Spark Student Motivation: Positive Pranking

Happy Halloween! You made it through the week!
Let's spark some motivation and spread some kindness!

This is an idea YOU HAVE to use in your classroom! It will motivate your students, spread kindness, and make another classroom happy all at the same time!
What is it called? POSITIVE PRANKING!

Positive Pranking is doing something nice for someone else, the reverse of the pranking that's hurtful and sometimes destructive. The form of positive pranking we're doing is the reverse of "ding-dong-ditching". Instead of knocking on a house door and leaving without a trace, we're knocking on classroom doors and leaving a goodie bag!

I filled treat bags with lollipops and pencil cap erasers and topped it with a note to explain the special delivery. We didn't sign the notes, but we did leave a "clue". We stamped them with a high heel stamp...do you think they'll guess who it is??!!

 

 We plan "MISSIONS" as a class (who will receive the positive prank, the route the positive pranker will take, and where to hide after they knock). One of my students is keeping track in a notebook of all the classrooms we've hit and which students have had a turn to carry out the prank

This student wanted to "dress up" for his mission! So cute!

 

 My class is so funny the way they pile at the door to watch the mission. Then we have to quickly close the door before the other class answers. We don't get to see the reactions of the teacher or students, but we love imagining it!

My students are BEGGING me to do the positive pranking! I tell them I'm looking for someone who is a leader in our class and someone who can pull off the mission!

This is seriously one of the BEST things I've implemented in our classroom! It makes EVERYONE happy and feel good! We've pranked 6 classrooms so far! We plan to do one a day until we've pranked the whole school!!!

 

Help spread kindness and positive prank someone today!

 

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

 

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Spark Student Motivation: Scan to Win Reward Tickets

It's Saturday! Time to SPARK SOME STUDENT MOTIVATION!



Are your students getting comfortable and need a new incentive to work for?
I have just the thing for you and your students!!

I created these SCAN TO WIN REWARD TICKETS a few years ago and they've been a hit with every student! It's the element of surprise that gets everyone excited! You'll be as excited as your students as they "scan and reveal" what they've won!

My students can earn a Scan to Win for all kinds of reasons: participation, random act of kindness, Reading Counts Points, improvement, homework completion, passing a subject area test, clean desk, and my favorite....just because!

I like to keep them guessing when Scan to Win tickets will be given out! The only "constant" way to earn one is for moving to a new Reading Counts Points Club, the rest are spontaneous!

It's something very easy to incorporate into your classroom and administration and other teachers are always impressed with this reward system. I used them at open house too and let my parents scan for their children, even the parents loved it! :)

See the video below for my student who already has over 300 Reading Counts Points...yes, it is only October!!! Whoop Whoop! I have two that are neck and neck and they're pushing each other with a friendly competition that's motivating them both!  I love it!

 

Sometimes I also have my students nominate each other for something they've noticed about their behavior, effort, etc. This student was "nominated" by one of his group members for being helpful to his group and always listening. Letting their peers recognize their greatness is a huge self-esteem booster too! Two for one!

Tickets can be handed out and redeemed ("scanned") at the end of the day or right at that moment, your choice.
This student Scanned to Win and won a ring pop! (Always a favorite and they're only 25 cents!)

Most of the prizes are free or of little cost: sit with a friend, free answer on a test, eat lunch with the teacher, use pen all day, extra computer time, treat, new pencil, 60 different SCAN TO WIN REWARD TICKETS. I've even included "Sorry, try again," if you want to promote risk taking. Sometimes I offer them a "for sure" prize or they can take a chance by scanning a ticket. It's real life right, we're not all winners! LOL!

Tickets can also be reused or let students keep them. Each prize comes ten to a page and I only print the ones I want to offer to my class. If you're interested, check it out here.

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

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Spark Student Motivation: Student Wall of Fame

I hope everyone had a wonderful week-mine was jam-packed (as usual!). Today I want to share an idea I've been using since the beginning of my teaching. My good friend reminded me this week that I haven't blogged about it yet! :) Ooops!

 Each week I feature a new student to be spotlighted in our classroom. They wait anxiously to see who the next celebrity spotlight will be! I send home a letter explaining the week's activities the week before. This week is a special week for the student, each day having special meaning.

 

On Monday, students bring in items to decorate their Wall of Fame (bulletin board) that represent them or want to share with everyone. They can bring in anything that can be hung. They bring in a range of items (photos, medals, certificates, artifacts, souvenirs, covers of favorite books/games, etc.). They share all of their items on Monday with our class. It's a wonderful way to get to know more about each other and for students to share important things they want others to know about themselves.

 

On Tuesday, my students write compliment cards to the featured student about what makes them special or that they appreciate about them. Each student writes on a hole punched index card that is kept on a book ring for the student to keep as a memento for years. (I have students in college that still have their compliment cards!!) It's definitely a keepsake!

On Wednesday, the featured student's parents or family members write a special note about them. I read it aloud to the class and of course, you will hear my students say "awwww" when I finish reading. They're always so touching and gives us a different perspective about each student. 

On Thursday, the featured student gets to sit with a friend. He/she chooses who they want to sit next to and I either switch another student for the day or let them sit at a table together. They also get to use pen all day. (This is a big deal!)

 



On Friday, I invite a family member to come eat lunch with their featured student and myself. Sometimes they bring lunch and sometimes they just join us to enjoy their "fame". At this time we also read the compliment cards aloud. Parents are so touched to hear what other classmates say about their child. It is very touching and I know it makes the parent feel special too. After all, they already know great things about their child, but it's a proud moment when others notice it too.

 

 



PHOTO BELOW: At the end of the year last year I allowed my students to teach their own lesson. One of my students taught a lesson on kindness and had each student write a compliment card to me so I could have a set too. These cards will be cherished forever...so heartfelt and such appreciation for the job I do for them. I now know how my students feel to receive these cards and the importance of sharing appreciation for each other. 



I've been featuring a student and designating a spot for them to shine since the beginning of my teaching and it's one of the things I could never get rid of in my classroom. The importance of letting a student shine for reasons other than academic is so beneficial and such a self-esteem booster. They love it and I love it!
 

 

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

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Spark Student Motivation: Featured Books

Do you have some special books in your class that you'd love your students to read? Have your purchased some new books that you want snatched off the shelves?
FEATURE THEM!

Yep, that simple! I am fortunate to have a HUGE library, but I wanted a new way to feature special books each week/month. So I cleared off the top of my book shelves, purchased some book displays, and made some signs...and then I had "FEATURED BOOKS"!

 

 

My students can "shop" around for any books in my classroom, but this display attracts them right away! I've noticed since I added this to my classroom this year, it's the first place they look when searching for a new read.

 

 

I love having the books facing forward, but I have so many books I can only feature a few. ( I know, it's not a bad problem to have!) I just know kids gravitate towards book covers, not book spines, which is why I decided to do this in the first place.

 

 

These are books that are just released or are new to our classroom. Just the word "new" makes anything sound better!

It's so exciting to see books flying off the display and my students enjoying these books! I don't mind having to refill my display AT ALL! :)

 

 Feature a few special books that have been forgotten on a shelf or favorites of yours to attract attention. These are displayed on plate/frame holders.

If only a few are featured, students think they're "special" and want to take them of the display!

 

Now, these books are different...I want to attract their attention and pique their curiosity, but they are NOT ALLOWED to read these books! (Which drives them CRAZY!) Why can't they read these books? These are the books that I will be reading to them! These are special mentor texts or read alouds I plan to share with my students sometime "soon".

Just putting them up on my display makes them want to take the book, especially since they know they can't read it! Aren't I mean??!! Look at the face below-she wants to read that "Coming Soon" book so badly, but I have to be firm and say NO! It just makes them appreciate the book so much more when I do share it. There's a little cheer and squeal when I walk over to my display to take a book off of my coming soon shelf to read to them!

Want to pique your students' curiosity? Do you need some display tent cards to get started?
Click here to download.
Enjoy your readers and your books! :)
 

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

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Spark Student Motivation: Special Deliveries at School

Happy Fall Y'all! That's right! Florida is getting a cold front and our temperatures will be a high of 82! Time to break out the scarves and sweaters! Lol!

My favorite ideas are the simple ones, especially the ones I find or discover on accident!
So simple, it's only changing the shipping address for packages! :)

Do you order books from Amazon? I usually have all of my shipments sent to my house, but this year I've ordered a few books and had them shipped to school and it definitely sparks motivation!


I notify the front office that I'm expecting a package and then I let my student I ordered the book for go pick it up and open it. It's definitely an exciting moment...everyone loves opening packages!

This idea came to me after getting a few students to read the first book in a series. After I get them hooked on a book, I entice them with the second book. I tell them if they think they can finish the book in a couple of days, I'll have the second (or third) book delivered in two days just for them! (If I don't already own the series or sequel.)

 

 These two were both waiting for this package! This is the sequel to a book they both read. It was so sweet when the package came, they said, "Let's open it together!"

 

Here's a little clip of these girls opening the package...I love how she ((hugs)) the book after she opens it! TOTALLY worth the delivery!

 A simple idea to make students feel excited and motivated about reading. Think about how we feel when we get mail (especially packages)? It's the same for students!  Try this simple idea, you'll love and your students will love it!

 

I hope you had a wonderful week! Please link up any lessons, ideas, tips, tricks, incentives, ANYTHING you do get your students motivated or excited!

Don't forget to grab my button and link back to this post!

Check out all the wonderful ideas from my friends who link up and don't forget to leave some love by commenting....we LOVE comments!
***Please include the topic in the link up with your blog name.

An InLinkz Link-up