What's Working Wednesday Linky & Freebie!

First and foremost I must give a huge shout out to Honey Bunch for my AWESOME new blog design! I am in love with every part of this design and I am thrilled with their work. They took great care to be sure that my design was all ME and it is! Thanks  girls!! ♥♥


Now on to a great Linky Party hosted by Gina at Third Grade Tidbits and Brandi from Success in Second Grade! We are sharing what's working for us in our classroom. Hopefully, we can all pick up some new tricks for our bags!


In my classroom I have been using the clip chart for behavior. Prehaps you have seen it or use it yourself. I think it is effective because students start the day Ready To Learn. They can move their clip up the chart when showing positive behavior or clip down if things aren't going so great. I like that they have a chance to redeem themselves and move back up as the day goes on. My students happen to respond well to this behavior management plan. If they move up the chart they write their class number (I give students a number at the start of the year and we use it for a lot of things) on a bingo board.

On Friday we have a raffle...some may win and some may not. The idea is the more you move up the chart the more chances you have to win. They really LOVE this! The raffle is so exciting for them!  I keep them on their toes because they never know how many numbers I will pick or what the prizes will be from week to week. We have to keep things fresh or the thrill wears off.

Prizes in my room include a sweet treat jar, a treasure box, and prize coupons. My students LOVE LOVE LOVE the coupons and the best part is they don't cost me a dime!  The coupons (most are students' ideas) include Sit with a Friend for the Day, Sit at the Teacher's Desk for One Hour, Pick a Job, Teacher's Helper, 10 minutes of Free Time, and No Homework Pass. We are a public school, but our kids wear a uniform, so the No Uniform Pass is a favorite. Another popular coupon is Chew Gum. I'm sure some of you are cringing and thinking, "WHAT?? Chew gum in school??" My rule is they can ONLY chew it in our classroom! I supply a few different flavors of sugar free gum and they chew away! I have NEVER had a problem. Another popular coupon is Choose a Special Writing Tool for the Day.  I have a bunch of fun pens and pencils from Disney on my desk. I allow them to choose one and use it all day. They think it is neat to write with the teacher's pen.

I print a page of each coupon on card stock, place them in a jar, and use them for the kids to pick from. After they pick from the jar, I give them a paper copy of the coupon with their name on it and they can redeem them at any time. (If they lose the coupon they are out of luck....I don't give another)

These prizes have been very successful in my classroom. You could use some or all of them or ask your students what they might like and create your own. The important part is they buy into the rewards and  it's nice to have a variety as I find kids quickly tire of the same old thing.

You can download a FREE set of my reward coupons here and see how they work for you! I would love to hear back!

If want to share something from your bag of tricks, grab the banner below and post it proudly on your blog. Link up at Third Grade Tidbits! Remember the rule of 3---check out the 2 blogs before you and the one after you and share some of that bloggy love!♥

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