Hello, I teach first grade. My students are pretty well behaved except the one or two y'know. But I am trying the positive discipline approach and it is working pretty well. I do have 1 problem. I need more rewards for students who are good. I do sometimes give out candies but our principle discourages it. And I have two children with allergies, so I try to stay away from snacks and things. We have no reccess time. So, most of the behavior management says to add or take waya reccess time, but we don't have it at our school. So I am in desperate need of some new original ideas. that are great rewards for kids. I have been doing homework passess, I don't want the kids to get used to it and I don't want to pass them out TOOO much y'know. I do allow students to have Friday freetime(like 30 minutes at the end of the day on Friday's), but they have to wait all week. So I kinda needed something daily (like reccess), that I can offer as a incentive. Thanks
We do a schoolwide PBS system w/ SMART cards as the token economy, so I do SMART cards. I also do stickers, lunch in the classroom with me, candy, treasure box. Hope that helps!
I am trying something new this year because I was tired of giving out candy or fruit snacks (too expensive) so I got those little incentive punch cards. I think they have about 20 stars on them. Everday I give out punches depending on what color the kids end the day on. I have a color coded chart on the way that has purple (2 points) blue (1 point) green (neutral) then pink, orange and red (bad news bears!). So far the good kids, of which I have few really like it. Once their punch cards are full they get to pick out of my prize box which has pencils and other small things that I just got from the dollar store.
I thought it was a law that students had to get a recess everyday. How can your school get away with that? Why aren't parents in an uproar about it?
i was wondering that, too. smart cards = our school does a pbs (positive behavior support) system w/ a token economy. kids earn smart cards that they can then spend like money at a school store
I give sofa passes because I have a sofa in my classroom. A student can reserve it for a class period and even bring a pillow/blanket that day. However, they have to do all the classwork we are doing. (6th grade)
Yeah. I feel like they are supposed to have reccess too. We have a playground, but only special education classes are allowed to go on it. So.... I just have to take whats given to me. I guess? They are so restless and wound up. It really makes a difference. The last time the school was allowed to use the playground for 15 minutes after lunch. The principle said that there were too many complaints (parent complaints i guess?) as far as allergies and students hurting themselves. so she just stopped everyone. I like your ideas, the smart cards, punch cards and everything... but I needed something like everyday!! I am able to give silent lunch, but as I said. I was looking for something positive. I give a treasure box treat at the end of the week, but some of the children need something a little more frequently. In liue (sp?) of like recess time. I was thinking maybe talk time at the end of the day? But I don't know if that will go over very well. Thanks for all your suggestions. I should look up the law huh?
mrs. m, Great idea with the sofa pass. I was doing this last year with my bean bags. But the fire marshall came at the beginning of this year and made us take out any thing that was not labeled fire retardent. Needless to say, our rooms now look cold as ice! But we do our best to jazz it up.
Jaszmyn, I feel you, as we don't get recess either! My principal arbitrarily decided that about a week ago. Anyway, some daily incentives that I use: 1) getting an extra drink of water at the water fountain. You would not believe what a big deal this is. Usually do this during bathroom breaks. 2) We somtimes have an indoor recess (only about 10 mins), or I lead a group yoga/stretching session. I try to do this daily and obviously kids that don't behave don't get to participate. This also gets them moving a little since they have no recess (and gym only once a week!). 3) Stickers seem to work well with them on a daily basis as well, but that always depends on the group. Hope this helps! Good luck - I may do a little searching on the law myself!
Take a look at this article about research on the effects of cutting recess out of the day. Take it to your parents and have them take it to your administration. Bug your state assemblies and senates to follow Virginia and a few other state's lead in making recess mandatory according to state law.
Where's the article? I would love to see it. It might be hard to post, but just tell me what to google. I consider myself the queen of googling (is that even a word?)
I used candy last year but I really didn't like it. This year i hand out special book cards; during independent reading time they get to pick a "special" book. like one of the fold-outs, I Spy or the read-aloud books. This seems to be a good incentive. For kids with more serious behavior problems I have one of those sticker cards which I put on their desk. Since they need immediate results I give them a sticker for good behavior three times a day. When they have a full card (20 stickers) they get to have lunch with me. Strangely enough that's quite a prize in their eyes. NO RECESS? OMG--but don't you have to have a break by law?
Behavior Rewards I have several reward opportunities for my class. Some are intrinsic and others are extrinsic. For the whole class, I have heart marbles that are added to the jar when the whole class behaves, gets a compliment from another teacher, etc. When they get to five (will increase to 10 next time) then the whole class will vote on a reward. Something like playdough, painting, movie and popcorn, etc.) For table groups, I award points for cooperative workers and quiet workers. They had to get 5 points the first time, then 10 after that. Then, the table got to visit my treasure box. I have gotten some items at Dollar Tree, and gotten a lot of donations from parents. (Even old things that children don't play with anymore that are in clean condition are good.) For individual rewards I always give out compliments for good behavior. I award students who do extra special things like clean up without being told, or help a friend with a ticket to write their name on. They put the ticket in my pretty purple box. Every once and a while I draw out one or a few tickets. These students get to pick from the treasure box. Lastly, my favorite reward. I started this one this year and the kids really enjoy it! I have a frog diecut for each student with their name written on it. Then, on my filing cabinet, I drew four lily pads. All the frogs start on the bottom lily pad. When a student is caught being good, I tell them to hop their frog. When they reach their frog to the top lily pad, they choose from a list of 5 rewards. The choices I have now are: sit at the teacher's desk for one activity, have the class cheer for you, use markers all day, have the class stuffed frog at your desk for one activity, and use a pen for one activity. (Students can also hop their frog down for negative behaviors.) I've had many students already getting to the top three or four times so far. This reward is nice because the kids really feel special, they have a choice of reward, and it is not going to rot their teeth! Hope this helps someone!
