There’s always some controversy of whether to give kids external rewards for good behavior or learning something new. I have given stickers and candy (occasionally) as rewards, but the most powerful reward you can give a child is the feeling of worth in your eyes. Even those really tough kids that would never admit it need this, even more so than other students. For them, they may have never received this from others around them or it was conditional and they were burned too many times to let down their guard and let you in. Keep trying, stay genuine, and while you may not preserver immediately you may just break down the wall enough for them to let someone in later. For these tough cases, many times I will attach an external reward that is something they enjoy with the praise. They need it to connect the good feels of the external reward with the words.
Candy is really my least favorite external reward. Candy tastes good and kids already like it, but connecting it to powerful words of praise make one feel that much better about themselves when they eat it. With the obesity problem in this country, I don’t feel that is the message we need to send to young children. I would encourage you not to you candy at all, but it can be used in a responsible manner. In my classroom, I used candy for as manipulatives during a lesson and then allowed students to eat a small number after the lesson was completed if they were well behaved during the lesson. During the holidays, we might play an academic game and at the end the winner received candy, but only one piece to show that candy can be enjoyed in moderation. For example, on Halloween, a winner might get one candy corn and for Valentine’s Day, a winner might get one candy heart, etc. I never gave my students a whole bag of candy as a reward in my class.
There are so many better options of external rewards students can be given that produce as much emotion as candy does, you just have to know what will work for each student. As with anything in teaching, it’s trial and error. Below is a list of fun, free, or cheap suggestions.
1. A coloring page from a coloring book
2. A bookmark – Check out the FREE Color-me bookmarks in my TpT Store! CLICK HERE!
3. Stickers – I had children collect small stickers on a sticker chart. When they filled their chart, they earned a prize from the treasure box.
4. Treasure box prizes – small toys, pencils, erasers, etc. Have parents donate old fast food meal toys.
5. Lunch with the teacher
6. 5 minutes extra of recess time
7. A call home to a parent – You can even call and have the child read to the parent over the phone or do a few math facts to them if they have time. I would suggest talking with the parent prior to making this a reward to make sure they can be available if they are working.
8. Monopoly type money or Class bucks collected by students in order to purchase a reward of their choosing at a later date.
9. A special classroom job (Line Leader, Electrician (turns the lights off), Teacher Assistant, etc)
10. Game time – allow student to pick a friend to play a board game with.
There are so many more, but again these are external rewards and while they have their place, you want to wean students away from the need of such awards to more internal rewards. To do that, make sure you connect the transfer of one of these external awards with genuine verbal approval that specifically denotes what the child improved on or did well.
In my next blog, I will talk about the how to use praise to develop confidence and academic enjoyment.
Teacher Jen
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