For most of us teachers, the turning point from July to August bring us in a straight count down of every minute left in summer before school starts. Most of us are starting to set up our classrooms, get our lesson plans in line and setting up our behavior systems for the year.
Last year, I had a prize box to go along with my behavior system, Class Dojo. I used it to keep track of points for my class and each kid was able to earn points as well as have them taken away. I converted the points into Dojo Dollars. Students could then use dojo dollars to buy things out of my prize box. This was a great system for my classroom and the prize box, especially with some great prizes in it, really helped monitory the behaviors in my classroom throughout the year. Unforunately last year I went to the dollar store and even though it’s the dollar store, I spent so much money. Every time I wanted to get stuff for my prize box, it cost me like 60-80$ a month. I gave you some guidelines to stay within when working to set up your prize box and how to not spend your whole paycheck on it!
Some things to keep in mind when creating your prize box.
- Make sure it has items your kids will want
- Don’t spend all of your money every month on it!
- Try to get the kids opinions of things they might want and add it in occasionally
- Make sure they see all the prizes and know what to expect
- Make the prices of the prizes achievable
Here are some examples of items to use in your prize box on a discount:
Emoji Bracelets – Every child loves emojis and bracelets! These come in a pack of 4 for $3! Perfect for prize boxes (also perfect for birthdays!)
Sports Theme Kick Sacks – These are $24 for 24 in a pack. These are great especially with boys in the classroom who you can never think of what to buy them that they might actually work for!
Toy Tennis Racquet with foam ball – These sets are $23 for 12 of them. These would make excellent higher priced items for kids to want to work towards in the classroom for points.
Fake Tattoos – Every kid no matter what age loves fake tattoos, especially if their friends have the same ones! This is a pack of 96 for $47!
Glow in the Dark Spinner set – These come with a pack of 24 for $39. This could be something kids play with at recess or bring home and play with their siblings.
I don’t know about your demographics in your classrooms but my students are very low income and a lot of them don’t have simple toys. Being able to provide them with just some simple toys they can play with at home since their parents won’t or can’t buy them, makes it all worth it. As for trying to budget with spending your own money on a prize box, keep in mind that buying in bulk is so much easier and way less expensive in the long run.
{This is a sponsored post. Please see my disclaimer policy.}
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