Our school implemented an Always On Time monthly reward system that has become a competition between the classes. Each month, the classes that come the closest to 100% attendance with 0 tardies is taken on a field trip with the principal. Past rewards have included a trip to the local high school football game or basketball game, Georgia Aquarium, puppet show, movie matinees, Nutcracker tickets. Most, if not all, of our prizes were donated or deeply discounted for about 50 students per month. There are some classes that never get to go and there are some that are repeat winners, so there's some peer pressure applied by students to get their classmates to push their parents to get them to school on time. I say whatever works! Our tardies are down to 5-7% on average now schoolwide.
Our school developed a bulletin board divided by each school month and each month the attendance % was posted for each class, the best attendance at the top down the board to the lowest. It was really done well using flowers to write results on so it was brightly decorated. The class with the best attendance each month got a pizza party. At the end of the year, the class with the best attendance all year got a trophy which will be passed on to the winner next year plus the pizza party.
The kids really got into it and we had great results!
Most of our higher grade do some sort of money system where kids get "money" for good behavior, perfect attendace, good grades, and so on. Then they use this money to shop at the teachers store. Our principal does a school wide system where you get a dollar for every 10 days in of row of on time attendace and you only need $5 to shop.
The irony of commitment is that it’s deeply liberating-in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life. --Anne Morris
Does anyone do incentives for perfect attendance? We are trying to think of something to get kids to school with out being tardy. The principal said our tardies are way up. Any good ideas?
Our school does the Super Citizen of the month. Any student who gets into trouble fewer than three times a month gets a ticket to attend a special lunch with the principal. The students to grade level K-2 celebrate on one day and 3-5 celebrate on another. They go to lunch about 45 minutes before the first regular classes do, so they have the cafeteria to themselves. They eat lunch with the principal, put their ticket into a bucket for a drawing for a prize, all super citizens receive a prize, they get an extra dessert, and extra recess time. The prizes are inexpensive, and are usually donated by the P.T.O., parents or are purchased through a school account. Last year, the P.T.O. donated left over inexpensive gifts from our Christmas store. Any student who receives super citizen eight out of nine months is acknowledged at the awards assembly at the end of the year and also given a certificate. The school also has the Bully Free program. Any student who refrains from fights or arguments are recognized quaterly. The student council supplies two $25 gift cards to Wal-Mart each quarter for a drawing of the bully free students. We have some of the most polite, well behaved students in our town!
Star Student- Each teacher picks one student in her class that stands out for a variety of reasons; be it performance, conduct, etc.
Also, "C2C"- Commitment to Character- Each teacher chooses a student in their class that exemplifies one of the Key Characteristics (i.e. Responsibility, Accountability, etc).
We as a PTO also promote the teachers singling out three or four of their students a week that have done good deeds, have been good citizens, random acts of kindness, etc. This year, we are going to provide them with certificates that hey can fill in themselves.
We also do Principal for a Day for kids who are top sellers in fundraisers, and Lunch in a Limo, etc.
You can also do an attendance drive and give prizes for attendance. In the end, the kids coming to school on time every day increases the school's revenue and I'm sure a lot of parents find it helpful that their kids want to go school each day!
