That can be difficult to accomplish within today’s culture of apathy.
Student motivation just might be the missing ingredient.
But, lucky for you, you have navigated the interwebs and stumbled upon the ultimate guide to help you establish a student rewards system.
A system that is guaranteed to keep your kiddos interested and engaged all throughout their time in your school.
Motivating your students can be very simple. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value within your school community.
Your students should know what they are and how to meet them. They also know that when they do, they will receive a reward that can take many forms based on their grade level and their school culture.
They can be tangible or intangible. They may have a monetary value or not. The only thing that matters is that your students value the reward, which gives the reward value.
Tangible Reward Examples
Swag that can carry more swag! Who doesn’t love that?!
Books can appeal to any age group. Make sure you include books from a wide range of genres and don’t forget the comics!
Nothing brings up the mood in your building like a little holiday cheer! Select some special helpers to deliver Boo 👻 Grams, Thankful Feathers 🦃, Christmas Cookies 🍪, Valentine’s Candy Grams ❤️️, and St. Patty’s ☘️ Clover Grams to your students who qualify for this reward in their class!
Intangible Reward Examples
Allow a student to earn some out-of-class time making rounds with the school custodian.
For older students, give them the option of dropping their lowest grade on a quiz or homework assignment from their overall grade.
This doesn't have to be crazy! Even letting students go a minute before the bell can feel like a big privilege.
That means you can launch a student rewards system with a little-to-no budget if you're creative and do a great job building buy-in with your students.
Expensive Rewards
If you're an animal lover, consider getting a fish, turtle, or hamster for your class! Then, save time caring for it by enlisting the help of students. This special privilege can serve as a reward for good behavior.
Celebrate school spirit by holding a bonfire. With all of the famous bonfire trimmings – smores, music, food, dancing, stories, drinks, and games – students can enjoy this, normally esoteric, event in a fun and safe environment amongst their peers.
Elementary and Middle Schools arrange with their affiliate or nearby high school an event where soon-to-be graduates visit the school and take part in a parade. Students lining the hallways are encouraged to wear apparel from their favorite university and cheer as the graduates parade through.
Inexpensive Rewards
Time to dig through those attics, garages, sheds, and deep back in your parents’ closets. Because it’s time to party with a blast from the past!
This is a lip-sync event where students choose their favorite songs from their favorite artists and perform them.
Imagine your school café has a roped-off section that is complete with tablecloth and fine dining silverware that is reserved for your students who go above and beyond your school-wide expectations.
Most educators agree that a major factor in student achievement is morale and motivation. If the student isn’t motivated to participate, it is doubtful they will be successful.
So why do we need to reward students for positive behavior?
Some of us are intrinsically motivated. No matter what the task, we will try to do our very best. Experienced educators know that self-motivated students do exist, but they are often the exception, not the rule.
If they meet or exceed expectations, students want to be rewarded. You can even increase your instructional time with students by creating attendance incentives.
You can teach your students Financial Literacy through rewards! On a recent episode of The Flywheel Effect, Jason Haniger made the case that every school in America could use a token economy-style rewards system because it not only increases motivation but it also allows you to teach hard-to-grasp skills like financial literacy.
3. You can create a culture where positive actions are not only encouraged, they are rewarded.
If done right, you can create a “legacy of positivity” as Paul Kennedy described on our podcast.
Humans like to be recognized and rewarded, and when they do so, they are more likely to do so again. We all like to know that our effort is appreciated.
Here are some great examples of rewards that every student would like to have:
Allow students some floor time to tell a joke. This will be an especially great outlet for some students – you know the ones!
Everybody loves a brain break, especially when it gives you time to decompress and refocus before starting something new.
Let's be honest: students love getting to be the center of attention. And what's a more public way than the school announcements?
“It’s OK to reward kids for doing the right things.”-Nick Payne, Middle School Principal
Systemizing your student reward system will help you create a consistent and structured approach to recognizing and rewarding student achievement. Additionally, it will help you to create a sense of fairness and equity among all students.
But you're going to need some reward system ideas like we have listed below to make it easier for you to track student progress and identify areas of improvement, as well as develop strategies to motivate and engage students.
A school rewards app is important because it can provide a convenient way for teachers and administrators to recognize and reward their students from anywhere at any time.
Where to Start: By adopting a behavior management platform like LiveSchool you can leverage technology to organize your system with a behavior management app that can keep track of all the things you need for rewarding your kids.
By having clearly defined discipline data administrators can track patterns and trends in student behavior over time in order to identify areas of improvement and target interventions where necessary.
Where to Start: Define what matters to your school and track those behaviors.
By obtaining pre-approval you ensure that the rewards are appropriate and that the vendors and partners have been vetted to ensure they abide by the school's policies.
Where to Start: This one may already be done by your district. If not you can compile it over time, but it will eventually save you time as you don’t want to be a teacher, PBIS coach, and also cold-call local businesses.
By building a PBIS Store you can create a formal process for students to spend those hard-earned points with the added benefit of establishing a visual reminder of what your students are working towards.
There are tons of great iterations of school stores. They come in all shapes and sizes:
Where to Start: Begin by brainstorming school store ideas. To ease the logistical demand on your staff we’d suggest researching how to build a student-run rewards store. Then your students can decide how to design the store and if they’d like to provide digital options to your rewards offering.
By investing some time early on with your team, you can decide upon guidelines under which all future rewards can fall.
“When our teachers are incorporating competition into their lessons, you can just feel the buzz in the building.”-Eric Keiper, Dean of Students
When planning a reward, you'll need to decide how large a group you want to include. You can give individual rewards to students who excel, reward a whole class for meeting expectations, or even plan an event for a grade level or the entire school.
Where to Start: We have compiled a list of class rewards and a collection of class party ideas. Consider STEM Field Day or a Glow Party for a memorable reward your students won't forget!
It is important to choose grade-level appropriate student rewards because it helps motivate students to work hard and achieve their goals. Grade-level appropriate rewards will also help foster a sense of accomplishment since the students can relate more to the rewards they are receiving.
Elementary school incentives do not have to be costly or complicated. They can be cheap prizes or even free! In fact, we found 50 free student rewards that would work great for younger students. Elementary school students love fun classroom rewards but talk to your students to find out what they like.
What’s most important is that students feel valued and appreciated and recognize that positive behavior plays a vital role in making the classroom a special place for everyone.
A few examples that your elementary students will love:
In partners, students work to create the best reading fort they can imagine. Then, lights out! For the rest of the time, students flashlight read independently or with a buddy.
With great power comes great responsibility. Let students bask in the glory of leading their fellow classmates through the great halls of your school.
Allowing students to eat lunch with their teacher is a big honor and lets you develop relationships with your students as they understand you are giving up your quiet lunch to spend with them.
If you're a middle school teacher you know that motivation and morale matter a great deal. Not just for student engagement and success, but for your sanity as well!
But how do you find incentive ideas for middle school students that will actually work? You need ideas that will incentivize and at times even entertain your students. But how do you know what will do that?
You can start by asking them!
You need to harness the power of student voice before you plan prizes for middle school.
A few examples that are sure to motivate your middle school students:
Students get to eat lunch in a private room (with an adult chaperone) with friends and play their personal, school-appropriate playlist.
The student messenger is someone who delivers important messages and notes throughout the school. This is a great privilege students can earn, and it's also a good intervention for your Tier 2 students who may need opportunities for breaks.
Students love talking! So let them earn it. This can be a class-wide activity, or a student can have the floor share a funny story from the weekend.
As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K through 12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in school.
They still need school. But you’re going to need incentives for high school students that they actually want.
They are in school and they will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement.
The best way to create an engaging learning environment in high school is to create an unforgettable experience for your students. Here are some fun high school events ideas that will create lifelong memories for your kiddos.
A few examples that even high school students will get excited about:
The famous improv show that airs on TV is a fun favorite for everyone. There are so many segments that range from intermediate to advanced for every student who feels brave enough to showcase their improv skills.
Let’s get out of the classroom and put some of this service learning to work with a student-led initiative that highlights different community service projects locally.
Use each step as a location to place a few words of the message that you want to get across. This can be educational material, current events, politics, pop culture, and school news.
Your rewards don’t have to all be the same thing. Remember they can be tangible, or intangible. They can be small daily incentives or big prizes that they need to work towards.
You can use classroom prizes, and virtual prizes or you can use fun school event ideas to motivate your students and enhance your school culture.
Here are a few examples of each to inform your planning:
Teachers decide on a theme and have students create their own interpretation of it.
Gather some of your favorite board games and teach your students how to follow rules the good old-fashioned way. You can even turn it into a class-wide tournament. Maybe board games are a bit retro, but you can make them cool with your students.
Create a jar for students to submit questions about YOU. As a reward, you could dedicate some time to answering questions the whole class or select from the jar or take a few at random. You never know what students will ask!
These expeditions can be found through e-learning platforms such as Nearpod, through websites that have educational programs like National Geographic or Discovery Education, or popular destinations such as zoos or museums.
A virtual talent show can be conducted live, or, even better, over social media! Create a hashtag for students and prompts they can share.
Online classes don't mean there can't be class spirit. As a class, your virtual students can earn points that can unlock an online party.
Give everyone headphones and let them play their favorite music and dance the night away, silently.
Your Principal begins announcing names and unveiling house selections for all of the new students as their new housemates cheer like crazy for their newly induction peers.
Grab a couple of gallons of ice cream, some whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget the sprinkles!
It’s time to get the gear, look the part, and transform your school into a local Cosplay convention! Who doesn’t want to dress as their favorite Anime character for a school party?
This free reward allows students of all ages to explore the many opportunities they can explore in their adult lives.
This is a great activity for individuals or small groups. You can find plenty of free ones online that cover nearly every subject area, but it’s actually fun (and pretty easy) to create your own.
If you’re a school leader you’d be wise to not forget your staff when it comes to recognizing and celebrating those who are doing great things in your school.
Our teachers deserve to be praised, respected, and recognized. They deserve some teacher rewards as well!
Here are a few that your staff is sure to love:
1. Lifesaver Award
Create a trophy (be creative here) that staff can award each other at your faculty meeting to recognize colleagues who go above and beyond to help them, the school, and the students.
2. Decision Maker
Want to instill buy-in with your staff? Include them in the decision-making process. Invite the teacher of the week to your admin team.
3. Principal’s Parking Spot
Re-designate your parking spot for teacher recognition.
School rewards are great for incentives and improving morale. They are also great for student motivation. We hope this guide will help you integrate your rewards with your school’s unique culture and that you can use these ideas to find a way to include all students in your rewards program, or if your just getting started don't forget to take a look at our Behavior Rubric examples.
“Change the way you see school. Change the way you do school. Change the results you get at school.”-Kanetha Callahan, Community Achieves Site Coordinator
That can be difficult to accomplish within today’s culture of apathy.
Student motivation just might be the missing ingredient.
But, lucky for you, you have navigated the interwebs and stumbled upon the ultimate guide to help you establish a student rewards system.
A system that is guaranteed to keep your kiddos interested and engaged all throughout their time in your school.
Motivating your students can be very simple. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value within your school community.
Your students should know what they are and how to meet them. They also know that when they do, they will receive a reward that can take many forms based on their grade level and their school culture.
They can be tangible or intangible. They may have a monetary value or not. The only thing that matters is that your students value the reward, which gives the reward value.
Tangible Reward Examples
Swag that can carry more swag! Who doesn’t love that?!
Books can appeal to any age group. Make sure you include books from a wide range of genres and don’t forget the comics!
Nothing brings up the mood in your building like a little holiday cheer! Select some special helpers to deliver Boo 👻 Grams, Thankful Feathers 🦃, Christmas Cookies 🍪, Valentine’s Candy Grams ❤️️, and St. Patty’s ☘️ Clover Grams to your students who qualify for this reward in their class!
Intangible Reward Examples
Allow a student to earn some out-of-class time making rounds with the school custodian.
For older students, give them the option of dropping their lowest grade on a quiz or homework assignment from their overall grade.
This doesn't have to be crazy! Even letting students go a minute before the bell can feel like a big privilege.
That means you can launch a student rewards system with a little-to-no budget if you're creative and do a great job building buy-in with your students.
Expensive Rewards
If you're an animal lover, consider getting a fish, turtle, or hamster for your class! Then, save time caring for it by enlisting the help of students. This special privilege can serve as a reward for good behavior.
Celebrate school spirit by holding a bonfire. With all of the famous bonfire trimmings – smores, music, food, dancing, stories, drinks, and games – students can enjoy this, normally esoteric, event in a fun and safe environment amongst their peers.
Elementary and Middle Schools arrange with their affiliate or nearby high school an event where soon-to-be graduates visit the school and take part in a parade. Students lining the hallways are encouraged to wear apparel from their favorite university and cheer as the graduates parade through.
Inexpensive Rewards
Time to dig through those attics, garages, sheds, and deep back in your parents’ closets. Because it’s time to party with a blast from the past!
This is a lip-sync event where students choose their favorite songs from their favorite artists and perform them.
Imagine your school café has a roped-off section that is complete with tablecloth and fine dining silverware that is reserved for your students who go above and beyond your school-wide expectations.
Most educators agree that a major factor in student achievement is morale and motivation. If the student isn’t motivated to participate, it is doubtful they will be successful.
So why do we need to reward students for positive behavior?
Some of us are intrinsically motivated. No matter what the task, we will try to do our very best. Experienced educators know that self-motivated students do exist, but they are often the exception, not the rule.
If they meet or exceed expectations, students want to be rewarded. You can even increase your instructional time with students by creating attendance incentives.
You can teach your students Financial Literacy through rewards! On a recent episode of The Flywheel Effect, Jason Haniger made the case that every school in America could use a token economy-style rewards system because it not only increases motivation but it also allows you to teach hard-to-grasp skills like financial literacy.
3. You can create a culture where positive actions are not only encouraged, they are rewarded.
If done right, you can create a “legacy of positivity” as Paul Kennedy described on our podcast.
Humans like to be recognized and rewarded, and when they do so, they are more likely to do so again. We all like to know that our effort is appreciated.
Here are some great examples of rewards that every student would like to have:
Allow students some floor time to tell a joke. This will be an especially great outlet for some students – you know the ones!
Everybody loves a brain break, especially when it gives you time to decompress and refocus before starting something new.
Let's be honest: students love getting to be the center of attention. And what's a more public way than the school announcements?
“It’s OK to reward kids for doing the right things.”-Nick Payne, Middle School Principal
Systemizing your student reward system will help you create a consistent and structured approach to recognizing and rewarding student achievement. Additionally, it will help you to create a sense of fairness and equity among all students.
But you're going to need some reward system ideas like we have listed below to make it easier for you to track student progress and identify areas of improvement, as well as develop strategies to motivate and engage students.
A school rewards app is important because it can provide a convenient way for teachers and administrators to recognize and reward their students from anywhere at any time.
Where to Start: By adopting a behavior management platform like LiveSchool you can leverage technology to organize your system with a behavior management app that can keep track of all the things you need for rewarding your kids.
By having clearly defined discipline data administrators can track patterns and trends in student behavior over time in order to identify areas of improvement and target interventions where necessary.
Where to Start: Define what matters to your school and track those behaviors.
By obtaining pre-approval you ensure that the rewards are appropriate and that the vendors and partners have been vetted to ensure they abide by the school's policies.
Where to Start: This one may already be done by your district. If not you can compile it over time, but it will eventually save you time as you don’t want to be a teacher, PBIS coach, and also cold-call local businesses.
By building a PBIS Store you can create a formal process for students to spend those hard-earned points with the added benefit of establishing a visual reminder of what your students are working towards.
There are tons of great iterations of school stores. They come in all shapes and sizes:
Where to Start: Begin by brainstorming school store ideas. To ease the logistical demand on your staff we’d suggest researching how to build a student-run rewards store. Then your students can decide how to design the store and if they’d like to provide digital options to your rewards offering.
By investing some time early on with your team, you can decide upon guidelines under which all future rewards can fall.
“When our teachers are incorporating competition into their lessons, you can just feel the buzz in the building.”-Eric Keiper, Dean of Students
When planning a reward, you'll need to decide how large a group you want to include. You can give individual rewards to students who excel, reward a whole class for meeting expectations, or even plan an event for a grade level or the entire school.
Where to Start: We have compiled a list of class rewards and a collection of class party ideas. Consider STEM Field Day or a Glow Party for a memorable reward your students won't forget!
It is important to choose grade-level appropriate student rewards because it helps motivate students to work hard and achieve their goals. Grade-level appropriate rewards will also help foster a sense of accomplishment since the students can relate more to the rewards they are receiving.
Elementary school incentives do not have to be costly or complicated. They can be cheap prizes or even free! In fact, we found 50 free student rewards that would work great for younger students. Elementary school students love fun classroom rewards but talk to your students to find out what they like.
What’s most important is that students feel valued and appreciated and recognize that positive behavior plays a vital role in making the classroom a special place for everyone.
A few examples that your elementary students will love:
In partners, students work to create the best reading fort they can imagine. Then, lights out! For the rest of the time, students flashlight read independently or with a buddy.
With great power comes great responsibility. Let students bask in the glory of leading their fellow classmates through the great halls of your school.
Allowing students to eat lunch with their teacher is a big honor and lets you develop relationships with your students as they understand you are giving up your quiet lunch to spend with them.
If you're a middle school teacher you know that motivation and morale matter a great deal. Not just for student engagement and success, but for your sanity as well!
But how do you find incentive ideas for middle school students that will actually work? You need ideas that will incentivize and at times even entertain your students. But how do you know what will do that?
You can start by asking them!
You need to harness the power of student voice before you plan prizes for middle school.
A few examples that are sure to motivate your middle school students:
Students get to eat lunch in a private room (with an adult chaperone) with friends and play their personal, school-appropriate playlist.
The student messenger is someone who delivers important messages and notes throughout the school. This is a great privilege students can earn, and it's also a good intervention for your Tier 2 students who may need opportunities for breaks.
Students love talking! So let them earn it. This can be a class-wide activity, or a student can have the floor share a funny story from the weekend.
As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K through 12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in school.
They still need school. But you’re going to need incentives for high school students that they actually want.
They are in school and they will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement.
The best way to create an engaging learning environment in high school is to create an unforgettable experience for your students. Here are some fun high school events ideas that will create lifelong memories for your kiddos.
A few examples that even high school students will get excited about:
The famous improv show that airs on TV is a fun favorite for everyone. There are so many segments that range from intermediate to advanced for every student who feels brave enough to showcase their improv skills.
Let’s get out of the classroom and put some of this service learning to work with a student-led initiative that highlights different community service projects locally.
Use each step as a location to place a few words of the message that you want to get across. This can be educational material, current events, politics, pop culture, and school news.
Your rewards don’t have to all be the same thing. Remember they can be tangible, or intangible. They can be small daily incentives or big prizes that they need to work towards.
You can use classroom prizes, and virtual prizes or you can use fun school event ideas to motivate your students and enhance your school culture.
Here are a few examples of each to inform your planning:
Teachers decide on a theme and have students create their own interpretation of it.
Gather some of your favorite board games and teach your students how to follow rules the good old-fashioned way. You can even turn it into a class-wide tournament. Maybe board games are a bit retro, but you can make them cool with your students.
Create a jar for students to submit questions about YOU. As a reward, you could dedicate some time to answering questions the whole class or select from the jar or take a few at random. You never know what students will ask!
These expeditions can be found through e-learning platforms such as Nearpod, through websites that have educational programs like National Geographic or Discovery Education, or popular destinations such as zoos or museums.
A virtual talent show can be conducted live, or, even better, over social media! Create a hashtag for students and prompts they can share.
Online classes don't mean there can't be class spirit. As a class, your virtual students can earn points that can unlock an online party.
Give everyone headphones and let them play their favorite music and dance the night away, silently.
Your Principal begins announcing names and unveiling house selections for all of the new students as their new housemates cheer like crazy for their newly induction peers.
Grab a couple of gallons of ice cream, some whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget the sprinkles!
It’s time to get the gear, look the part, and transform your school into a local Cosplay convention! Who doesn’t want to dress as their favorite Anime character for a school party?
This free reward allows students of all ages to explore the many opportunities they can explore in their adult lives.
This is a great activity for individuals or small groups. You can find plenty of free ones online that cover nearly every subject area, but it’s actually fun (and pretty easy) to create your own.
If you’re a school leader you’d be wise to not forget your staff when it comes to recognizing and celebrating those who are doing great things in your school.
Our teachers deserve to be praised, respected, and recognized. They deserve some teacher rewards as well!
Here are a few that your staff is sure to love:
1. Lifesaver Award
Create a trophy (be creative here) that staff can award each other at your faculty meeting to recognize colleagues who go above and beyond to help them, the school, and the students.
2. Decision Maker
Want to instill buy-in with your staff? Include them in the decision-making process. Invite the teacher of the week to your admin team.
3. Principal’s Parking Spot
Re-designate your parking spot for teacher recognition.
School rewards are great for incentives and improving morale. They are also great for student motivation. We hope this guide will help you integrate your rewards with your school’s unique culture and that you can use these ideas to find a way to include all students in your rewards program, or if your just getting started don't forget to take a look at our Behavior Rubric examples.
“Change the way you see school. Change the way you do school. Change the results you get at school.”-Kanetha Callahan, Community Achieves Site Coordinator
That can be difficult to accomplish within today’s culture of apathy.
Student motivation just might be the missing ingredient.
But, lucky for you, you have navigated the interwebs and stumbled upon the ultimate guide to help you establish a student rewards system.
A system that is guaranteed to keep your kiddos interested and engaged all throughout their time in your school.
Motivating your students can be very simple. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value within your school community.
Your students should know what they are and how to meet them. They also know that when they do, they will receive a reward that can take many forms based on their grade level and their school culture.
They can be tangible or intangible. They may have a monetary value or not. The only thing that matters is that your students value the reward, which gives the reward value.
Tangible Reward Examples
Swag that can carry more swag! Who doesn’t love that?!
Books can appeal to any age group. Make sure you include books from a wide range of genres and don’t forget the comics!
Nothing brings up the mood in your building like a little holiday cheer! Select some special helpers to deliver Boo 👻 Grams, Thankful Feathers 🦃, Christmas Cookies 🍪, Valentine’s Candy Grams ❤️️, and St. Patty’s ☘️ Clover Grams to your students who qualify for this reward in their class!
Intangible Reward Examples
Allow a student to earn some out-of-class time making rounds with the school custodian.
For older students, give them the option of dropping their lowest grade on a quiz or homework assignment from their overall grade.
This doesn't have to be crazy! Even letting students go a minute before the bell can feel like a big privilege.
That means you can launch a student rewards system with a little-to-no budget if you're creative and do a great job building buy-in with your students.
Expensive Rewards
If you're an animal lover, consider getting a fish, turtle, or hamster for your class! Then, save time caring for it by enlisting the help of students. This special privilege can serve as a reward for good behavior.
Celebrate school spirit by holding a bonfire. With all of the famous bonfire trimmings – smores, music, food, dancing, stories, drinks, and games – students can enjoy this, normally esoteric, event in a fun and safe environment amongst their peers.
Elementary and Middle Schools arrange with their affiliate or nearby high school an event where soon-to-be graduates visit the school and take part in a parade. Students lining the hallways are encouraged to wear apparel from their favorite university and cheer as the graduates parade through.
Inexpensive Rewards
Time to dig through those attics, garages, sheds, and deep back in your parents’ closets. Because it’s time to party with a blast from the past!
This is a lip-sync event where students choose their favorite songs from their favorite artists and perform them.
Imagine your school café has a roped-off section that is complete with tablecloth and fine dining silverware that is reserved for your students who go above and beyond your school-wide expectations.
Most educators agree that a major factor in student achievement is morale and motivation. If the student isn’t motivated to participate, it is doubtful they will be successful.
So why do we need to reward students for positive behavior?
Some of us are intrinsically motivated. No matter what the task, we will try to do our very best. Experienced educators know that self-motivated students do exist, but they are often the exception, not the rule.
If they meet or exceed expectations, students want to be rewarded. You can even increase your instructional time with students by creating attendance incentives.
You can teach your students Financial Literacy through rewards! On a recent episode of The Flywheel Effect, Jason Haniger made the case that every school in America could use a token economy-style rewards system because it not only increases motivation but it also allows you to teach hard-to-grasp skills like financial literacy.
3. You can create a culture where positive actions are not only encouraged, they are rewarded.
If done right, you can create a “legacy of positivity” as Paul Kennedy described on our podcast.
Humans like to be recognized and rewarded, and when they do so, they are more likely to do so again. We all like to know that our effort is appreciated.
Here are some great examples of rewards that every student would like to have:
Allow students some floor time to tell a joke. This will be an especially great outlet for some students – you know the ones!
Everybody loves a brain break, especially when it gives you time to decompress and refocus before starting something new.
Let's be honest: students love getting to be the center of attention. And what's a more public way than the school announcements?
“It’s OK to reward kids for doing the right things.”-Nick Payne, Middle School Principal
Systemizing your student reward system will help you create a consistent and structured approach to recognizing and rewarding student achievement. Additionally, it will help you to create a sense of fairness and equity among all students.
But you're going to need some reward system ideas like we have listed below to make it easier for you to track student progress and identify areas of improvement, as well as develop strategies to motivate and engage students.
A school rewards app is important because it can provide a convenient way for teachers and administrators to recognize and reward their students from anywhere at any time.
Where to Start: By adopting a behavior management platform like LiveSchool you can leverage technology to organize your system with a behavior management app that can keep track of all the things you need for rewarding your kids.
By having clearly defined discipline data administrators can track patterns and trends in student behavior over time in order to identify areas of improvement and target interventions where necessary.
Where to Start: Define what matters to your school and track those behaviors.
By obtaining pre-approval you ensure that the rewards are appropriate and that the vendors and partners have been vetted to ensure they abide by the school's policies.
Where to Start: This one may already be done by your district. If not you can compile it over time, but it will eventually save you time as you don’t want to be a teacher, PBIS coach, and also cold-call local businesses.
By building a PBIS Store you can create a formal process for students to spend those hard-earned points with the added benefit of establishing a visual reminder of what your students are working towards.
There are tons of great iterations of school stores. They come in all shapes and sizes:
Where to Start: Begin by brainstorming school store ideas. To ease the logistical demand on your staff we’d suggest researching how to build a student-run rewards store. Then your students can decide how to design the store and if they’d like to provide digital options to your rewards offering.
By investing some time early on with your team, you can decide upon guidelines under which all future rewards can fall.
“When our teachers are incorporating competition into their lessons, you can just feel the buzz in the building.”-Eric Keiper, Dean of Students
When planning a reward, you'll need to decide how large a group you want to include. You can give individual rewards to students who excel, reward a whole class for meeting expectations, or even plan an event for a grade level or the entire school.
Where to Start: We have compiled a list of class rewards and a collection of class party ideas. Consider STEM Field Day or a Glow Party for a memorable reward your students won't forget!
It is important to choose grade-level appropriate student rewards because it helps motivate students to work hard and achieve their goals. Grade-level appropriate rewards will also help foster a sense of accomplishment since the students can relate more to the rewards they are receiving.
Elementary school incentives do not have to be costly or complicated. They can be cheap prizes or even free! In fact, we found 50 free student rewards that would work great for younger students. Elementary school students love fun classroom rewards but talk to your students to find out what they like.
What’s most important is that students feel valued and appreciated and recognize that positive behavior plays a vital role in making the classroom a special place for everyone.
A few examples that your elementary students will love:
In partners, students work to create the best reading fort they can imagine. Then, lights out! For the rest of the time, students flashlight read independently or with a buddy.
With great power comes great responsibility. Let students bask in the glory of leading their fellow classmates through the great halls of your school.
Allowing students to eat lunch with their teacher is a big honor and lets you develop relationships with your students as they understand you are giving up your quiet lunch to spend with them.
If you're a middle school teacher you know that motivation and morale matter a great deal. Not just for student engagement and success, but for your sanity as well!
But how do you find incentive ideas for middle school students that will actually work? You need ideas that will incentivize and at times even entertain your students. But how do you know what will do that?
You can start by asking them!
You need to harness the power of student voice before you plan prizes for middle school.
A few examples that are sure to motivate your middle school students:
Students get to eat lunch in a private room (with an adult chaperone) with friends and play their personal, school-appropriate playlist.
The student messenger is someone who delivers important messages and notes throughout the school. This is a great privilege students can earn, and it's also a good intervention for your Tier 2 students who may need opportunities for breaks.
Students love talking! So let them earn it. This can be a class-wide activity, or a student can have the floor share a funny story from the weekend.
As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K through 12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in school.
They still need school. But you’re going to need incentives for high school students that they actually want.
They are in school and they will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement.
The best way to create an engaging learning environment in high school is to create an unforgettable experience for your students. Here are some fun high school events ideas that will create lifelong memories for your kiddos.
A few examples that even high school students will get excited about:
The famous improv show that airs on TV is a fun favorite for everyone. There are so many segments that range from intermediate to advanced for every student who feels brave enough to showcase their improv skills.
Let’s get out of the classroom and put some of this service learning to work with a student-led initiative that highlights different community service projects locally.
Use each step as a location to place a few words of the message that you want to get across. This can be educational material, current events, politics, pop culture, and school news.
Your rewards don’t have to all be the same thing. Remember they can be tangible, or intangible. They can be small daily incentives or big prizes that they need to work towards.
You can use classroom prizes, and virtual prizes or you can use fun school event ideas to motivate your students and enhance your school culture.
Here are a few examples of each to inform your planning:
Teachers decide on a theme and have students create their own interpretation of it.
Gather some of your favorite board games and teach your students how to follow rules the good old-fashioned way. You can even turn it into a class-wide tournament. Maybe board games are a bit retro, but you can make them cool with your students.
Create a jar for students to submit questions about YOU. As a reward, you could dedicate some time to answering questions the whole class or select from the jar or take a few at random. You never know what students will ask!
These expeditions can be found through e-learning platforms such as Nearpod, through websites that have educational programs like National Geographic or Discovery Education, or popular destinations such as zoos or museums.
A virtual talent show can be conducted live, or, even better, over social media! Create a hashtag for students and prompts they can share.
Online classes don't mean there can't be class spirit. As a class, your virtual students can earn points that can unlock an online party.
Give everyone headphones and let them play their favorite music and dance the night away, silently.
Your Principal begins announcing names and unveiling house selections for all of the new students as their new housemates cheer like crazy for their newly induction peers.
Grab a couple of gallons of ice cream, some whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget the sprinkles!
It’s time to get the gear, look the part, and transform your school into a local Cosplay convention! Who doesn’t want to dress as their favorite Anime character for a school party?
This free reward allows students of all ages to explore the many opportunities they can explore in their adult lives.
This is a great activity for individuals or small groups. You can find plenty of free ones online that cover nearly every subject area, but it’s actually fun (and pretty easy) to create your own.
If you’re a school leader you’d be wise to not forget your staff when it comes to recognizing and celebrating those who are doing great things in your school.
Our teachers deserve to be praised, respected, and recognized. They deserve some teacher rewards as well!
Here are a few that your staff is sure to love:
1. Lifesaver Award
Create a trophy (be creative here) that staff can award each other at your faculty meeting to recognize colleagues who go above and beyond to help them, the school, and the students.
2. Decision Maker
Want to instill buy-in with your staff? Include them in the decision-making process. Invite the teacher of the week to your admin team.
3. Principal’s Parking Spot
Re-designate your parking spot for teacher recognition.
School rewards are great for incentives and improving morale. They are also great for student motivation. We hope this guide will help you integrate your rewards with your school’s unique culture and that you can use these ideas to find a way to include all students in your rewards program, or if your just getting started don't forget to take a look at our Behavior Rubric examples.
“Change the way you see school. Change the way you do school. Change the results you get at school.”-Kanetha Callahan, Community Achieves Site Coordinator
That can be difficult to accomplish within today’s culture of apathy.
Student motivation just might be the missing ingredient.
But, lucky for you, you have navigated the interwebs and stumbled upon the ultimate guide to help you establish a student rewards system.
A system that is guaranteed to keep your kiddos interested and engaged all throughout their time in your school.
Motivating your students can be very simple. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value within your school community.
Your students should know what they are and how to meet them. They also know that when they do, they will receive a reward that can take many forms based on their grade level and their school culture.
They can be tangible or intangible. They may have a monetary value or not. The only thing that matters is that your students value the reward, which gives the reward value.
Tangible Reward Examples
Swag that can carry more swag! Who doesn’t love that?!
Books can appeal to any age group. Make sure you include books from a wide range of genres and don’t forget the comics!
Nothing brings up the mood in your building like a little holiday cheer! Select some special helpers to deliver Boo 👻 Grams, Thankful Feathers 🦃, Christmas Cookies 🍪, Valentine’s Candy Grams ❤️️, and St. Patty’s ☘️ Clover Grams to your students who qualify for this reward in their class!
Intangible Reward Examples
Allow a student to earn some out-of-class time making rounds with the school custodian.
For older students, give them the option of dropping their lowest grade on a quiz or homework assignment from their overall grade.
This doesn't have to be crazy! Even letting students go a minute before the bell can feel like a big privilege.
That means you can launch a student rewards system with a little-to-no budget if you're creative and do a great job building buy-in with your students.
Expensive Rewards
If you're an animal lover, consider getting a fish, turtle, or hamster for your class! Then, save time caring for it by enlisting the help of students. This special privilege can serve as a reward for good behavior.
Celebrate school spirit by holding a bonfire. With all of the famous bonfire trimmings – smores, music, food, dancing, stories, drinks, and games – students can enjoy this, normally esoteric, event in a fun and safe environment amongst their peers.
Elementary and Middle Schools arrange with their affiliate or nearby high school an event where soon-to-be graduates visit the school and take part in a parade. Students lining the hallways are encouraged to wear apparel from their favorite university and cheer as the graduates parade through.
Inexpensive Rewards
Time to dig through those attics, garages, sheds, and deep back in your parents’ closets. Because it’s time to party with a blast from the past!
This is a lip-sync event where students choose their favorite songs from their favorite artists and perform them.
Imagine your school café has a roped-off section that is complete with tablecloth and fine dining silverware that is reserved for your students who go above and beyond your school-wide expectations.
Most educators agree that a major factor in student achievement is morale and motivation. If the student isn’t motivated to participate, it is doubtful they will be successful.
So why do we need to reward students for positive behavior?
Some of us are intrinsically motivated. No matter what the task, we will try to do our very best. Experienced educators know that self-motivated students do exist, but they are often the exception, not the rule.
If they meet or exceed expectations, students want to be rewarded. You can even increase your instructional time with students by creating attendance incentives.
You can teach your students Financial Literacy through rewards! On a recent episode of The Flywheel Effect, Jason Haniger made the case that every school in America could use a token economy-style rewards system because it not only increases motivation but it also allows you to teach hard-to-grasp skills like financial literacy.
3. You can create a culture where positive actions are not only encouraged, they are rewarded.
If done right, you can create a “legacy of positivity” as Paul Kennedy described on our podcast.
Humans like to be recognized and rewarded, and when they do so, they are more likely to do so again. We all like to know that our effort is appreciated.
Here are some great examples of rewards that every student would like to have:
Allow students some floor time to tell a joke. This will be an especially great outlet for some students – you know the ones!
Everybody loves a brain break, especially when it gives you time to decompress and refocus before starting something new.
Let's be honest: students love getting to be the center of attention. And what's a more public way than the school announcements?
“It’s OK to reward kids for doing the right things.”-Nick Payne, Middle School Principal
Systemizing your student reward system will help you create a consistent and structured approach to recognizing and rewarding student achievement. Additionally, it will help you to create a sense of fairness and equity among all students.
But you're going to need some reward system ideas like we have listed below to make it easier for you to track student progress and identify areas of improvement, as well as develop strategies to motivate and engage students.
A school rewards app is important because it can provide a convenient way for teachers and administrators to recognize and reward their students from anywhere at any time.
Where to Start: By adopting a behavior management platform like LiveSchool you can leverage technology to organize your system with a behavior management app that can keep track of all the things you need for rewarding your kids.
By having clearly defined discipline data administrators can track patterns and trends in student behavior over time in order to identify areas of improvement and target interventions where necessary.
Where to Start: Define what matters to your school and track those behaviors.
By obtaining pre-approval you ensure that the rewards are appropriate and that the vendors and partners have been vetted to ensure they abide by the school's policies.
Where to Start: This one may already be done by your district. If not you can compile it over time, but it will eventually save you time as you don’t want to be a teacher, PBIS coach, and also cold-call local businesses.
By building a PBIS Store you can create a formal process for students to spend those hard-earned points with the added benefit of establishing a visual reminder of what your students are working towards.
There are tons of great iterations of school stores. They come in all shapes and sizes:
Where to Start: Begin by brainstorming school store ideas. To ease the logistical demand on your staff we’d suggest researching how to build a student-run rewards store. Then your students can decide how to design the store and if they’d like to provide digital options to your rewards offering.
By investing some time early on with your team, you can decide upon guidelines under which all future rewards can fall.
“When our teachers are incorporating competition into their lessons, you can just feel the buzz in the building.”-Eric Keiper, Dean of Students
When planning a reward, you'll need to decide how large a group you want to include. You can give individual rewards to students who excel, reward a whole class for meeting expectations, or even plan an event for a grade level or the entire school.
Where to Start: We have compiled a list of class rewards and a collection of class party ideas. Consider STEM Field Day or a Glow Party for a memorable reward your students won't forget!
It is important to choose grade-level appropriate student rewards because it helps motivate students to work hard and achieve their goals. Grade-level appropriate rewards will also help foster a sense of accomplishment since the students can relate more to the rewards they are receiving.
Elementary school incentives do not have to be costly or complicated. They can be cheap prizes or even free! In fact, we found 50 free student rewards that would work great for younger students. Elementary school students love fun classroom rewards but talk to your students to find out what they like.
What’s most important is that students feel valued and appreciated and recognize that positive behavior plays a vital role in making the classroom a special place for everyone.
A few examples that your elementary students will love:
In partners, students work to create the best reading fort they can imagine. Then, lights out! For the rest of the time, students flashlight read independently or with a buddy.
With great power comes great responsibility. Let students bask in the glory of leading their fellow classmates through the great halls of your school.
Allowing students to eat lunch with their teacher is a big honor and lets you develop relationships with your students as they understand you are giving up your quiet lunch to spend with them.
If you're a middle school teacher you know that motivation and morale matter a great deal. Not just for student engagement and success, but for your sanity as well!
But how do you find incentive ideas for middle school students that will actually work? You need ideas that will incentivize and at times even entertain your students. But how do you know what will do that?
You can start by asking them!
You need to harness the power of student voice before you plan prizes for middle school.
A few examples that are sure to motivate your middle school students:
Students get to eat lunch in a private room (with an adult chaperone) with friends and play their personal, school-appropriate playlist.
The student messenger is someone who delivers important messages and notes throughout the school. This is a great privilege students can earn, and it's also a good intervention for your Tier 2 students who may need opportunities for breaks.
Students love talking! So let them earn it. This can be a class-wide activity, or a student can have the floor share a funny story from the weekend.
As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K through 12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in school.
They still need school. But you’re going to need incentives for high school students that they actually want.
They are in school and they will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement.
The best way to create an engaging learning environment in high school is to create an unforgettable experience for your students. Here are some fun high school events ideas that will create lifelong memories for your kiddos.
A few examples that even high school students will get excited about:
The famous improv show that airs on TV is a fun favorite for everyone. There are so many segments that range from intermediate to advanced for every student who feels brave enough to showcase their improv skills.
Let’s get out of the classroom and put some of this service learning to work with a student-led initiative that highlights different community service projects locally.
Use each step as a location to place a few words of the message that you want to get across. This can be educational material, current events, politics, pop culture, and school news.
Your rewards don’t have to all be the same thing. Remember they can be tangible, or intangible. They can be small daily incentives or big prizes that they need to work towards.
You can use classroom prizes, and virtual prizes or you can use fun school event ideas to motivate your students and enhance your school culture.
Here are a few examples of each to inform your planning:
Teachers decide on a theme and have students create their own interpretation of it.
Gather some of your favorite board games and teach your students how to follow rules the good old-fashioned way. You can even turn it into a class-wide tournament. Maybe board games are a bit retro, but you can make them cool with your students.
Create a jar for students to submit questions about YOU. As a reward, you could dedicate some time to answering questions the whole class or select from the jar or take a few at random. You never know what students will ask!
These expeditions can be found through e-learning platforms such as Nearpod, through websites that have educational programs like National Geographic or Discovery Education, or popular destinations such as zoos or museums.
A virtual talent show can be conducted live, or, even better, over social media! Create a hashtag for students and prompts they can share.
Online classes don't mean there can't be class spirit. As a class, your virtual students can earn points that can unlock an online party.
Give everyone headphones and let them play their favorite music and dance the night away, silently.
Your Principal begins announcing names and unveiling house selections for all of the new students as their new housemates cheer like crazy for their newly induction peers.
Grab a couple of gallons of ice cream, some whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget the sprinkles!
It’s time to get the gear, look the part, and transform your school into a local Cosplay convention! Who doesn’t want to dress as their favorite Anime character for a school party?
This free reward allows students of all ages to explore the many opportunities they can explore in their adult lives.
This is a great activity for individuals or small groups. You can find plenty of free ones online that cover nearly every subject area, but it’s actually fun (and pretty easy) to create your own.
If you’re a school leader you’d be wise to not forget your staff when it comes to recognizing and celebrating those who are doing great things in your school.
Our teachers deserve to be praised, respected, and recognized. They deserve some teacher rewards as well!
Here are a few that your staff is sure to love:
1. Lifesaver Award
Create a trophy (be creative here) that staff can award each other at your faculty meeting to recognize colleagues who go above and beyond to help them, the school, and the students.
2. Decision Maker
Want to instill buy-in with your staff? Include them in the decision-making process. Invite the teacher of the week to your admin team.
3. Principal’s Parking Spot
Re-designate your parking spot for teacher recognition.
School rewards are great for incentives and improving morale. They are also great for student motivation. We hope this guide will help you integrate your rewards with your school’s unique culture and that you can use these ideas to find a way to include all students in your rewards program, or if your just getting started don't forget to take a look at our Behavior Rubric examples.
“Change the way you see school. Change the way you do school. Change the results you get at school.”-Kanetha Callahan, Community Achieves Site Coordinator
That can be difficult to accomplish within today’s culture of apathy.
Student motivation just might be the missing ingredient.
But, lucky for you, you have navigated the interwebs and stumbled upon the ultimate guide to help you establish a student rewards system.
A system that is guaranteed to keep your kiddos interested and engaged all throughout their time in your school.
Motivating your students can be very simple. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value within your school community.
Your students should know what they are and how to meet them. They also know that when they do, they will receive a reward that can take many forms based on their grade level and their school culture.
They can be tangible or intangible. They may have a monetary value or not. The only thing that matters is that your students value the reward, which gives the reward value.
Tangible Reward Examples
Swag that can carry more swag! Who doesn’t love that?!
Books can appeal to any age group. Make sure you include books from a wide range of genres and don’t forget the comics!
Nothing brings up the mood in your building like a little holiday cheer! Select some special helpers to deliver Boo 👻 Grams, Thankful Feathers 🦃, Christmas Cookies 🍪, Valentine’s Candy Grams ❤️️, and St. Patty’s ☘️ Clover Grams to your students who qualify for this reward in their class!
Intangible Reward Examples
Allow a student to earn some out-of-class time making rounds with the school custodian.
For older students, give them the option of dropping their lowest grade on a quiz or homework assignment from their overall grade.
This doesn't have to be crazy! Even letting students go a minute before the bell can feel like a big privilege.
That means you can launch a student rewards system with a little-to-no budget if you're creative and do a great job building buy-in with your students.
Expensive Rewards
If you're an animal lover, consider getting a fish, turtle, or hamster for your class! Then, save time caring for it by enlisting the help of students. This special privilege can serve as a reward for good behavior.
Celebrate school spirit by holding a bonfire. With all of the famous bonfire trimmings – smores, music, food, dancing, stories, drinks, and games – students can enjoy this, normally esoteric, event in a fun and safe environment amongst their peers.
Elementary and Middle Schools arrange with their affiliate or nearby high school an event where soon-to-be graduates visit the school and take part in a parade. Students lining the hallways are encouraged to wear apparel from their favorite university and cheer as the graduates parade through.
Inexpensive Rewards
Time to dig through those attics, garages, sheds, and deep back in your parents’ closets. Because it’s time to party with a blast from the past!
This is a lip-sync event where students choose their favorite songs from their favorite artists and perform them.
Imagine your school café has a roped-off section that is complete with tablecloth and fine dining silverware that is reserved for your students who go above and beyond your school-wide expectations.
Most educators agree that a major factor in student achievement is morale and motivation. If the student isn’t motivated to participate, it is doubtful they will be successful.
So why do we need to reward students for positive behavior?
Some of us are intrinsically motivated. No matter what the task, we will try to do our very best. Experienced educators know that self-motivated students do exist, but they are often the exception, not the rule.
If they meet or exceed expectations, students want to be rewarded. You can even increase your instructional time with students by creating attendance incentives.
You can teach your students Financial Literacy through rewards! On a recent episode of The Flywheel Effect, Jason Haniger made the case that every school in America could use a token economy-style rewards system because it not only increases motivation but it also allows you to teach hard-to-grasp skills like financial literacy.
3. You can create a culture where positive actions are not only encouraged, they are rewarded.
If done right, you can create a “legacy of positivity” as Paul Kennedy described on our podcast.
Humans like to be recognized and rewarded, and when they do so, they are more likely to do so again. We all like to know that our effort is appreciated.
Here are some great examples of rewards that every student would like to have:
Allow students some floor time to tell a joke. This will be an especially great outlet for some students – you know the ones!
Everybody loves a brain break, especially when it gives you time to decompress and refocus before starting something new.
Let's be honest: students love getting to be the center of attention. And what's a more public way than the school announcements?
“It’s OK to reward kids for doing the right things.”-Nick Payne, Middle School Principal
Systemizing your student reward system will help you create a consistent and structured approach to recognizing and rewarding student achievement. Additionally, it will help you to create a sense of fairness and equity among all students.
But you're going to need some reward system ideas like we have listed below to make it easier for you to track student progress and identify areas of improvement, as well as develop strategies to motivate and engage students.
A school rewards app is important because it can provide a convenient way for teachers and administrators to recognize and reward their students from anywhere at any time.
Where to Start: By adopting a behavior management platform like LiveSchool you can leverage technology to organize your system with a behavior management app that can keep track of all the things you need for rewarding your kids.
By having clearly defined discipline data administrators can track patterns and trends in student behavior over time in order to identify areas of improvement and target interventions where necessary.
Where to Start: Define what matters to your school and track those behaviors.
By obtaining pre-approval you ensure that the rewards are appropriate and that the vendors and partners have been vetted to ensure they abide by the school's policies.
Where to Start: This one may already be done by your district. If not you can compile it over time, but it will eventually save you time as you don’t want to be a teacher, PBIS coach, and also cold-call local businesses.
By building a PBIS Store you can create a formal process for students to spend those hard-earned points with the added benefit of establishing a visual reminder of what your students are working towards.
There are tons of great iterations of school stores. They come in all shapes and sizes:
Where to Start: Begin by brainstorming school store ideas. To ease the logistical demand on your staff we’d suggest researching how to build a student-run rewards store. Then your students can decide how to design the store and if they’d like to provide digital options to your rewards offering.
By investing some time early on with your team, you can decide upon guidelines under which all future rewards can fall.
“When our teachers are incorporating competition into their lessons, you can just feel the buzz in the building.”-Eric Keiper, Dean of Students
When planning a reward, you'll need to decide how large a group you want to include. You can give individual rewards to students who excel, reward a whole class for meeting expectations, or even plan an event for a grade level or the entire school.
Where to Start: We have compiled a list of class rewards and a collection of class party ideas. Consider STEM Field Day or a Glow Party for a memorable reward your students won't forget!
It is important to choose grade-level appropriate student rewards because it helps motivate students to work hard and achieve their goals. Grade-level appropriate rewards will also help foster a sense of accomplishment since the students can relate more to the rewards they are receiving.
Elementary school incentives do not have to be costly or complicated. They can be cheap prizes or even free! In fact, we found 50 free student rewards that would work great for younger students. Elementary school students love fun classroom rewards but talk to your students to find out what they like.
What’s most important is that students feel valued and appreciated and recognize that positive behavior plays a vital role in making the classroom a special place for everyone.
A few examples that your elementary students will love:
In partners, students work to create the best reading fort they can imagine. Then, lights out! For the rest of the time, students flashlight read independently or with a buddy.
With great power comes great responsibility. Let students bask in the glory of leading their fellow classmates through the great halls of your school.
Allowing students to eat lunch with their teacher is a big honor and lets you develop relationships with your students as they understand you are giving up your quiet lunch to spend with them.
If you're a middle school teacher you know that motivation and morale matter a great deal. Not just for student engagement and success, but for your sanity as well!
But how do you find incentive ideas for middle school students that will actually work? You need ideas that will incentivize and at times even entertain your students. But how do you know what will do that?
You can start by asking them!
You need to harness the power of student voice before you plan prizes for middle school.
A few examples that are sure to motivate your middle school students:
Students get to eat lunch in a private room (with an adult chaperone) with friends and play their personal, school-appropriate playlist.
The student messenger is someone who delivers important messages and notes throughout the school. This is a great privilege students can earn, and it's also a good intervention for your Tier 2 students who may need opportunities for breaks.
Students love talking! So let them earn it. This can be a class-wide activity, or a student can have the floor share a funny story from the weekend.
As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K through 12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in school.
They still need school. But you’re going to need incentives for high school students that they actually want.
They are in school and they will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement.
The best way to create an engaging learning environment in high school is to create an unforgettable experience for your students. Here are some fun high school events ideas that will create lifelong memories for your kiddos.
A few examples that even high school students will get excited about:
The famous improv show that airs on TV is a fun favorite for everyone. There are so many segments that range from intermediate to advanced for every student who feels brave enough to showcase their improv skills.
Let’s get out of the classroom and put some of this service learning to work with a student-led initiative that highlights different community service projects locally.
Use each step as a location to place a few words of the message that you want to get across. This can be educational material, current events, politics, pop culture, and school news.
Your rewards don’t have to all be the same thing. Remember they can be tangible, or intangible. They can be small daily incentives or big prizes that they need to work towards.
You can use classroom prizes, and virtual prizes or you can use fun school event ideas to motivate your students and enhance your school culture.
Here are a few examples of each to inform your planning:
Teachers decide on a theme and have students create their own interpretation of it.
Gather some of your favorite board games and teach your students how to follow rules the good old-fashioned way. You can even turn it into a class-wide tournament. Maybe board games are a bit retro, but you can make them cool with your students.
Create a jar for students to submit questions about YOU. As a reward, you could dedicate some time to answering questions the whole class or select from the jar or take a few at random. You never know what students will ask!
These expeditions can be found through e-learning platforms such as Nearpod, through websites that have educational programs like National Geographic or Discovery Education, or popular destinations such as zoos or museums.
A virtual talent show can be conducted live, or, even better, over social media! Create a hashtag for students and prompts they can share.
Online classes don't mean there can't be class spirit. As a class, your virtual students can earn points that can unlock an online party.
Give everyone headphones and let them play their favorite music and dance the night away, silently.
Your Principal begins announcing names and unveiling house selections for all of the new students as their new housemates cheer like crazy for their newly induction peers.
Grab a couple of gallons of ice cream, some whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget the sprinkles!
It’s time to get the gear, look the part, and transform your school into a local Cosplay convention! Who doesn’t want to dress as their favorite Anime character for a school party?
This free reward allows students of all ages to explore the many opportunities they can explore in their adult lives.
This is a great activity for individuals or small groups. You can find plenty of free ones online that cover nearly every subject area, but it’s actually fun (and pretty easy) to create your own.
If you’re a school leader you’d be wise to not forget your staff when it comes to recognizing and celebrating those who are doing great things in your school.
Our teachers deserve to be praised, respected, and recognized. They deserve some teacher rewards as well!
Here are a few that your staff is sure to love:
1. Lifesaver Award
Create a trophy (be creative here) that staff can award each other at your faculty meeting to recognize colleagues who go above and beyond to help them, the school, and the students.
2. Decision Maker
Want to instill buy-in with your staff? Include them in the decision-making process. Invite the teacher of the week to your admin team.
3. Principal’s Parking Spot
Re-designate your parking spot for teacher recognition.
School rewards are great for incentives and improving morale. They are also great for student motivation. We hope this guide will help you integrate your rewards with your school’s unique culture and that you can use these ideas to find a way to include all students in your rewards program, or if your just getting started don't forget to take a look at our Behavior Rubric examples.
“Change the way you see school. Change the way you do school. Change the results you get at school.”-Kanetha Callahan, Community Achieves Site Coordinator
That can be difficult to accomplish within today’s culture of apathy.
Student motivation just might be the missing ingredient.
But, lucky for you, you have navigated the interwebs and stumbled upon the ultimate guide to help you establish a student rewards system.
A system that is guaranteed to keep your kiddos interested and engaged all throughout their time in your school.
Motivating your students can be very simple. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value within your school community.
Your students should know what they are and how to meet them. They also know that when they do, they will receive a reward that can take many forms based on their grade level and their school culture.
They can be tangible or intangible. They may have a monetary value or not. The only thing that matters is that your students value the reward, which gives the reward value.
Tangible Reward Examples
Swag that can carry more swag! Who doesn’t love that?!
Books can appeal to any age group. Make sure you include books from a wide range of genres and don’t forget the comics!
Nothing brings up the mood in your building like a little holiday cheer! Select some special helpers to deliver Boo 👻 Grams, Thankful Feathers 🦃, Christmas Cookies 🍪, Valentine’s Candy Grams ❤️️, and St. Patty’s ☘️ Clover Grams to your students who qualify for this reward in their class!
Intangible Reward Examples
Allow a student to earn some out-of-class time making rounds with the school custodian.
For older students, give them the option of dropping their lowest grade on a quiz or homework assignment from their overall grade.
This doesn't have to be crazy! Even letting students go a minute before the bell can feel like a big privilege.
That means you can launch a student rewards system with a little-to-no budget if you're creative and do a great job building buy-in with your students.
Expensive Rewards
If you're an animal lover, consider getting a fish, turtle, or hamster for your class! Then, save time caring for it by enlisting the help of students. This special privilege can serve as a reward for good behavior.
Celebrate school spirit by holding a bonfire. With all of the famous bonfire trimmings – smores, music, food, dancing, stories, drinks, and games – students can enjoy this, normally esoteric, event in a fun and safe environment amongst their peers.
Elementary and Middle Schools arrange with their affiliate or nearby high school an event where soon-to-be graduates visit the school and take part in a parade. Students lining the hallways are encouraged to wear apparel from their favorite university and cheer as the graduates parade through.
Inexpensive Rewards
Time to dig through those attics, garages, sheds, and deep back in your parents’ closets. Because it’s time to party with a blast from the past!
This is a lip-sync event where students choose their favorite songs from their favorite artists and perform them.
Imagine your school café has a roped-off section that is complete with tablecloth and fine dining silverware that is reserved for your students who go above and beyond your school-wide expectations.
Most educators agree that a major factor in student achievement is morale and motivation. If the student isn’t motivated to participate, it is doubtful they will be successful.
So why do we need to reward students for positive behavior?
Some of us are intrinsically motivated. No matter what the task, we will try to do our very best. Experienced educators know that self-motivated students do exist, but they are often the exception, not the rule.
If they meet or exceed expectations, students want to be rewarded. You can even increase your instructional time with students by creating attendance incentives.
You can teach your students Financial Literacy through rewards! On a recent episode of The Flywheel Effect, Jason Haniger made the case that every school in America could use a token economy-style rewards system because it not only increases motivation but it also allows you to teach hard-to-grasp skills like financial literacy.
3. You can create a culture where positive actions are not only encouraged, they are rewarded.
If done right, you can create a “legacy of positivity” as Paul Kennedy described on our podcast.
Humans like to be recognized and rewarded, and when they do so, they are more likely to do so again. We all like to know that our effort is appreciated.
Here are some great examples of rewards that every student would like to have:
Allow students some floor time to tell a joke. This will be an especially great outlet for some students – you know the ones!
Everybody loves a brain break, especially when it gives you time to decompress and refocus before starting something new.
Let's be honest: students love getting to be the center of attention. And what's a more public way than the school announcements?
“It’s OK to reward kids for doing the right things.”-Nick Payne, Middle School Principal
Systemizing your student reward system will help you create a consistent and structured approach to recognizing and rewarding student achievement. Additionally, it will help you to create a sense of fairness and equity among all students.
But you're going to need some reward system ideas like we have listed below to make it easier for you to track student progress and identify areas of improvement, as well as develop strategies to motivate and engage students.
A school rewards app is important because it can provide a convenient way for teachers and administrators to recognize and reward their students from anywhere at any time.
Where to Start: By adopting a behavior management platform like LiveSchool you can leverage technology to organize your system with a behavior management app that can keep track of all the things you need for rewarding your kids.
By having clearly defined discipline data administrators can track patterns and trends in student behavior over time in order to identify areas of improvement and target interventions where necessary.
Where to Start: Define what matters to your school and track those behaviors.
By obtaining pre-approval you ensure that the rewards are appropriate and that the vendors and partners have been vetted to ensure they abide by the school's policies.
Where to Start: This one may already be done by your district. If not you can compile it over time, but it will eventually save you time as you don’t want to be a teacher, PBIS coach, and also cold-call local businesses.
By building a PBIS Store you can create a formal process for students to spend those hard-earned points with the added benefit of establishing a visual reminder of what your students are working towards.
There are tons of great iterations of school stores. They come in all shapes and sizes:
Where to Start: Begin by brainstorming school store ideas. To ease the logistical demand on your staff we’d suggest researching how to build a student-run rewards store. Then your students can decide how to design the store and if they’d like to provide digital options to your rewards offering.
By investing some time early on with your team, you can decide upon guidelines under which all future rewards can fall.
“When our teachers are incorporating competition into their lessons, you can just feel the buzz in the building.”-Eric Keiper, Dean of Students
When planning a reward, you'll need to decide how large a group you want to include. You can give individual rewards to students who excel, reward a whole class for meeting expectations, or even plan an event for a grade level or the entire school.
Where to Start: We have compiled a list of class rewards and a collection of class party ideas. Consider STEM Field Day or a Glow Party for a memorable reward your students won't forget!
It is important to choose grade-level appropriate student rewards because it helps motivate students to work hard and achieve their goals. Grade-level appropriate rewards will also help foster a sense of accomplishment since the students can relate more to the rewards they are receiving.
Elementary school incentives do not have to be costly or complicated. They can be cheap prizes or even free! In fact, we found 50 free student rewards that would work great for younger students. Elementary school students love fun classroom rewards but talk to your students to find out what they like.
What’s most important is that students feel valued and appreciated and recognize that positive behavior plays a vital role in making the classroom a special place for everyone.
A few examples that your elementary students will love:
In partners, students work to create the best reading fort they can imagine. Then, lights out! For the rest of the time, students flashlight read independently or with a buddy.
With great power comes great responsibility. Let students bask in the glory of leading their fellow classmates through the great halls of your school.
Allowing students to eat lunch with their teacher is a big honor and lets you develop relationships with your students as they understand you are giving up your quiet lunch to spend with them.
If you're a middle school teacher you know that motivation and morale matter a great deal. Not just for student engagement and success, but for your sanity as well!
But how do you find incentive ideas for middle school students that will actually work? You need ideas that will incentivize and at times even entertain your students. But how do you know what will do that?
You can start by asking them!
You need to harness the power of student voice before you plan prizes for middle school.
A few examples that are sure to motivate your middle school students:
Students get to eat lunch in a private room (with an adult chaperone) with friends and play their personal, school-appropriate playlist.
The student messenger is someone who delivers important messages and notes throughout the school. This is a great privilege students can earn, and it's also a good intervention for your Tier 2 students who may need opportunities for breaks.
Students love talking! So let them earn it. This can be a class-wide activity, or a student can have the floor share a funny story from the weekend.
As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K through 12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in school.
They still need school. But you’re going to need incentives for high school students that they actually want.
They are in school and they will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement.
The best way to create an engaging learning environment in high school is to create an unforgettable experience for your students. Here are some fun high school events ideas that will create lifelong memories for your kiddos.
A few examples that even high school students will get excited about:
The famous improv show that airs on TV is a fun favorite for everyone. There are so many segments that range from intermediate to advanced for every student who feels brave enough to showcase their improv skills.
Let’s get out of the classroom and put some of this service learning to work with a student-led initiative that highlights different community service projects locally.
Use each step as a location to place a few words of the message that you want to get across. This can be educational material, current events, politics, pop culture, and school news.
Your rewards don’t have to all be the same thing. Remember they can be tangible, or intangible. They can be small daily incentives or big prizes that they need to work towards.
You can use classroom prizes, and virtual prizes or you can use fun school event ideas to motivate your students and enhance your school culture.
Here are a few examples of each to inform your planning:
Teachers decide on a theme and have students create their own interpretation of it.
Gather some of your favorite board games and teach your students how to follow rules the good old-fashioned way. You can even turn it into a class-wide tournament. Maybe board games are a bit retro, but you can make them cool with your students.
Create a jar for students to submit questions about YOU. As a reward, you could dedicate some time to answering questions the whole class or select from the jar or take a few at random. You never know what students will ask!
These expeditions can be found through e-learning platforms such as Nearpod, through websites that have educational programs like National Geographic or Discovery Education, or popular destinations such as zoos or museums.
A virtual talent show can be conducted live, or, even better, over social media! Create a hashtag for students and prompts they can share.
Online classes don't mean there can't be class spirit. As a class, your virtual students can earn points that can unlock an online party.
Give everyone headphones and let them play their favorite music and dance the night away, silently.
Your Principal begins announcing names and unveiling house selections for all of the new students as their new housemates cheer like crazy for their newly induction peers.
Grab a couple of gallons of ice cream, some whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget the sprinkles!
It’s time to get the gear, look the part, and transform your school into a local Cosplay convention! Who doesn’t want to dress as their favorite Anime character for a school party?
This free reward allows students of all ages to explore the many opportunities they can explore in their adult lives.
This is a great activity for individuals or small groups. You can find plenty of free ones online that cover nearly every subject area, but it’s actually fun (and pretty easy) to create your own.
If you’re a school leader you’d be wise to not forget your staff when it comes to recognizing and celebrating those who are doing great things in your school.
Our teachers deserve to be praised, respected, and recognized. They deserve some teacher rewards as well!
Here are a few that your staff is sure to love:
1. Lifesaver Award
Create a trophy (be creative here) that staff can award each other at your faculty meeting to recognize colleagues who go above and beyond to help them, the school, and the students.
2. Decision Maker
Want to instill buy-in with your staff? Include them in the decision-making process. Invite the teacher of the week to your admin team.
3. Principal’s Parking Spot
Re-designate your parking spot for teacher recognition.
School rewards are great for incentives and improving morale. They are also great for student motivation. We hope this guide will help you integrate your rewards with your school’s unique culture and that you can use these ideas to find a way to include all students in your rewards program, or if your just getting started don't forget to take a look at our Behavior Rubric examples.
“Change the way you see school. Change the way you do school. Change the results you get at school.”-Kanetha Callahan, Community Achieves Site Coordinator
You know what they teamwork makes the dream work. These articles have been written by the wonderful members of our team.
It’s no secret that we need our students to not only be engaged with their lessons but actually excited to attend our school.
That can be difficult to accomplish within today’s culture of apathy.
Student motivation just might be the missing ingredient.
But, lucky for you, you have navigated the interwebs and stumbled upon the ultimate guide to help you establish a student rewards system.
A system that is guaranteed to keep your kiddos interested and engaged all throughout their time in your school.
Motivating your students can be very simple. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value within your school community.
Your students should know what they are and how to meet them. They also know that when they do, they will receive a reward that can take many forms based on their grade level and their school culture.
They can be tangible or intangible. They may have a monetary value or not. The only thing that matters is that your students value the reward, which gives the reward value.
Tangible Reward Examples
Swag that can carry more swag! Who doesn’t love that?!
Books can appeal to any age group. Make sure you include books from a wide range of genres and don’t forget the comics!
Nothing brings up the mood in your building like a little holiday cheer! Select some special helpers to deliver Boo 👻 Grams, Thankful Feathers 🦃, Christmas Cookies 🍪, Valentine’s Candy Grams ❤️️, and St. Patty’s ☘️ Clover Grams to your students who qualify for this reward in their class!
Intangible Reward Examples
Allow a student to earn some out-of-class time making rounds with the school custodian.
For older students, give them the option of dropping their lowest grade on a quiz or homework assignment from their overall grade.
This doesn't have to be crazy! Even letting students go a minute before the bell can feel like a big privilege.
That means you can launch a student rewards system with a little-to-no budget if you're creative and do a great job building buy-in with your students.
Expensive Rewards
If you're an animal lover, consider getting a fish, turtle, or hamster for your class! Then, save time caring for it by enlisting the help of students. This special privilege can serve as a reward for good behavior.
Celebrate school spirit by holding a bonfire. With all of the famous bonfire trimmings – smores, music, food, dancing, stories, drinks, and games – students can enjoy this, normally esoteric, event in a fun and safe environment amongst their peers.
Elementary and Middle Schools arrange with their affiliate or nearby high school an event where soon-to-be graduates visit the school and take part in a parade. Students lining the hallways are encouraged to wear apparel from their favorite university and cheer as the graduates parade through.
Inexpensive Rewards
Time to dig through those attics, garages, sheds, and deep back in your parents’ closets. Because it’s time to party with a blast from the past!
This is a lip-sync event where students choose their favorite songs from their favorite artists and perform them.
Imagine your school café has a roped-off section that is complete with tablecloth and fine dining silverware that is reserved for your students who go above and beyond your school-wide expectations.
Most educators agree that a major factor in student achievement is morale and motivation. If the student isn’t motivated to participate, it is doubtful they will be successful.
So why do we need to reward students for positive behavior?
Some of us are intrinsically motivated. No matter what the task, we will try to do our very best. Experienced educators know that self-motivated students do exist, but they are often the exception, not the rule.
If they meet or exceed expectations, students want to be rewarded. You can even increase your instructional time with students by creating attendance incentives.
You can teach your students Financial Literacy through rewards! On a recent episode of The Flywheel Effect, Jason Haniger made the case that every school in America could use a token economy-style rewards system because it not only increases motivation but it also allows you to teach hard-to-grasp skills like financial literacy.
3. You can create a culture where positive actions are not only encouraged, they are rewarded.
If done right, you can create a “legacy of positivity” as Paul Kennedy described on our podcast.
Humans like to be recognized and rewarded, and when they do so, they are more likely to do so again. We all like to know that our effort is appreciated.
Here are some great examples of rewards that every student would like to have:
Allow students some floor time to tell a joke. This will be an especially great outlet for some students – you know the ones!
Everybody loves a brain break, especially when it gives you time to decompress and refocus before starting something new.
Let's be honest: students love getting to be the center of attention. And what's a more public way than the school announcements?
“It’s OK to reward kids for doing the right things.”-Nick Payne, Middle School Principal
Systemizing your student reward system will help you create a consistent and structured approach to recognizing and rewarding student achievement. Additionally, it will help you to create a sense of fairness and equity among all students.
But you're going to need some reward system ideas like we have listed below to make it easier for you to track student progress and identify areas of improvement, as well as develop strategies to motivate and engage students.
A school rewards app is important because it can provide a convenient way for teachers and administrators to recognize and reward their students from anywhere at any time.
Where to Start: By adopting a behavior management platform like LiveSchool you can leverage technology to organize your system with a behavior management app that can keep track of all the things you need for rewarding your kids.
By having clearly defined discipline data administrators can track patterns and trends in student behavior over time in order to identify areas of improvement and target interventions where necessary.
Where to Start: Define what matters to your school and track those behaviors.
By obtaining pre-approval you ensure that the rewards are appropriate and that the vendors and partners have been vetted to ensure they abide by the school's policies.
Where to Start: This one may already be done by your district. If not you can compile it over time, but it will eventually save you time as you don’t want to be a teacher, PBIS coach, and also cold-call local businesses.
By building a PBIS Store you can create a formal process for students to spend those hard-earned points with the added benefit of establishing a visual reminder of what your students are working towards.
There are tons of great iterations of school stores. They come in all shapes and sizes:
Where to Start: Begin by brainstorming school store ideas. To ease the logistical demand on your staff we’d suggest researching how to build a student-run rewards store. Then your students can decide how to design the store and if they’d like to provide digital options to your rewards offering.
By investing some time early on with your team, you can decide upon guidelines under which all future rewards can fall.
“When our teachers are incorporating competition into their lessons, you can just feel the buzz in the building.”-Eric Keiper, Dean of Students
When planning a reward, you'll need to decide how large a group you want to include. You can give individual rewards to students who excel, reward a whole class for meeting expectations, or even plan an event for a grade level or the entire school.
Where to Start: We have compiled a list of class rewards and a collection of class party ideas. Consider STEM Field Day or a Glow Party for a memorable reward your students won't forget!
It is important to choose grade-level appropriate student rewards because it helps motivate students to work hard and achieve their goals. Grade-level appropriate rewards will also help foster a sense of accomplishment since the students can relate more to the rewards they are receiving.
Elementary school incentives do not have to be costly or complicated. They can be cheap prizes or even free! In fact, we found 50 free student rewards that would work great for younger students. Elementary school students love fun classroom rewards but talk to your students to find out what they like.
What’s most important is that students feel valued and appreciated and recognize that positive behavior plays a vital role in making the classroom a special place for everyone.
A few examples that your elementary students will love:
In partners, students work to create the best reading fort they can imagine. Then, lights out! For the rest of the time, students flashlight read independently or with a buddy.
With great power comes great responsibility. Let students bask in the glory of leading their fellow classmates through the great halls of your school.
Allowing students to eat lunch with their teacher is a big honor and lets you develop relationships with your students as they understand you are giving up your quiet lunch to spend with them.
If you're a middle school teacher you know that motivation and morale matter a great deal. Not just for student engagement and success, but for your sanity as well!
But how do you find incentive ideas for middle school students that will actually work? You need ideas that will incentivize and at times even entertain your students. But how do you know what will do that?
You can start by asking them!
You need to harness the power of student voice before you plan prizes for middle school.
A few examples that are sure to motivate your middle school students:
Students get to eat lunch in a private room (with an adult chaperone) with friends and play their personal, school-appropriate playlist.
The student messenger is someone who delivers important messages and notes throughout the school. This is a great privilege students can earn, and it's also a good intervention for your Tier 2 students who may need opportunities for breaks.
Students love talking! So let them earn it. This can be a class-wide activity, or a student can have the floor share a funny story from the weekend.
As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K through 12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in school.
They still need school. But you’re going to need incentives for high school students that they actually want.
They are in school and they will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement.
The best way to create an engaging learning environment in high school is to create an unforgettable experience for your students. Here are some fun high school events ideas that will create lifelong memories for your kiddos.
A few examples that even high school students will get excited about:
The famous improv show that airs on TV is a fun favorite for everyone. There are so many segments that range from intermediate to advanced for every student who feels brave enough to showcase their improv skills.
Let’s get out of the classroom and put some of this service learning to work with a student-led initiative that highlights different community service projects locally.
Use each step as a location to place a few words of the message that you want to get across. This can be educational material, current events, politics, pop culture, and school news.
Your rewards don’t have to all be the same thing. Remember they can be tangible, or intangible. They can be small daily incentives or big prizes that they need to work towards.
You can use classroom prizes, and virtual prizes or you can use fun school event ideas to motivate your students and enhance your school culture.
Here are a few examples of each to inform your planning:
Teachers decide on a theme and have students create their own interpretation of it.
Gather some of your favorite board games and teach your students how to follow rules the good old-fashioned way. You can even turn it into a class-wide tournament. Maybe board games are a bit retro, but you can make them cool with your students.
Create a jar for students to submit questions about YOU. As a reward, you could dedicate some time to answering questions the whole class or select from the jar or take a few at random. You never know what students will ask!
These expeditions can be found through e-learning platforms such as Nearpod, through websites that have educational programs like National Geographic or Discovery Education, or popular destinations such as zoos or museums.
A virtual talent show can be conducted live, or, even better, over social media! Create a hashtag for students and prompts they can share.
Online classes don't mean there can't be class spirit. As a class, your virtual students can earn points that can unlock an online party.
Give everyone headphones and let them play their favorite music and dance the night away, silently.
Your Principal begins announcing names and unveiling house selections for all of the new students as their new housemates cheer like crazy for their newly induction peers.
Grab a couple of gallons of ice cream, some whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget the sprinkles!
It’s time to get the gear, look the part, and transform your school into a local Cosplay convention! Who doesn’t want to dress as their favorite Anime character for a school party?
This free reward allows students of all ages to explore the many opportunities they can explore in their adult lives.
This is a great activity for individuals or small groups. You can find plenty of free ones online that cover nearly every subject area, but it’s actually fun (and pretty easy) to create your own.
If you’re a school leader you’d be wise to not forget your staff when it comes to recognizing and celebrating those who are doing great things in your school.
Our teachers deserve to be praised, respected, and recognized. They deserve some teacher rewards as well!
Here are a few that your staff is sure to love:
1. Lifesaver Award
Create a trophy (be creative here) that staff can award each other at your faculty meeting to recognize colleagues who go above and beyond to help them, the school, and the students.
2. Decision Maker
Want to instill buy-in with your staff? Include them in the decision-making process. Invite the teacher of the week to your admin team.
3. Principal’s Parking Spot
Re-designate your parking spot for teacher recognition.
School rewards are great for incentives and improving morale. They are also great for student motivation. We hope this guide will help you integrate your rewards with your school’s unique culture and that you can use these ideas to find a way to include all students in your rewards program, or if your just getting started don't forget to take a look at our Behavior Rubric examples.
“Change the way you see school. Change the way you do school. Change the results you get at school.”-Kanetha Callahan, Community Achieves Site Coordinator
It’s no secret that we need our students to not only be engaged with their lessons but actually excited to attend our school.
That can be difficult to accomplish within today’s culture of apathy.
Student motivation just might be the missing ingredient.
But, lucky for you, you have navigated the interwebs and stumbled upon the ultimate guide to help you establish a student rewards system.
A system that is guaranteed to keep your kiddos interested and engaged all throughout their time in your school.
Motivating your students can be very simple. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value within your school community.
Your students should know what they are and how to meet them. They also know that when they do, they will receive a reward that can take many forms based on their grade level and their school culture.
They can be tangible or intangible. They may have a monetary value or not. The only thing that matters is that your students value the reward, which gives the reward value.
Tangible Reward Examples
Swag that can carry more swag! Who doesn’t love that?!
Books can appeal to any age group. Make sure you include books from a wide range of genres and don’t forget the comics!
Nothing brings up the mood in your building like a little holiday cheer! Select some special helpers to deliver Boo 👻 Grams, Thankful Feathers 🦃, Christmas Cookies 🍪, Valentine’s Candy Grams ❤️️, and St. Patty’s ☘️ Clover Grams to your students who qualify for this reward in their class!
Intangible Reward Examples
Allow a student to earn some out-of-class time making rounds with the school custodian.
For older students, give them the option of dropping their lowest grade on a quiz or homework assignment from their overall grade.
This doesn't have to be crazy! Even letting students go a minute before the bell can feel like a big privilege.
That means you can launch a student rewards system with a little-to-no budget if you're creative and do a great job building buy-in with your students.
Expensive Rewards
If you're an animal lover, consider getting a fish, turtle, or hamster for your class! Then, save time caring for it by enlisting the help of students. This special privilege can serve as a reward for good behavior.
Celebrate school spirit by holding a bonfire. With all of the famous bonfire trimmings – smores, music, food, dancing, stories, drinks, and games – students can enjoy this, normally esoteric, event in a fun and safe environment amongst their peers.
Elementary and Middle Schools arrange with their affiliate or nearby high school an event where soon-to-be graduates visit the school and take part in a parade. Students lining the hallways are encouraged to wear apparel from their favorite university and cheer as the graduates parade through.
Inexpensive Rewards
Time to dig through those attics, garages, sheds, and deep back in your parents’ closets. Because it’s time to party with a blast from the past!
This is a lip-sync event where students choose their favorite songs from their favorite artists and perform them.
Imagine your school café has a roped-off section that is complete with tablecloth and fine dining silverware that is reserved for your students who go above and beyond your school-wide expectations.
Most educators agree that a major factor in student achievement is morale and motivation. If the student isn’t motivated to participate, it is doubtful they will be successful.
So why do we need to reward students for positive behavior?
Some of us are intrinsically motivated. No matter what the task, we will try to do our very best. Experienced educators know that self-motivated students do exist, but they are often the exception, not the rule.
If they meet or exceed expectations, students want to be rewarded. You can even increase your instructional time with students by creating attendance incentives.
You can teach your students Financial Literacy through rewards! On a recent episode of The Flywheel Effect, Jason Haniger made the case that every school in America could use a token economy-style rewards system because it not only increases motivation but it also allows you to teach hard-to-grasp skills like financial literacy.
3. You can create a culture where positive actions are not only encouraged, they are rewarded.
If done right, you can create a “legacy of positivity” as Paul Kennedy described on our podcast.
Humans like to be recognized and rewarded, and when they do so, they are more likely to do so again. We all like to know that our effort is appreciated.
Here are some great examples of rewards that every student would like to have:
Allow students some floor time to tell a joke. This will be an especially great outlet for some students – you know the ones!
Everybody loves a brain break, especially when it gives you time to decompress and refocus before starting something new.
Let's be honest: students love getting to be the center of attention. And what's a more public way than the school announcements?
“It’s OK to reward kids for doing the right things.”-Nick Payne, Middle School Principal
Systemizing your student reward system will help you create a consistent and structured approach to recognizing and rewarding student achievement. Additionally, it will help you to create a sense of fairness and equity among all students.
But you're going to need some reward system ideas like we have listed below to make it easier for you to track student progress and identify areas of improvement, as well as develop strategies to motivate and engage students.
A school rewards app is important because it can provide a convenient way for teachers and administrators to recognize and reward their students from anywhere at any time.
Where to Start: By adopting a behavior management platform like LiveSchool you can leverage technology to organize your system with a behavior management app that can keep track of all the things you need for rewarding your kids.
By having clearly defined discipline data administrators can track patterns and trends in student behavior over time in order to identify areas of improvement and target interventions where necessary.
Where to Start: Define what matters to your school and track those behaviors.
By obtaining pre-approval you ensure that the rewards are appropriate and that the vendors and partners have been vetted to ensure they abide by the school's policies.
Where to Start: This one may already be done by your district. If not you can compile it over time, but it will eventually save you time as you don’t want to be a teacher, PBIS coach, and also cold-call local businesses.
By building a PBIS Store you can create a formal process for students to spend those hard-earned points with the added benefit of establishing a visual reminder of what your students are working towards.
There are tons of great iterations of school stores. They come in all shapes and sizes:
Where to Start: Begin by brainstorming school store ideas. To ease the logistical demand on your staff we’d suggest researching how to build a student-run rewards store. Then your students can decide how to design the store and if they’d like to provide digital options to your rewards offering.
By investing some time early on with your team, you can decide upon guidelines under which all future rewards can fall.
“When our teachers are incorporating competition into their lessons, you can just feel the buzz in the building.”-Eric Keiper, Dean of Students
When planning a reward, you'll need to decide how large a group you want to include. You can give individual rewards to students who excel, reward a whole class for meeting expectations, or even plan an event for a grade level or the entire school.
Where to Start: We have compiled a list of class rewards and a collection of class party ideas. Consider STEM Field Day or a Glow Party for a memorable reward your students won't forget!
It is important to choose grade-level appropriate student rewards because it helps motivate students to work hard and achieve their goals. Grade-level appropriate rewards will also help foster a sense of accomplishment since the students can relate more to the rewards they are receiving.
Elementary school incentives do not have to be costly or complicated. They can be cheap prizes or even free! In fact, we found 50 free student rewards that would work great for younger students. Elementary school students love fun classroom rewards but talk to your students to find out what they like.
What’s most important is that students feel valued and appreciated and recognize that positive behavior plays a vital role in making the classroom a special place for everyone.
A few examples that your elementary students will love:
In partners, students work to create the best reading fort they can imagine. Then, lights out! For the rest of the time, students flashlight read independently or with a buddy.
With great power comes great responsibility. Let students bask in the glory of leading their fellow classmates through the great halls of your school.
Allowing students to eat lunch with their teacher is a big honor and lets you develop relationships with your students as they understand you are giving up your quiet lunch to spend with them.
If you're a middle school teacher you know that motivation and morale matter a great deal. Not just for student engagement and success, but for your sanity as well!
But how do you find incentive ideas for middle school students that will actually work? You need ideas that will incentivize and at times even entertain your students. But how do you know what will do that?
You can start by asking them!
You need to harness the power of student voice before you plan prizes for middle school.
A few examples that are sure to motivate your middle school students:
Students get to eat lunch in a private room (with an adult chaperone) with friends and play their personal, school-appropriate playlist.
The student messenger is someone who delivers important messages and notes throughout the school. This is a great privilege students can earn, and it's also a good intervention for your Tier 2 students who may need opportunities for breaks.
Students love talking! So let them earn it. This can be a class-wide activity, or a student can have the floor share a funny story from the weekend.
As students age, motivation and engagement with school is a negative linear line from K through 12. By the time your students reach you, they can be fairly disinterested in school.
They still need school. But you’re going to need incentives for high school students that they actually want.
They are in school and they will participate on varying levels. But you know that deeper learning isn’t possible without engagement.
The best way to create an engaging learning environment in high school is to create an unforgettable experience for your students. Here are some fun high school events ideas that will create lifelong memories for your kiddos.
A few examples that even high school students will get excited about:
The famous improv show that airs on TV is a fun favorite for everyone. There are so many segments that range from intermediate to advanced for every student who feels brave enough to showcase their improv skills.
Let’s get out of the classroom and put some of this service learning to work with a student-led initiative that highlights different community service projects locally.
Use each step as a location to place a few words of the message that you want to get across. This can be educational material, current events, politics, pop culture, and school news.
Your rewards don’t have to all be the same thing. Remember they can be tangible, or intangible. They can be small daily incentives or big prizes that they need to work towards.
You can use classroom prizes, and virtual prizes or you can use fun school event ideas to motivate your students and enhance your school culture.
Here are a few examples of each to inform your planning:
Teachers decide on a theme and have students create their own interpretation of it.
Gather some of your favorite board games and teach your students how to follow rules the good old-fashioned way. You can even turn it into a class-wide tournament. Maybe board games are a bit retro, but you can make them cool with your students.
Create a jar for students to submit questions about YOU. As a reward, you could dedicate some time to answering questions the whole class or select from the jar or take a few at random. You never know what students will ask!
These expeditions can be found through e-learning platforms such as Nearpod, through websites that have educational programs like National Geographic or Discovery Education, or popular destinations such as zoos or museums.
A virtual talent show can be conducted live, or, even better, over social media! Create a hashtag for students and prompts they can share.
Online classes don't mean there can't be class spirit. As a class, your virtual students can earn points that can unlock an online party.
Give everyone headphones and let them play their favorite music and dance the night away, silently.
Your Principal begins announcing names and unveiling house selections for all of the new students as their new housemates cheer like crazy for their newly induction peers.
Grab a couple of gallons of ice cream, some whipped cream, and chocolate sauce, and you’re good to go. Don’t forget the sprinkles!
It’s time to get the gear, look the part, and transform your school into a local Cosplay convention! Who doesn’t want to dress as their favorite Anime character for a school party?
This free reward allows students of all ages to explore the many opportunities they can explore in their adult lives.
This is a great activity for individuals or small groups. You can find plenty of free ones online that cover nearly every subject area, but it’s actually fun (and pretty easy) to create your own.
If you’re a school leader you’d be wise to not forget your staff when it comes to recognizing and celebrating those who are doing great things in your school.
Our teachers deserve to be praised, respected, and recognized. They deserve some teacher rewards as well!
Here are a few that your staff is sure to love:
1. Lifesaver Award
Create a trophy (be creative here) that staff can award each other at your faculty meeting to recognize colleagues who go above and beyond to help them, the school, and the students.
2. Decision Maker
Want to instill buy-in with your staff? Include them in the decision-making process. Invite the teacher of the week to your admin team.
3. Principal’s Parking Spot
Re-designate your parking spot for teacher recognition.
School rewards are great for incentives and improving morale. They are also great for student motivation. We hope this guide will help you integrate your rewards with your school’s unique culture and that you can use these ideas to find a way to include all students in your rewards program, or if your just getting started don't forget to take a look at our Behavior Rubric examples.
“Change the way you see school. Change the way you do school. Change the results you get at school.”-Kanetha Callahan, Community Achieves Site Coordinator
