My school last year switched from PBIS to Responsive Classroom. Since we now do Responsive Classroom in my school, we no longer can have incentives or rewards. However, I wanted to share some cute ideas that I used in the past that I really loved! If you are in a PBIS school or simply prefer rewards as behavior incentives, here are some ideas that worked for me! Our school switched to Responsive Classroom this year as its behavior management program, which I love! Responsive Classroom strives to create a strong, positive, and caring classroom climate. If your district ever offers the training, I highly recommend it. Responsive Classroom is about create an environment for respectful learning and a climate of trust. It involves Morning Meetings, Closing Circle, and specific teacher language to allow students to feel safe, respected, and appreciated. Anyway, here are some of the past behavior incentives that I used that I enjoyed, as did my students!
CLASSROOM INCENTIVES & REWARDS
WHOLE CLASS: Brownie Points
You have probably seen these adorable whole class incentives all over Pinterest! I used Brownie Points for my first two years of teaching. Does it get any cuter?! All you have to do is go to the Dollar Tree and buy a $1 cookie sheet, and then print out some brownies and a title. I found these for free on Teachers Pay Teachers (I am so sorry, I cannot remember who I downloaded them! If you know, feel free to leave it in the comments section so I can give the teacher credit!). Print off the brownies, laminate, cut, and attach magnets. Presto!
The kids received a brownie on the pan for things like behaving well with a substitute, conducting themselves appropriately during a fire drill, or an overall awesome day. If the kids got 15 brownies, I would bake brownies and bring them in. My first year of teaching I had an absolute angel class, so I must have baked about 5-6 pans of brownies for them that year!
TABLE GROUPS: Sparklers
I bought plastic cups and sparkly puff balls. This was a great way to make students focused and quiet during a transition or lining up. All you have to say is “Table 4 is getting a Sparkler for how much teamwork I saw!”, and the rest of the class would follow suit. This is what I miss most now that our school does RC, I loved how much more camaraderie I saw with the Sparkler approach. At the end of every week, whichever table had the most Sparklers each got a homework pass. Now, I do not miss giving out homework passes AT ALL. They were a pain to put names on and dole out every Friday afternoon when we had so much other things going on!
INDIVIDUAL: Dolphin-Do-Gooders
This was a behavior program for our whole school. These were little squares of paper with a picture of a dolphin and a place for the child to write their name. Kids would receive Dolphin Do-Gooders for great behavior or acts of kindness. The kids could then collect their Dolphin-Do-Gooders and then cash them in for something (like lunch with the teacher, or a prize from the treasure box). I keep these in a cute basket and would hand them out to students.
What kind of behavior incentives or plan do you use at your school and classroom?
WHOLE CLASS: Brownie Points
3 Responses
I use the Brownie Point system and LOVE It!!! My kids can also earn brownies for getting compliments in the hallways or from special class teachers. It is a HUGE success!! At the beginning of the year, I have a "mystery walker" and if that person does what he/she is suppose to do, they can earn a brownie as well. I love this for so many reasons! Glad to see what others do with it!
Blessings,
Becky from
CookingUpSuccess
YAY, I love hearing that you're a Brownie Point fan as well! I will have to try the "Mystery Walker," sounds like a really neat idea!
I do the similar things! I do Cookie Compliments instead of Brownie Points and we do group tallies on the board instead of cups! I've used the mystery walker too on occasion. I usually only do it around holidays when the kids are restless.
Rachel
A Tall Drink of Water