Rewarding Student Behavior

If you have been following me you know I took down my behavior clip chart in my kindergarten classroom. It was....liberating! But you can read more about that here.

So knowing that, you can imagine my "joy" to discover that my new school utilizes a behavior chart. Wahh! But okay - get over it because that is just what works for them. Well we are more than half way through the year and unfortunately my disposition on the clip chart has not changed. Yes I use it, but typically forget to move clips up and only move clips down when I am "fed up". To me that is not effective.

So - here comes an incentive!

I have a few students that are are so focused, driven and hard working. They are all around good kids. They are consistently doing what is expected of them. So, I wanted to reward them with something that would actually make them feel good. Yes - moving your clip up is nice but I wanted to actually reward them.

Hence the V.I.P. table was born!

My dear friend Erica uses a V.I.P. caddy in her kindergarten classroom and my stubborn self never really listened to the awesomeness that it offered. What a great way to make a kid feel good! You can read about her caddy here. 

I decided to up the game a little bit for my 5th graders and give them an entire table. My students love any reason to get out of their seats. I purchased these awesome chairs from Walmart for only $10!

Friday before I left for the weekend I rearranged my personal desk so that I could use this table that had my computer. I ran to Big Lots, Walmart and Target to get little goodies to decorate the table and purchase supplies. The final touch were the badges and sign from Create Teach Motivate that you can find here. 

My students walked in on Monday so inquisitive and excited! They were so pumped when I explained what the table was and how you get there. I did have some students who thought it was only for the smart kids. That broke my heart. Because in my opinion that's what they are perceiving is important. But that is certainly NOT the criteria for this table.

I picked my two students from each class and they were so excited! I let them each pick a buddy to sit with them at the table. This table was theirs for the week!

The best part? My grade partner thinks we should expand it to the lunch room. We would have a VIP from each grade and they could bring a friend to sit at a special table. LOVE THIS! I am so excited for how this will motivate my students.