date and if they missed a day, how could I remeber what they recieved ( I do have more than a hundred others!) So I decided to apply my new teacher assistant app to work and set up a ticket tab and a numeric system. I just have to enter a ticket total each class which i do as I take attendance. On shopping days I use a negative number to show tickets spent. This way, when they lose a ticket(s) ( cause we all know they will) I still have a total (that i know is right and not the product of an over zealous ticket hungry kindergarten mind) The main purpose of the reigister is for the students to be able to look at it and be reminded of the good job they did (when they earned extra tickets) and the prizes they have already recieved (the rewards already earned). Here's a sample of what it would look like:

For ticket storage I sought out my old friend the ziplock bag and the Dollar Tree. They come 20+ to a box for $1.00. I use about 5-6 boxes ( my little ones do not use a ticket system). I staple them in ahead of time. TIP: Staple the back of the bag to the folder. Make sure the staples are under the part where you seal the bag or it won't close all the way. It takes some time to prep ( i usually do it in the summer since I have to buy all my kids folders anyway).

My inital investment was about $30.00 plus prizes ( I'd say about $200 plus what I had left over) But I don't think i'll have to refill them until the very end of the year, if at all. I try to space out when I buy prizes so it doesn't become one overwhelming purchase, though bulk buys are usually the best economically.

Elementary Techie

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