Warm Weather Rewards {A June BRIGHT Idea!}

I’m so excited to join some of my favorite blogging buddies for another month of bright ideas! For June, I thought I’d share some of the behavior rewards my grade level used at the end of the year to keep our kiddos a *little* more motivated to be on their best behavior. These rewards were perfect for the warm weather we get during the last weeks of school!

I want to start by saying that both of these incentives were discussed with our students and explained to our parents through a letter. Our team worked together to write it up and we asked all parents to sign it so that we were all on the same page. If students didn’t get it signed, they knew they wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the rewards no matter what. All of this was approved by our super-fantastic administration.

When state testing started, we knew we needed something to push our kids to a) do their best each day and b) behave after testing ended each day. A few years ago, one of my good friends started using a water party as an incentive. It didn’t take long for the rest of us to jump on board. This was the first year we held the water party as a grade level and it was AWESOME.

The kids earned 10 minutes of water party time each day – 5 minutes for each section of the test we had to take. We didn’t do anything crazy – we just asked the kids to try their best and use their strategies. Most kids earned their time every day. If they lost time, it was usually because they ended their day on yellow, orange, or red. Or, they just flat out lost their mind and did something crazy. Like lick their neighbor’s pizza at lunch. And then lie about it.

The best part of this reward is that we spent practically Z-E-R-O dollars of our own money on it. The kids could bring in a water toy (as long as it didn’t resemble a gun, per our district rules) or $1. We found water crayons at our Dollar Tree for $1 and we bought the stink out of them.

water crayon = not a water gun 🙂

We only hogged the playground for about an hour and a half. We used Rubbermaid storage bins and filled them up with water. The “refueling station” was a no squirting zone… and also a great place to hold the kids who didn’t get the full time.

We took the first 30 minutes to get everyone on the field and explain the ground rules to the kids – no running on the playground equipment (stay on the grass), don’t squirt the teachers, only squirt someone below the face, and wear your shoes.

listening to rules waiting to play

We also sent home a letter a couple of days before the water party reminding the kids to bring

• a towel
• a change of clothes (including shoes and socks!)
• a not-water-gun-water-toy
• OR the $1 for the water crayon

And then?

Then there was 45 minutes of this…

The year wasn’t totally over, though! We needed something to get us through the last few days of school. So, we employed one of our old tactics – behavior stickers.

Popsicles = cheap, perfect for warm weather, and can be sugar-free!

I hope this has given you some good ideas for back to school rewards, or for your end of the year fun for next year! Make sure you check out the rest of the bright ideas below!

If you liked this post, make sure you keep up with me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!