Kids LOVE to earn rewards. But here’s the deal: token rewards such as fun pens and pencils and keychains, even from the Target Dollar Section, add up quickly. And being as #teacherbroke as we are, that doesn’t always align with our budget or pocket book.
This year, I decided to take a difference approach. Being an upper elementary teacher, it CRACKS me up the things that my 5th or 6th graders beg me to do. Sweep the floor. Wipe things down with Clorox wipes. Pass out the Clorox wipes. Replace all the pencil cap erasers. Go to the vending machine and buy my daily dose of Diet Coke. You know. All the things they beg their parents to do at home too, right?! (*insert all of the sarcasm in the universe*)
I decided to come up with 40 different rewards for my big kids this school year that they’d want to earn (never fear: NONE of them involve cleaning. That’s just an added bonus of being a big kid teacher. You’re welcome).
These rewards are kid tested, and teacher approved! They involve your big kids choosing things that they want to do, but don’t always get the option to do in your classroom. Like, have an extra 30 minutes to play games on the computer or iPad. Or, choose the GoNoOdle! video of the week. Or, bring in a blanket and sit around the room in their favorite cozy spot. Or, bring a soda from home and drink it at their desk. Or, being the student teacher for the day. Or, how about classroom DJ for the day, bay-beeee!?
Here’s the BEST PART! Are you ready for this?! I created an ADDITIONAL set of organizational tools you can use to implement this reward system for FREE! Everything you and your students need to store, organize, and keep track of rewards they want to earn, goals they have to meet to earn the reward coupon they are seeking, and even cute, and easy Reward Coupon Wallets for your students to store their coupons in. CRAZY GOOD! And it’s ALL. FOR. FREE. FOR. YOU!!!!
(Am I the only one that just had this amazing Oprah moment?! No. It was just me? Oh. Okay.)
Here’s what you get:
– Reward Coupon Wallets that are EASY to assemble (print on card stock, cut, fold, glue. ba-bam.)
– Tracking sheets (and one blank one) to monitor what students have earned what reward coupons
– Goal Focus Sheet (for students to complete as they are working toward earning a specific reward coupon)
– Top 3 Reward Coupon Personal Goal sticker (print – peel – stick to the inside of a notebook, folder, or on a desk tag)
– 8 Reward Coupons 
The reward coupon wallets can be printed and hung on a bulletin board, glued to the front cover of a composition notebook, or put just about anywhere the students have easy access to their rewards. (There are three different print options for coupons, so if you decide to give out reward coupons to students as they earn them, they can use these wallets.) The wallets teach responsibility and create an ownership of what they have earned. It’s theirs. They earned it.
I think it’s SO important for students to have a goal they must reach in order to earn reward coupons. Whether you are using the reward coupon system with Class Dojo points, daily behavior tracking with a clip chart or demerit based system, academic based reward coupons for AR, Achieve 3000, IXL, Study Island, or any other system, the students need to know how they will earn the rewards.
That’s where the goal setting sheets and stickers come into play. I love for my students to be able to set their own personal goals and then celebrate their achievements in a HUGE way!
I used Avery 2″x4″ shipping labels (#48863) and included the template for easy printing purposes.
The Reward Coupon Goal Focus papers help students to focus specifically on what actions they need to take to earn the reward coupons. It’s a great self-tracker and purposeful reward. Students need to know that they are working for a purpose and that their goal is attainable.
Finally, we’d be lying to ourselves if we said we didn’t love #allthetrackingcharts. So, I included in the FREE FILE this tracking chart, as well as a blank one for you to customize if you choose not to use all of the reward coupons for your students. This is a great way to see which rewards your students love the most, to offer as whole class incentives, extra reward incentives, and narrow down which rewards the students work the hardest for.
Now it’s your turn! Treat yo’ self!
What reward coupons do you think your students will work hardest for?
