Hey, Friends!!! Can I just tell you how exhausted I am...I've been working on my classroom for the past 9 days STRAIGHT to prepare for a Q & A with some new teachers to our county this past week. I loved being able to share some Do's and Don't's with them-since I have probably had more DON'T's in my life than I care to admit...
Oh yeah, see that nice pile-o-junk I wasn't able to hide in the bathroom before everyone arrived? Yeah...9 days obviously wasn't enough time to prepare.
Anywho, one question that came up in each group that came in was what I do for classroom management and student rewards.
I'll admit, back in the day I was the teacher who had the prize box. I used it in conjunction with a giant Bingo Board from Really Good Stuff, where students would sign their name to the board at the end of each day depending on what "color" they were on on our behavior chart. At the end of the week, I would pull 5-6 bingo numbers & letters and those students whose names were in that particular box would get to pick a prize from the glorious prize box. The problem was, some students NEVER WON! I couldn't afford to constantly restock our prize box and award every student a prize on a North Carolina's teacher's salary (nor do I honestly believe in that type of behavior system), so I had to come up with a better solution. Enter, Classroom Coupons!
I could not BELIEVE how well my students responded to these! All of these were designed with little to no cost to me, which was an even BIGGER plus! These can work with any grade level and you are able to pick and chose which coupons to use and how many points to award to each! I colored the point labels to match the coupons they go to. I house them in a craft container from Michaels.
How do students earn points?
I use a behavior chart in my classroom, and yes, it is the color system. Each student has a clothespin and begin the day on GREEN-Ready to Learn! As students do positive things in the classroom, they move up the behavior chart. If negatives occur, they move down. Students can move up or down all throughout the day-just because students made one mistake doesn't mean they can't turn their day around and make better choices.
I change out my behavior charts seasonally, which my students LOVE!!! This helps with motivation and switching it up a bit while keeping the format and expectations the same. They love the puns of the seasonal charts, too! :P
Our behavior chart coincides with Class Dojo. Students are awarded points throughout the day for various tasks (clean area, following directions, showing kindness, participation, etc.). At the end of each day after I sign their behavior chart that goes home for parents to sign, students award themselves points based on what "color" or level of the behavior chart they ended on for the day (I display our Class Dojo account on the Smartboard).
Positive Point Scale
GREEN=1 point
BLUE= 2 points
PINK= 3 points
PURPLE= 4 points
Negative Point Scale
YELLOW= -1 point
ORANGE= -2 points
RED= -3 points
Sometimes to switch it up, I'll have a "Double Day," where students earn DOUBLE the points for the day (this works great around Christmas time and once the weather starts to warm up in the spring and children seem to have lost their minds...).
Sometimes to switch it up, I'll have a "Double Day," where students earn DOUBLE the points for the day (this works great around Christmas time and once the weather starts to warm up in the spring and children seem to have lost their minds...).
Since Class Dojo allows you to customize points and values, I've added the behavior colors and points to our point system. All students have to do is press, "GREEN," "BLUE," etc. and they're done! This limits confusion, miscounting, and student pile up at the end of the day.
Students accumulate points all week long. I really love using Class Dojo because it's an all in one system to connect parents to our classroom. I'm able to quickly send photos during class time to families or to individual parents. They now have a BRAND NEW portfolios feature, so this may mean I'll be eliminating SeeSaw and switching over to Dojo-we'll see! But honestly, it's worked great for our behavior system.
How do students "get" their coupons?
During our "Fun Friday" time on Friday afternoons (Fun Friday is designated free time for those students who do not need to finish or make up class work), students can choose to "shop" for coupons by spending their Class Dojo points OR they can save their points if they wish.
I "open up our shop," by opening up our coupon containers while I call students to my small group area by their table number. I display our Class Dojo board on the Smartboard so students can see how many points they currently have. They have to determine which coupon(s) they can purchase AND how many points they will have left over -if any (hello mental math!). I give them those points back through the "misc. points" options I've added. *I tell them to use AS MANY of their points as they can. For example, if they have 100 points, they can't only spend 20. Since the maximum point value you can assign to an expectation is 5, I'd be stuck there forever and a day adding their points back! You could "subtract" points, but doing it this way has honestly worked best for me and my students.
Students keep their coupons in a safe place (I have them keep them in the front pocket of their take home folder). If they lose it, they lose it. This also teaches responsibility. Students must give me their coupons in the morning only-I cannot be in the middle of teaching a math lesson and they decide they want to use their Lunch Buddy coupon.
A HUGE coupon this past year was our Read Aloud. How awesome is it that students want to READ ALOUD to their classmates instead of choosing something tangible they will more than likely lose or break in a day or two?! *That coupon I only accepted one per day due to time reasons, but do what works best for you and your schedule.
I've color coded my class coupons for an easy visual for students (and myself) to see which coupons are worth what (also a HUGE time saver for me when I put the coupons away).
These coupons teach so many skills besides behavior-they don't cost me an arm and a leg either. I go to the Dollar Tree for my Bubble Gum coupon and the Target Dollar Spot for the Prize Box. I might have students chose that coupon 10 times throughout the entire school year. I haven't refilled my box in quite some time. That's money I can spend on other things for my classroom, like new shiplap border! :)
I think I've purchased 10 packs of it this year... #notashamed
If you're looking for a new reward system to use in your classroom, I HIGHLY suggest using these coupons with your students-no matter what grade level! Your students will LOVE working towards obtaining those higher level rewards while teaching them responsibility, math skills, and decision making to name a few.
I can't believe I only have 4 more days of summer until I have to go back!!!! It's crunch time to get all those home projects finished I had planned back in June.
Have a great weekend!
If students want to use their points to get a coupon how do you subtract their points on dojo?
ReplyDeleteWhat did you mean by this "I give them those points back through the "misc. points" options I've added. *I tell them to use AS MANY of their points as they can. For example, if they have 100 points, they can't only spend 20. Since the maximum point value you can assign to an expectation is 5, I'd be stuck there forever and a day adding their points back! You could "subtract" points, but doing it this way has honestly worked best for me and my students." ?
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ReplyDeleteI'll reset their points after they make a purchase, then add the difference back in using the misc. points options buttons I've added to our Dojo. For example, if a student has 20 points and they spend 15, I'll give them 5 points back. You could always "subtract" the points they've spent too if you'd like to do it that way! Does this help??
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