Free Reward & Incentive Ideas for the Classroom

Even though I teach K-12 and do many things differently for each age group, one thing remains the same. I encourage positive behavior with rewards & incentives. This is something that is encouraged throughout my school. Some classes have prize buckets, some classes have privileges that students can earn, and more. One thing I firmly believe, however, is that rewards and incentives don't have to cost a lot of money, if any. Here are some free ideas of ways to provide rewards & incentives for your students.

Free Rewards Students Can Earn in Class

- Allow students to use the comfy teacher chair for the class period or day
- Students can buy time to use the computer appropriately
- Free homework pass
- Spend time or eat lunch with a staff member (if it's not you, make sure that it's okay with them!)
- Pick a game to play with a peer
- Visit or help out another class
- Choose your spot in line for the day
- Listen to music while working on an assignment
- Have a set amount of free time to draw, write, etc...
- Earn extra credit points
- Extra gym time by joining another class

Free Rewards for a Prize Bucket

 - Save your fortune cookies from a Chinese restaurant
- Bookmarks (I find that I get some of these for free in the mail that look attractive to kids)
- Save cute soaps from a hotel (The kids loved little Mickey soaps I saved after visiting Florida!)
- Ask parents to donate small toys from kids' meals
- Samples you may get in the mail (cereal bars, gum, etc...)
- Save small little gift bags/boxes from gifts that are in good shape

Fabulous Friday Freebies: Classroom Management Ideas & Freebies

With school just starting for some and about to start for others, this is a great time to implement new classroom management techniques into your teaching day. Here are some classroom management freebies & fun ideas that you might find useful in your classroom.

I saw this poster on Pinterest and thought it was a great idea to have not only class expectations but also give examples of what it looks like and sounds like. Those clear examples help students think about how to act and give them ideas of what is appropriate. You could even have students do this as an activity listing what different rules/expectations look like and sound like. This could work well if you have students that need to learn appropriate social skills.

This class rules poster is a great way to get your students involved by having them help make your poster. One of my colleagues does not take photos of students but she still gets them involved by having them color fish or other animals that tell the rules instead.

Classroom bucks are a great incentive for good behavior that can motivate young students. I offer a free set of Art Bucks on my TPT store. I also include some suggestions for free prizes so you do not have to spend much money, if any, to use them. If Art Bucks are not your thing, I also offer general Classroom Bucks for a small charge.

This "There are Rules?" game is something that can be adapted to a wide variety of age levels and helps students think about why there are rules in school and why rules are important. I thought it was a creative idea and comes with some sheets with questions for students to reflect on and answer.

This free Classroom Economy Power Pack is also a great way to start a new classroom management system. This pack includes a fee set of classroom money in a variety of denominations. I have not tried this personally, but I have seen teachers set up a checkbook system in their classroom where students earn money each day by doing different tasks and can spend their money on rewards. Some classes even go so far as to charging the students rent each week for their desk to practice real world skills.

Do you have a free classroom management item? Please feel free to share in the comments below!

Keeping Students On Task

It can be difficult to keep students on task when there are so many different things happening in the classroom at one time. Some students might finish at different times or some students needed more help than others. To help keep students that have finished early on task, I have created art packets that rely on using each student's creativity.

This Fast Finishers Art Activities packet contains 50 printable creative drawing pages. It has been rated 4 stars by fellow TPT members so check it out!

For spring, a spring themed Fast Finishers packet is also available. It contains 22 spring themed creative drawing pages for your students.

If you want to check out a sample of what my fast finishers packets are like, check out my free Valentine's Day fast finishers packet. Although most of the pages are themed for Valentine's Day, some of them are still easily usable in your classroom year round.