How can we possibly answer this successfully if we don’t know what you already know?

I use a really simple system that works K-6. Each term, I buy a jar and fill it with jelly beans. If a student does the right thing, he or she may try to guess how many jelly beans are in the jar (I keep a poster on the wall next to the jar as a record). At the end of the term, I check to see who is closest, and that student wins the jar of jelly beans.

I teacher first grade as well, and as a reward system I found that my LOTTO chart works.

What it is is…

A big grid with the numbers 1 -6 across the bottom and 1-6 down the side on the left.

Picture a bunch of squares in between.

When the students do something good, answer a challenge question, etc. I will tell them to put their initials on LOTTO. (The poster board is laminated and the students write their initials in one of the squares with a vis a vis marker.) When each square is full of initials we will roll lotto. I have big foam dice to aid with this. We may have 4-5 rolls per time. Say I roll a 3 first… I go to the bottom and find the 3. Then I roll a 4… I go up 4 squares… whoever has their initials there wins a prize! When we are through rolling, we simply erase the board and start over again!

I hope I explained this well enough…

The kids love it and work very hard to get their name on lotto as much as possible since their odds of winning increase!

Also, it eliminates me having to ask for/purchase so many prizes!

I teach a course on classroom management and also work as a full-time middle school social studies teacher…

I would be very careful about using these elaborate reward/punishment systems. They provide only temporary solutions to ongoing problems and have many negative side effects.

The proactive approach is a much better classroom management plan. Go to this site for more info on the proactive approach: http://www.Classroom-Management-Tips.com

Also, I have been making lots of posts on my blog about this issue lately…you can read them here: http://www.Teaching-Tips-Machine.com/blog

Many people are unaware of how many simple “tricks” there are out there that can turn your worst behaved student into a positive contributor to your classroom.

My son’s teacher had a system that he loved. Everyone in the class had clothespins with their name on it. These were clipped to a board that was divided into thirds: green at the top, yellow in the middle, and red at the bottom. Everyone started the day off at green. If you broke a rule, you had to move your clip. If you ever got to red then you had to visit the principal. If you stayed a green you got a LOVE NOTE sent home that read: “I followed ALL of the classroom rules today. Please give me a BIG HUG AND TWO KISSES. Then tell me how proud you are of me!” If you moved to yellow you still got a Love Note, but the wording was slightly changed. My son loved collecting his green Love Notes to see how many he could get. At the end of the year he had all green except for one yellow, and that he got because he forgot to raise his hand!

I don’t really have punishments. I have rewards and the consequence is that they don’t get the reward. I have Fabulous Friday which they have to earn during the week.

in a montessory set up reward and punishment isn’t advisable inside the classroom..but if you really wish to practice it,this is the best you can do “reward in public and reprimand in private!”this will help your students gain/uplist self-esteem

i use the traffic light in my second grade class! green-no problems at all. yellow-one problem. red-trouble!

it’s been proving effective in so many school districts! i’ve been using it for over 10 years, and i have no complaints. the children have to realize that when you are bad, you are punished.

all my best,

brittney xo