What's Your Trick? Terrific Tickets and Class Raffle

Ahhhh, let the Countdown begin!

Summer will be here soon and it will be a time of rest and relaxation for all of us tuckered-out-teachers. A time of not getting up and out the door in the morning and not having recess duty or bus duty or not attending staff meetings and not conferencing with parents and not worrying about homework, reports, projects, lunches, etc. etc. etc.

BUT, until then-what on earth do you do with these Summer Spastic Students???

We are pulling out all our tricks to try and cram in one more math fact. Gain one more fluency score. Write one more complete sentence.

Quite the challenge when at 5 minutes after the bell rings to begin your day they are swinging from the ceiling.

Enter the World of Bribery. Oh no, we are not above bribing! Sorry to all of you out there who follow the “Intrinsic Motivation Theory”. Ummm ya-by this time they are motivated to go swim in a pool and kick it at the beach, NOT sit and sustain themselves at their desks. So here is something we have pulled out from our bag of tricks in order to attempt to hang onto the shred of attention and focus that any of these lil peanuts have left.

It’s a little thing we like to call “Room 1 Raffle”! We use raffle tickets to reward those friends that can keep their summer squirmies from taking over their bodies and actually finish an assignment. We start off each child with 5 tickets for the week. They write their names on the back and keep them tucked away in a safe place. They may also earn additional tickets for making good choices. On the flip side, they may also lose a ticket for starting their summer hiatus early-you get the picture.

At the end of the week, we hold our raffle. Before the raffle occurs, students put whatever tickets they have leftover into the bag below the item they would like to win.

So what on earth do you raffle? Items for the raffle do not need to break your summer vacation budget. You do not need to forgo your spectacular new bathing suit on trinkets and treasures for your class. We have been creative with some of our rewards that don’t even cost a cent (it may cost you some of your sanity, but it’s a small price to pay for smooth sailing to summer). We are also big fans of the dollar stores and dollar spot at Target.

OK so getting ready:

1) Decide how many items you would like to raffle off and also how many winners you want to have. Some items may have more than one winner like ‘Lunch Bunch’ for example.

2) Find a spot to display your items and have a container by each. We just hang a paper bag under each item but you could choose a basket, bowl, etc. We also like to dangle the carrot in full view to get them excited about their potential prize.

3) Purchase a roll of tickets or copy our Terrific Tickets and you are all set.

Here are some Free items that we raffle off:

-Lunch Bunch (lunch with the teacher)

-Line Leader

-Back of the Line Leader (kids always want to be last for some reason!)

-Cheer Chair (decorate a pillow case for the kids to keep on the back of their chair for the week)

-Teacher Helper

-Special Spot (a designated spot in the room or rug where they work or sit at)

-Trip to the Principal (for a good reason this time-ask your principal if they are willing)

-Treasure Chest

-Otter Pop or Popsicle (they love this one and we just keep a plastic shoebox full)

Grab your free copy and save your sanity!