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PBIS takes on many different shapes in today’s schools. We use it for individuals, classes, schools, etc. As part of our school’s PBIS plan, we have a school wide PBIS incentive periodically. Last year we did things once a nine weeks, this year the plan is to kick it up to once a month.
For people who have no idea what I am talking about, PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Intervention System. The idea being that students work towards a reward by having good behavior.
A school wide incentive is not necessarily the whole school. Students earn the school wide PBIS incentive through good behavior that is tracked by Dojo points. Any student who earns the set amount of Dojo points gets to go to the school wide PBIS incentive.
Now, these can be really crazy (carnival, fall festival, field trip, etc.) or more subdued (sock hop, popcorn and a movie, etc). Today I am sharing one of my school’s go-to rewards. This is cheap and easy to change so that it can continue to be fresh.
Speaking from experience, I would not suggest making this the only type of reward offered, but it can be used some times. If your school is strapped for cash (like most schools), this can be good. You could use this in between other rewards to keep momentum going.
Also read: Positive Management Strategies for when You Don’t Feel Positive
The best way to describe the school wide PBIS incentive would be centers. We usually do school wides during specials times. Instead of going to music or art or whatever the case may be, the students in the grade that earned their incentive will go to the incentive. It is usually housed in the gym.
We plan as many activities as there are classes (although sometimes we double up and have two classes at each station). We usually have one specials teacher at each of the stations, and we switch after a few minutes.
The different stations allow you to change activities each time and keep things fresh. One suggestion is to alternate between high energy activities and low energy activities.
Also read: Really Specific Classroom Management Systems for the Music Room
Here are some ideas for activities for school wide PBIS incentives:
- Snack station (or water station)
- Scooter races
- Jump rope station
- Relay race
- Dance station
- Non-elimination musical chairs: even my fifth graders loved this game!
- Craft station: Bookmarks are an easy and cheap craft that require little time and supplies.
- Basketball station
- Just Dance videos on YouTube
- Dress up relay: Students put on hats, sunglasses, large shoes, necklaces, etc. and run a relay. When they get back, they take the dress up off and the next person goes. This is easy to change for the seasons (these leis for summer, sweaters for Christmas, etc.)
- Bean bag toss
- Photo booth station: Have a camera to take photos. You can send them to teachers afterwards. If they are older, they could just use their phones. You can use props like these cheap ones.
- Volleyball station
- Parachute station
- Tug of war
- Fake tattoos: These are cheap and the kids love them! These look like fun.
Also read: Keys to Classroom Management in the Music Room
The list can go on and on—that’s the beauty of this type of school wide PBIS incentive. What would you add to this list? And what does your school use to encourage good behavior? Let us know in the comments!
Happy Teaching!
That is a great list of incentives. We are a PBIS school and are struggling with a school wide activity that would have enough incentive to earn those stations. In other words, how do we determine who goes and who doesn’t. Do they earn points, tickets, and so forth to “turn in ” to earn their trip to the incentive party or stations. Not every teacher uses Dojo. With all that is required of teachers these days, we don’t want this new incentive to put any more pressure on them. I would love to hear how you got teachers to “buy in” to the incentives and how you keep track of the points.
We are still working with a few holdouts, but most teachers find once they get a system in place, it saves them time in the long run because behavior improves. We set a number each time. The teachers submit a list of who made it. We use Class Dojo, and we supplement with little “tickets”, which are pieces of paper with the school logo on them. Most teachers find Dojo easiest, but some just use the tickets, and some use a clipboard to mark down points. I have also seen where people give points based on what color of the clip chart they ended on in the day, so if teachers are already using that, it may be easiest (like if they end on green they get 3 points or whatever.) So… yes they earn the points. We still don’t have total buy in, but as we have instituted this, it has made a huge difference. Also, getting the kids excited about it helps because then they put pressure on the teacher. Teachers keep track of the points in the way that is easiest for them. And really emphasizing that it is to make their lives easier, not harder. The classes where the teacher still hasn’t bought in are usually the worst behaved classes in the building. Hope that helps!