Does anyone ever give rewards for the winning team of mind soccer or any other academic games? Or is the game its own reward?

Any other suggestions of rewards or incentives to give students for getting more smilies than frownies?

Mike
5th Grade Teacher

I think part of WBT is helping children develop appreciation for intrinsic rewards. That being said, I keep my rewards small and frequent. Lining up early for recess is an easy and cheap reward (they ususally get out right when the bell rings). I also do a raffle at the end of the day if they win for the whole day. I pull two tickets for every point they win by. Prizes are school supplies that have been donated by parents (fun pencils, erasers, etc.) or a Jolly Rancher or similar candy. My fourth graders LOVE the raffle. I spend about $15 a year on candy if I do not get parent donations.

I teach French in elementary school, and have been using the scoreboard successfully since the beginning of the school year.From what I understood at a conference with Chris Biffle, it was better to keep the incentives "small" and progressively increase the "rewards" along the year (if needed). 1 minute extra (or less) recess could later be increased to 2, 3 minutes..I always include in my lesson plan some engaging, fun activities for the children, and save ONE as the incentive (a quick game, a French riddle ,a mini craft, 2-3 mn coloring, pointing to the alphabet with my laser pen, ...). I am a huge fan of WBT.

for each smiley face they get they get a recess ball... I make my students work for thoses balls. I also use the smilies for every smiley they get that many minutes to play mind soccer.

Mike and all

Rewards are a tricky part but we believe that the most important reward as was stated is the game itself. It has also been stated below that we want to increase the reward as we go.

Sometimes you are going to need to play "You bet your early Release" and "You Bet Your Reduced HW", but our real goal is SuperSpeed, any version, or of course, Mind Soccer.

WBT is all about the fun in learning. Keep the rewards small for maximum effort.

Chris