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Home » Uncategorized

Student Rewards…That Aren’t Junk Food!

Have I mentioned that I’m tired of all the junk food at my daughter’s elementary school? And I am not talking about what they’re serving in the cafeteria. I am talking about the junk food that’s constantly being used for rewards, parties and activities. Here are just a few examples…


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  • “Box top” prizes where winning class gets a donut or cupcake decorating party
  • Skittle sort (why not a button sort, which could even be reused the following year?)
  • Cake for the entire class (from the cafeteria) almost every time a student has a birthday
  • School “spirit” events at fast food restaurants and pizza places
  • “Popsicles with the principal” for top fundraising students
  • Celebrating the 100th day of school by stringing 100 fruit loops onto a necklace (cute idea, but I’m confident some healthier alternatives could be just as much fun)

But rather than just sitting here complaining about these issues, I thought why not do something about it instead?! As you may know, another mom and I teamed up to offer our school a healthier “nut-free” snack list so now we are doing the same when it comes to student rewards. And I’m finding that there’s no better place to brainstorm for ideas than my facebook page (thank you everyone for your wonderful ideas).

So without further ado here’s a long list of student rewards…that aren’t junk food! We plan to submit this list to our school administration and PTA and hope you’ll consider doing the same by downloading the printable version. And as always, please leave any additional ideas in the comments below.

Student Rewards...That Aren't Junk Food!

(click for printable version)

Group/Class Rewards

  • Extra playground time
  • Pick different seats to sit in for a day
  • Teacher wearing a silly outfit or hat (let the class decide…one reader even said a teacher wore her wedding dress to school!)
  • Afternoon movie (as an individual reward one student could be allowed to select and bring in the movie for the class)
  • Lunch in the classroom
  • Dress up days…let the class vote!
    • Pajama day (can also incorporate sleeping bags/blankets)
    • Crazy hair day
    • Farmer day
    • Stuffed animal day
    • Backward day (wear clothes backward and even follow the class schedule backward!)
    • Camp out day (kids bring sleeping bags and teacher brings a tent)
    • Hat day
  • Book swap party (each child brings a book they no longer want and “trades” with their classmates)
  • An art or craft party
  • A game the class plays together (like bingo or kickball)
  • If it’s warm outside…water play in bathing suits
  • Plant some flowers or plants together at the school
  • Paint birdhouses together to put up at the school
  • Dance party with music
  • Film a short digital video/documentary as a class (for e.g. each student answers a question for the camera) then watches it together afterward

Individual Rewards

  • Lunch or recess time with the principal
  • Books donated to the school library in the student’s honor with a guest reader to read them to the class
  • Extra computer time
  • Go to “specials” (like gym or Spanish class) with a friend’s class instead of your own
  • Sit with a friend from another class at lunch
  • Gift certificate to the school store
  • Lunch with the teacher
  • Sit in the teacher’s chair or at their desk for the day
  • Use a rolling chair/stool at your own desk for the day
  • Sit next to a friend instead of in your own seat for the day
  • Be the “special helper” for the day (running errands to the office, line leader, etc.)
  • Name read over morning announcements
  • Student asked to actually read the morning announcements
  • Choose the story for story time
  • Let a student be the “principal for the day” or the “assistant principal for the day” or even “teacher for the day” (or just for an assignment)
  • “Stinky feet” which means you get to take your shoes off in class
  • Pick something out of a treasure box with prizes like stickers, pencils, erasers toothbrushes, silly bands, etc.
  • Give out “play money” to students that they can spend in a class-wide auction later in the year (auction items can include games, books, etc. and be donated by parents)
  • If students wear uniforms a “no uniform for the day” pass
  • “Family night” bags that kids get to borrow from the teacher for the evening including “lego night” and “movie night”

School Fundraisers

  • Principal can be duct taped to the wall (our school actually did this last year – students had to buy pieces of tape)
  • Principal can kiss a pig in front of the school if a certain amount of money is raised (another example that really happened at a reader’s school)
  • “Teacher car wash” where kids can “buy” buckets of water and wet sponges that they can throw on teachers in car pool line

Birthday Celebrations

  • Class makes fruit smoothies together
  • Small goodie bags with stickers/activities given out to classmates
  • Each kid is given supplies to a make small craft together
  • Birthday card(s) made by the other students
  • Popcorn birthday parties (popcorn is a whole-grain food) served in “popcorn cones” that the kids make themselves out of paper
  • New book donated to class library by birthday student with their parent as the guest reader

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About Lisa Leake

Lisa is a wife, mother, foodie, blogger, and #1 New York Times Best-selling author who is on a mission to cut out processed food.

Comments

  1. Jessie At Home says

    September 09, 2013 at 4:51 pm

    Some of these ideas are great. But some are very degrading to the teachers and principal and teach an us vs them attitude. I was rather surprised to see that here. Some of these (like the smoothies, or going to a special with a friend) will only be possible in a small amount of school because of the over supervision of teachers and stricter rules that have come about lately, but many are great ideas that can be used in most schools. I would recommend thinking hard about these from the teacher's point of view and editing the list before bringing it to the school.

    Reply
  2. Laura says

    September 09, 2013 at 4:50 pm

    I would like to second Gwen's comment. While I like the idea of moving away from food as a reward, a lot of these rewards are problematic. The appeal of food rewards is that they're easily incorporated into lessons. These rewards, on the other hand, often require significant time away from lessons, or even special permission to break school policies such as dress codes. If anyone is thinking of pushing for junk food to be avoided as a reward at your child's school, please consider whether your alternatives create even more work for the teacher. They are plenty overworked as it is. Choosing a story for a class that already has story time is a great reward; trying to redo lesson plans to make time for a movie day isn't.

    Reply
  3. Alison says

    September 09, 2013 at 4:47 pm

    These sound brilliant! When I was in school, teachers weren't allowed to give food rewards and we has similar small rewards like these. At primary school age these are excellent for building confidence in a child and are totally healthy! I don't understand why food (good or bad) should be a reward, it just encourages an unhealthy attitude to food.

    Reply
  4. Anna Marney says

    September 09, 2013 at 4:45 pm

    The reward to the students in our daughters primary school for meeting their goal of selling 1000 books at their book fair was a silly string fight with the principle. It was hilarious!! And the kids and principle got so much excitement/enjoyment out of it, even more then they would have with a piece of candy! They chose one child from each class (K-2, 12 students total) and the rest of the kids got to watch as each grade went to battle with the principle. I think the kids watching had as much fun as the kids spraying the principle! So fun and it was remembered by all the students, unlike a sugary treat would have been.

    Reply
  5. Miss Zorn says

    September 07, 2013 at 4:46 pm

    Thank you so much for posting this! I am a first grade teacher and am teaching a non-food, non-toy/goodie, reward system (intrinsic & fun/activity rewards.) I tend away from screen time rewards though-my students get enough of this already (t.v., video games, computer, hand helds, etc.) I am so happy I happened on this list!!!
    I would add to the list; a note home-highlighting the student, a hurrah phone call home, hugs for a day, being first for the day, and music playing during work time. My kids love these!!!

    Reply
  6. Gwen says

    September 07, 2013 at 3:44 pm

    I forgot to add that our community agreed to have the students come to school in uniforms. The teachers reward students with small green coupons. They can collect and keep them or enter them into a drawing. The students who are chosen get to have free dress the next day instead or wearing uniform clothes. It is awesome.

    Reply
    • Nicole says

      September 09, 2013 at 6:47 pm

      As a parent of two little kids, I agree, especially with this: "What is wrong with just telling the kids we are proud of them? Why do we need so many bells and whistles?
      I wish we could just focus on learning being a fun interactive experience. And when it is not, it may reflect the reality of life. Sometimes life is work."

      Reply
  7. Gwen says

    September 07, 2013 at 3:31 pm

    I am a teacher at a school where parents are no longer allowed to send in anything to celebrate birthdays. It is much better. I remember one month when we had four birthdays. We had to stop class four times for cupcakes. I am happy to see that gone.
    Some of these ideas are great and I already use.
    If you walked in a teachers shoes you would understand why we don't want to stop everything to paint bird houses or make smoothies for 30 kids while we have other people breathing down our necks to make every instructional minute count.
    Giving up my thirty minute lunch which I already use to correct papers or make photo copies isn't a great option either. Some of these suggestions show a lack of understanding from our perspective.
    However, free easy rewards like the stinky feet is super cute!
    Things that are short, simple, and free are perfect.
    Please don't ask me to be taped to a wall or have water thrown on me so we can have enough money to buy things our schools should have without question.

    As far as the junk food is concerned, I agree! Our school has seriously cut down so that if a teacher does do a skittle sort, it isn't that big of a deal because they haven't had cupcakes or principal popscicles that month.
    I also don't like having a prize box. It all ends up being junk anyway. What is wrong with just telling the kids we are proud of them? Why do we need so many bells and whistles?
    I wish we could just focus on learning being a fun interactive experience. And when it is not, it may reflect the reality of life. Sometimes life is work.

    Reply
  8. Anne says

    August 16, 2013 at 6:37 pm

    Ladies! Gee, this is not about protecting some children, while hurting others! Be real! The ideas put forth by Lisa are all valid, and are IDEAS! I commend her for just trying to be as healthy as possible with children. You gotta know, it's all better than sugar, and her intentions are not to degrade teachers, or outlaw nuts, or break the copyright laws. Please!

    Reply
  9. Kayla says

    August 16, 2013 at 7:37 am

    you would fight tooth and nail if the school tried to become safe for all children????? I work in a nut and egg free daycare, we have these rules in place because of childrens allergies. we also have children allergic to milk, strawberries, and pineapple, however the health nurse who came in to talk to us said eggs and NUTS because of the smells ( which means food particles are in the air) can make a child sick without them even becoming near it. I have a ton of allergies myself, not eggs or nuts though. and hen these rules were instituted I did not fight it. because the other people in my work place ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS I AM. I feel for you and the fact your children have allergies, but there are a lot of possibilities out there.

    Reply
    • Dana says

      August 16, 2013 at 7:16 pm

      My daughter has over 30 allergies and nuts are not one of them. Her biggest is Celiac disease. Up until recently she would even get sick from it being air borne. She still can't touch it. A kid put playdoh on her desk and she had a seizure. The school tried to ban all nuts and any item produced in a nut factory. That wiped out everything my daughter could bring besides fresh fruit and veggies. Schools can not favor one kid over another. MY DAUGHTER IS JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE NUT ALLERGY CHILD. Bans only instill a false sense of security and are actually dangerous.

      Reply
  10. Sandra L. says

    August 16, 2013 at 12:32 am

    I'd rather my kid be given junk food than have movies at school. My pet peeve: them being allowed to watch movies at school that they aren't allowed to watch at home.

    Reply
    • Gwen says

      September 07, 2013 at 3:54 pm

      To my knowledge, any movie over the rating G must require a permission from the parent first. I am not sure if that was a district or school rule.
      Gwen

      Reply
  11. Brianna says

    August 15, 2013 at 11:55 pm

    Oriental Trading Company has a lot of non food items that can be used as rewards and are inexpensive. Little toys, craft kits, stickers, pencils, etc. If you're looking for food alternatives for birthday treats in the classroom, Oriental Trading is a great place to look.

    Reply
  12. Dana says

    August 15, 2013 at 10:47 pm

    Too bad those fundraisers are degrading to people of authority. I would love to see ideas that are not degrading. Also I would never let me kids attend a nut free school and would fight tooth and nail if our school ever tried. My kids are allergic to lots of things besides nuts and that is one of the few healthy options I have for them.

    Reply
  13. Casey says

    August 15, 2013 at 5:09 pm

    It also helps to remind people that the major health organizations recommend not using food as a reward. When I was in school, corporal punishment was the norm but this changed when parents and teachers realized this was not in the best long term interest of students. We need a similar shift when it comes to using food as a reward. http://kyhealthykids.com/2013/04/15/food-as-reward-infographic/

    Reply
  14. Meggs says

    August 15, 2013 at 4:20 pm

    I was excited to see you had the auction thing on your list! When I was in fifth grade my teacher let us earn "Little Bucks" (her name was Mrs. Little) and we had regular auctions or markets where students could buy little toys and things with our Little Bucks. It's also a great way to teach saving and budgeting!

    I also had a teacher who utilized the ticket pulling system to provide rewards at the end of the week. Everyone starts on green and if you misbehave you have to pull a ticket. Yellow, then orange, then red. Once you hit red, you were in trouble. But if you were behaving especially well, the teacher would tell you to put a purple ticket on top of the green ticket. If you got all purple tickets for an entire week, you got to pull something from the treasure box such as a homework pass, eat with teacher pass (that was my favorite!), toys and trinkets, etc.

    Reply
  15. Sara says

    August 15, 2013 at 3:40 pm

    Good ideas except for the students bringing in a movie for the class to watch. Movies that you purchase are for home use only; showing it to an entire class with no curricular purpose in mind is considered a public performance, and it is against copyright. If your school agreed to such a policy, they would be opening themselves up to a lawsuit. Also, we need to teach students to adhere to legal/ethical standards related to using someone else's work.

    I do like several of the other ideas and wish you luck in your efforts to make a change at your child's school.

    Sara Ralph
    School Librarian
    Asheboro, NC

    Reply
    • ALICE good says

      July 18, 2019 at 10:13 am

      I am a second grade teacher and my students work towards dojo points for being on task, helping a friend etc. and they get to choose something from treasure box, which includes candy and the main reason is cost. I have to purchase what I can afford because the school doesn’t help and for the most part I have very uninvolved parents so I pay for everything I give my students. I would love to show a movie but against district policy. I do whole class awards which do not involve candy but you have to remember at many schools teachers are footing the bill for many of their own supplies and trust me we aren’t in teaching for the money in the first place.

      Reply
  16. tracey says

    August 15, 2013 at 2:43 pm

    As a teacher and healthy food advocate, I came up with a list of ideas as well to create rewards that were non-food items. You have covered most of them in this post and my kids loved them! As people become more aware of food issues with our children, it will be easier to make the transition to these types of rewards. Approach your child's teacher and the school principal about it, I think most will be receptive and not be offended. If you don't try, it won't change. And if nothing else, on your child's birthday, think of an alternative to the usual cupcakes/sweet treats to set an example.

    Reply
  17. Kerri says

    August 15, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    I am a 2nd grade teacher. We have a no food policy at our school. We can have food at a Christmas or Valentine's party. I started having a breakfast party instead. We have bagels and fruit. The kids love it and they don't get all sugared up! On birthdays we can play a game in the class or the birthday kid can have no homework! :) I think we get so many treats they aren't treats anymore. On days that are over 90 in June, it is nice to give a popsicle if everyone is okay with that.

    Reply
  18. liz.s says

    August 15, 2013 at 1:15 pm

    I'm a teacher myself and will be using some of these ideas I'm my classroom this year. Lunch with the teacher has always been an incentive to work toward in my classroom and the kids love it. I personally respect any wishes a parent has regarding things they prefer their child not eat. If we have a birthday approaching I just send home a note with that student so that parents can send and alternative snack if they choose to do so.

    Reply
  19. Abigail's Mommy says

    August 15, 2013 at 1:09 pm

    My daughter's kindergarten teacher lets them bring their favorite doll to school for one day as a reward.

    Reply
  20. rebecca says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    Incentives are always a good idea! I have worked in the school system for a few years and students do need goals to work towards. Learning is tiring and breaks are good! :)

    Reply
  21. Amber says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    So how do you approach your schools with this ? And when is enough enough? Do you ever tell the school your child is not allowed? We don't eat candy and processed treats at home. I get sick of my kids coming home with pockets full of wrappers. Truthfully why do kids need rewarded on a daily basis. School work is expected to be done. kind of just like chores at home. But anyway how do you handle these situations. It is especially difficult when you have a child with attention issues!

    Reply
    • Assistant to 100 Days (Amy) says

      August 28, 2013 at 9:16 am

      Hi Amber. This is how we are approaching it at our school where lots of food rewards and junk food is a big problem. Baby steps: https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/10/04/the-healthy-child-and-earth-committee-at-our-school/, https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/04/19/how-to-talk-kids-about-real-food/, https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2011/10/31/student-rewards%E2%80%A6that-aren%E2%80%99t-junk-food/, and https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/01/09/birthday-cupcakes-moral-dilemma/. Hope those posts help. This is a very common struggle. It should not be so difficult. :) ~Amy

      Reply
  22. Vicki says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:22 pm

    A favorite reward back in my elementary and middle schools was R.A.D. - Read All Day. Students brought age appropriate books, a blanket or a pillow and wore their PJs, and we lounged around under our desks literally reading all day. Conversation was kept to a minimum and we were not allowed to sleep. Everyone loved it.

    Reply
  23. Kathleen Donovan says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:17 pm

    Love the thought behind this article, but am a little dismayed that many of the activities involve putting the teacher in an awkward situation or involve demands on teacher time.

    Reply
  24. Tracy says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:13 pm

    Last year my daughters school got rid of brining in food of any kind for Bday parties, and the school parties were all 'no sugar' no Halloween candy passed out on Halloween or with any Valentines Day cards. Which for me is a bit much, I don't mind my kids having a treat here and there, for this year my daughter has 25 kids in her class and is in school for 170 days. So even if every kids brought in cupcakes for their Bday it really isn't that much. They also did keep pizza with the principal for kids who were picked monthly as top Bulldog (kids earned Bulldog tickets for helping others, bringing in weekly homework, doing the right thing... etc) that was a good prize and I doubt the same kid was picked more than once. My daughter who earned her fair share of Bulldogs monthly was never picked in 2 years. The school offered ice cream (push pops) on Friday for a $1, some weeks we remembered some we didn't. I really believe in moderation of the 'junk' food because I do believe that by saying no to everything that kids will rebel when they are older and have their own money. I see that with my son who I strictly limit the number of computer games I buy and have for the past 6 or 7 years now at 17 will spend his $$ on games. My daughter is also one who can make a 1/2 pillow case of Halloween candy last till almost Christmas even after sharing 1/4 of her loot with her brother. So I know my thoughts are geared more towards her being able to handle the 'junk' in small amounts and not bing on her loot or continually ask for more or push after she is told no. She has a healthy relationship with food.... well as long as its not a tomato

    Reply
  25. Tiffany says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:06 pm

    I LOVE that our school very seldom has food treats. My twin daughters are in separate classrooms and both of their teachers reward with "Buddy Lunch". A student can earn a pass for a friend to come to their classroom for lunch. No time is taken away from learning, and they are enjoying the company of a friend.

    Reply
  26. Dianna says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:01 pm

    I guess our School district is different than most. We have very few class parties. Never pizza parties. Teachers can't give out or use candy to teach in class. On the rare class party there is always fruit and veggies brought to class.

    Reply
  27. Rose says

    August 15, 2013 at 12:00 pm

    As a future teacher, I absolutely LOVE this! I am definitely using some of these ideas with my class. :)

    Reply
  28. Susan Stitch says

    August 15, 2013 at 11:56 am

    I love the idea of non-food rewards, but would beg each of you to spend a full day in the classroom with a teacher -- especially teachers in financially challenged districts. Candy isn't allowed in most schools in our area, and home-made or unwrapped treats are also not allowed (means no veggie sticks, precut fruit, etc.). The teachers are give $50 for the year for all purchases, and unfortunately the children aren't able to provide even $5 each to cover party supplies.
    As a mom I love the ideas of art projects, but as the daughter of two teachers and mom of two more, I know what chaos that can cause and realize the teacher will probably have to buy all the supplies. Unfortunately, most kids will be MUCH more responsive to games with m&ms or skittles than buttons...and when only a few kids do what they are supposed to and the rest don't seem to have much respect for others, sometimes the only way to get their attention is to reward those who behave.

    Reply
  29. Tracy R says

    August 15, 2013 at 11:52 am

    Our schools cut out food snacks for birthday parties a couple of years ago. So each year I send in pencils and small pads of papers or a sheet of stickers. I get the pencils imprinted with "Mrs. Smith Class ROcks" or some other thing that mentions the class, and the kids really go nuts for them.
    Also I disagree with some of the posters who say that no rewards are necessary. I think they are a necessary part of reinforcing studious behavior (or good behavior) as we all work for rewards in our lives, whether it be a compliment, a bouquet of flowers from a spouse or a paycheck. I don't think every little thing needs to be rewarded, but if a student goes above and beyond the expectation, that should be rewarded.

    Reply
  30. M says

    August 15, 2013 at 11:51 am

    I typically really appreciate your blog but I think it's terrible that you would promote activities that encourage children to "duct tape" teachers, make them kiss animals, and physically assault them by throwing water and sponges on them. I work in education and my mother has been a teacher for 40 years. Teachers are already disrespected enough in this country. If you want them to respect you and your children by not feeding them junk food (which I support), lets try a little mutual respect.

    Reply
  31. Jade F says

    August 15, 2013 at 11:48 am

    Our school has a new food in the class room policy because of allergies. But last year they had a goal to raise money for new play ground equipment. And if they reached the goal the principal would have his head at the fair night. He had long hair I'd say to his shoulders. And he sure enough shaved his head that night. My daughter was so excited. And she worked harder to raise for him to shave his head then she would have ever worked for a pizza party.

    Reply
  32. Jessica W. says

    July 22, 2013 at 12:00 pm

    I think this list is a truly inspiring idea. During my undergrad work, we basically made a list similar to this for a class one day. (I don't remember exactly why, but apparently my professor disagreed with the idea of using junk foods as 'rewards' as well.) I wanted to share an idea that one of my teachers used with my class in elementary school. When I was in the third grade, we had to read books and take tests on those books. The larger the book and the better we did on the tests, the more points we got. Then we got prizes for reaching a certain number of points. Well my teacher had a loft/reading area in her classroom. Apparently climbing the stairs and getting to read up in the loft was a great reward when I was 8 years old! While most teachers don't have their husbands build lofts in their classrooms, I think the idea of a reading nook that children could 'reserve' during certain times/days would be very rewarding for students. Students who love to read benefit from the extra time and quite space to do so, and students who don't prefer reading still enjoy this special space in the classroom.

    Reply
  33. http://tinyurl.com/thehwild58015 says

    January 17, 2013 at 1:17 am

    It seems you actually understand plenty related to this subject matter and that demonstrates as a result of this particular posting, labeled “Student rewards…that
    aren’t junk food! - 100 Days of Real Food”. Thank you -Lavon

    Reply
  34. Angela says

    January 09, 2013 at 7:21 pm

    My daughter just received 4 homework passes from her teacher as part of her Christmas goodie bag. I think this was her favorite gift! She can only use 1 per week, but she can choose one assignment to "skip". 4 homework assignments to skip over the entire semester doesn't seem like a big deal to me, but it was huge for my 2nd grader! We parents could use "chore passes" as occasional rewards, also!

    Reply
  35. Concerned Teacher says

    October 18, 2012 at 10:12 am

    While I understand what you are trying to accomplish, a huge majority of your ideas promote even more time out of the classroom, violations of dress code policies, or expense on materials when funds are already low.

    I'm not trying to be a downer, honeslty I'm not, but I do want you to realize there are pros and cons to everything we try.

    Reply
    • gbm says

      January 02, 2013 at 11:57 am

      PLEASE LISTEN to this teacher. Kids need every second they get in the classroom for learning. The school day and school year are too short as it is. They hardly go a single full week with all the half days and breaks today. And instruction is constantly interrupted with school events.

      Reply
      • Betsy says

        August 21, 2014 at 11:45 am

        This is the opposite of my childrens' school. The day is incredibly long, with so much wasted time! Better to have fun rewards in place than what I see, which is "line up" taking an extra 5-10 minutes, just to buy the teacher some time to fill up the day.

  36. L says

    September 22, 2012 at 9:30 am

    Being a special ed teacher and a mom I can see both sides of this coin. I did leave a candy math activity last time I had a sub. I have two behaviorally challenged children who leave school, plug in, and open a bag of junk food. When I am present in my classroom we do a lot of physical activities in conjunction with our OT and intermittent rewards and scheduled breaks(do this, then earn something off the break board). I worked very hard and took some blows and pinches to get to the point where the students have a rapport with me. For the sub, I knew this would be easy and fun and the kids would cooperate because it was motivating for them and I knew in one day they wouldn't get to the point I was with my little friends.
    I personally do not give out food rewards in my room. We get "tickets" when they are caught being good or going above and beyond. Usually the ticket reward is associated with the character trait we are working on (cooperation, responsibility, etc). They put their name in the bucket and I pull five on Fridays. They can choose from my prize box. It has stickers, tattoos, jelly bracelets, pencils, bouncy balls, and those rubber hands.
    The only reason I can maintain a prize box is because my school has provided the prizes. Previously I was spending hundreds of dollars at Oriental Trading Company...out of my own money. I generally spend about $500 of my own money on my students. I love them and I know its my calling to pass on the blessings I have received so I try to do it quietly.
    I have been the recipient of a pie in the face, from two students and once from my son as a fundraiser. It was for fun and I didn't mind. I however ended up confiscating most of the stuffed animals on "bring your stuffy to school day" and pajama days are a waste of a day in school as far as focus is concerned.
    It is such a fine line but I am glad to see people discussing options and possible solutions. I am going to pass this on to my team members and bookmark it for myself.

    Reply
  37. Carissa says

    September 21, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    You have a lot of great ideas for nonfood rewards. However I strongly dislike the ones that are encouraging the students to vote for making a teacher kiss an animal or throwing water on the teacher. We work hard each and every school day to teach kids to have great character. Ideas like those go against what we teach. Even though they are doing this for a fun reward they will carry it over as a memory of how they treated someone. Not all children can discriminate fun joking time and how you treat someone every day. So there are ways to have fun without embarrassing anyone and teaching that it is ok even if that person is ok with it.

    One that is fun is students vs. teacher softball game. Or a kickball game. Any game where the kids get to play against the teachers they love it! Thanks for all of your great ideas!

    Reply
    • Jen B says

      August 15, 2013 at 12:23 pm

      Carissa,

      My son's class "won" the opportunity to throw pies at the principal and my son chose not to do it. I asked him why and he just said that he didn't want to throw something at the principal. I was surprised (and pleased) that he had made the connection that it's not really funny/nice to make fun of or embarrass someone - even if it's supposed to be okay.

      Reply
  38. Sara says

    September 21, 2012 at 7:03 pm

    I love these alternatives however the movie is illegal. Unless your school has received written permission to show the movie in a school setting it is a breach of copyright. The school will have a list of movies that they have received written permission to show, however a student cannot bring a video from home.

    Reply
    • Betty says

      August 15, 2013 at 1:09 pm

      Unfortunatly, that is not the case. Just a few years ago I subbed for a teacher who was out for the last few months of the year. The last week of school, each teacher in the grade level let each child bring in their favortie movie. The class then voted on the movie of choice each day. I think four or maybe even five movies were watched that week. No permission was given from the school, the parents, or from the movie copywritters. :-( I assume that this is not the norm in most schools but, you really never know what exactly is being viewed in a school setting. Yikes.

      Reply
      • Casey says

        August 15, 2013 at 1:35 pm

        Hopefully they aren't still doing that because it is illegal without permission.

      • Beth says

        September 27, 2013 at 9:13 am

        I will say that our school has a blanket licence from the studios. Your media specialist should know if your school does. This is reasonable price wise and many schools do have them.

  39. CJ says

    September 21, 2012 at 5:29 pm

    I applaud your efforts to make a change! As a teacher (who eats a whole foods diet and doesn't give treats to the kids), though, I understand why many of my colleagues aren't willing to give up the candy treats. It's just so much easier, and quicker, and requires less planning than many other rewards out there. Teaching takes so much time/planning, and setting up reward parties and events is just one more thing on teachers' plates. I've talked to other teachers about how I use non-candy rewards, but most aren't interested. Although it makes me sad, I totally get it.

    Reply
  40. Sandra Tonkens says

    September 21, 2012 at 4:37 pm

    Communtiy service raffle
    Have each class present themselves to the community and have local business "bid" on each class to do a predetermined community service activity. EX: Joe's plumbing won in the auction for $25.00 towards the school to have Mrs. Wrights class pick up trash at the local park for an hour. This can also constistitue as a field trip too!! Include a seminar on keeping green and our planet healthy and you have three objectives in one!! This can be published by word of mouth and flyer, we all know how competive we parents can be!! Especially if our child is in that class!!

    Reply
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