In my classroom students earn points for being caught doing something good, which they can then turn in for rewards of their choice. Up until this week, the treat basket has been the reward of choice. Then, due to some dishonesty issues, I had to take the treat basket away. It's just as well because I was feeling that they weren't really motivated by it anymore. So now, I have to find something else to make them want to make good choices.
As it so happens, DonorsChoose is having a matching campaign coming up in March. So I pulled up the list of accepted vendors and started browsing. Here's what I came up with:
Physio-Gymnic Balance Therapy Balls - 12" (30cm)
At about $13 a piece, these would be a great deal! I've read several articles about the health and behavior benefits of using these in the classroom. Ideally, I'd like 3 or 4 and just rotate them around the classroom each day to the students that earned that reward, but I'm also thinking about storage issues.
Maybe it's the cold weather and lack of sunshine. Maybe it's the fact that it's "crunch time" and we're learning as much as we can a quickly as possible. Whatever the reason, some of my students have developed a temper (slamming things, lashing out at classmates, breaking things on purpose). Perhaps these would help?
I have never heard of Temper Tamers. It looks interesting
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