A Free and Simple Classroom Reward - a Gift for Both Students and Teacher

Are you looking for a simple and free way to reward your students?  

Maybe they've met a behavior challenge, or reached a classroom goal - whatever the reason for celebration - I've got the perfect incentive that both you and your students will LOVE!

Rewarding your students with gifts is expensive. 

Buying gifts for your kiddos adds up, even if it's just adorable items from the Target dollar spot.  Nine months of purchasing school supplies and toys for a treasure bin costs more money than we want to admit.

Rewarding your students with candy is unhealthy.

I used to have a candy jar in my classroom where I would keep jolly ranchers and starbursts.  It was expensive to buy those large bags of candy, but the kids loved it.  I would use the candy to reward my students for all kinds of good behaviors. It seemed to be the easiest form of reward but in retrospect, I was just reinforcing the idea that rewarding with food is positive - which can lead to unhealthy lifestyles.

So how should I reward my students?

If you're fed up with spending money on toys and candy, go ahead and STOP NOW! Do what I've learned works best!  Reward your kids with experiences!

There are many different experiences you can give your students - extra time with technology, gym or recess time, the chance to sit by a friend or in a special classroom spot, the opportunity to have a classroom job or be a classroom leader, permission to bring in a special item from home, and so much more!  

But my favorite experience of them all - is to reward my class with a classroom read-in!

Everything we do in our classroom revolves around building a love for reading. 

So why not focus our classroom rewards on facilitating that love as well!

A read-in is FREE and SIMPLE for you and it can also be so much fun for the kids. This is a gift for both teacher and students!

What Makes A Successful Read-In?

• Allow your students to bring in a blanket and pillow from home, maybe even a stuffed animal too. 
• On the special day, push all the desks out of the way so your kids can spread out and get comfy. 
• Let your students bring in their favorite snack (no candy though).  
• Go to YouTube and play a crackling fireplace in the background.  (We even found a video on YouTube this year that played instrumental Christmas music along with the crackling fire. It was amazing!)
• Read with your kids!
• Take pictures to spread the love.
• Wait for them to start begging for another Read-In! 

Here's the crackling fireplace with Christmas music that we found! 

I always read with my students during a Read-In.  It's so nice to get comfy and forget the stress of teaching for a short while! 

  

I hope you try out a read-in in your classroom this year.  

It could be your next answer to rewarding your students for reaching that classroom goal or milestone! 

 If you have any additional tips for making a classroom read-in successful, leave them in the comments below!!