Awesome Kids Awesome Behavior

I use this great reward system that I "borrowed" from another teacher many years ago. It is not some new fangled idea but this has worked wonders for both my fourth & fifth grade classes. I have been using it for about 16 years to reinforce positive behaviors in my class rather then punish the negative behaviors. The kids love it. I call it "Caught Being Good." I either pass out little slips of paper that I stamp stars or some other cute stamp or I use a ticket that I purchase at the store. Currently, I am using the store bought tickets. I pass the tickets out for any type of good behavior such as; helping a classmate or a teacher, following directions the first time, staying quiet between tasks... you get the idea. At the beginning of the year I am more liberal then I get stingier as the year goes on. The kids write their name on the back & then I pull 5 names at the end of each month. The more tickets the higher the probability that they get chosen. Those 5 kids get to chose something from the "Caught Being Good" list that they come up with at the beginning of the year with my approval. Some of the kids favorites are eating lunch with me & a buddy or coming up to the classroom with a buddy for indoor recess where they get to play on the Smartboard or on the computers. Simple & cheap, just my time which they love more then some store bought token. Just a tried & true but has worked wonders in my room.