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Reward Systems For Nursery Children


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Hi

I'm after advice, what sort of reard systems do you have for Nursery children. The rest of the school follows assertive discipline and have star charts for whole classes, but Nursery?

I understand they have to follow the rules and understand the consequences if they don't but not sure what reward system would suit

can you help??

Thanks

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Hi

Yes that's what we all aim to do, do you record achievements in the form of stickers, etc are charts displayed etc

Thanks again

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We don't have charts. I feel they are too difficult for nursery children to use. Rewards need to be more immediate, like all the things mentioned or perhaps a sticker on the jumper. We give out stickers during independent play for being kind, tidying etc. We also use them at group time, but try to make sure that we never get into 'sticker competitiveness' :)

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Hi Becky

Do you find it works for reception? because when we tried whole class charts the children had no interest!

Praise is a great incentive for young children. They also love to stand at the front of the class and be applauded for something well done. I send home reward letters but these are as much for the parents as for the children.

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yes, we use praise etc but also stickers we found some wonderful ones from a company called thepedagogues.co.uk they also make classroom posters/"rules" (such as we line up quietly;we're the best tidiers ect) the children love them and thy have really funky litttle multi-cltural characters on them too

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HI

 

We have a 'super star ' star chart.

Basically the children have to collect ten stars and they get displayed on a chart, when they get ten stars they get a certificate and a medal. (certificate and medal changed design each set of ten stars they get)

they get stars for doing all sorts, i,e tidying up,. being kind to others etc... we have star chart time once a day at afternoon circle time, this is where we talk to the children about why (or whey they haven't) got a star that day.

Works really well, pre-school children love it , parents love it and OFSTED liked it too,

 

Dawn

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In my experience observing staff, I found that the children who got stickers were the ones who displayed negative behaviour and stickers were used to over emphasise the positive behaviour. So if a child wouldn't normally tidy up he/she only had to do it once to earn a sticker. There was often a child who had for example tidied up, but because the child always did this, didn't get a sticker :o

 

What happens when the stickers or charts stop? What replaces them? if the replacement method works, then why not use this in the first place?

 

The only time I've used stickers is when children have become competetive, or they have formed groups of friends which have excluded other children. I choose a few children from the 'in' group and a few from the 'excluded' group, I then ask the children to award each other from the 'other' group a sticker and say what it is for. This is normally in the summer term as the older ones are nearly ready for school, having formed strong relationships within peer groups. It helps them think about seeing the best in others who they sometimes exclude from their peer group play.

 

Peggy

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I agree with that Peggy, especially about the tidying up situation. We used to give stickers individually to children for all the usual positive behaviours/actions, but the system was recently changed and a chart was stuck up on the wall. The 'incentive' is that the child with the most stickers gets to take a particular bear home for the weekend.

 

I like the idea of this, giving the children a focus, something to work towards, but I find the sticker dishing is a tad unfair on those children who do not have the potential to earn lots and lots, for example a full time child in comparison to a child who does 2/3 sessions. I also don't feel that stickers are appropriate to younger children, as they do not have an understanding of what they are for or the things they need to do to go about winning them.

 

I like the certificate idea, and have actually made some samples to bring to the next team meeting. I also agree that plenty of praise for the positive is a good method of rewarding behaviour.

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dont use stickers just praise and big smile, applause, a well done etc. best incentive going, a child willing to please you because they want to not just to get a sticker, certificate or anything else.

 

Same reasons as Peggy, Dont like stickers etc as an example at this age my son regularly tidied up, sat well, listened, and generally behaved well but never got any reward whereas his mate who constantly needed encouragement to do these got the stickers..being very bright my son worked this out, told me that it was unfair and that tomorrow he would be like his friend to get the sticker....and it worked!!! :o How to teach a child to display negative behaviour.

 

Same at school, when others got certificate for slightest effort he didnt as he was a constant achiever, causing him to ask why he bothered. No matter how much effort he put in they expected it from him and he didnt get the rewards. I was lucky, he loves to learn and always wants to learn more but another child could have given up.

 

you give something to one for tidying or sitting etc and it needs to be all displaying that behaviour at the same time, but what about the one child in the group who cannot achieve this,

do they all get them regularly and then you ask is it really a reward.

When do you stop giving them , when they can all do the required task and what then? will they continue if they do not get the reward.

 

Inge

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I agree, we don't send children home plastered in stickers, we're very careful about giving them out.Sometimes it's because the whole group has been especially careful about tidying away, or have listened very carefully to a story.I do always tell them how pleased/proud etc I am with them, but now and again it's nice to have a sticker!

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we use treasure pots to praise and reinforce positive behaviour.

we have a pot full of shiny buttons and beads and then we have another pot next to it.when a child does something good, kind or sits nicely we say look hes sitting, fantastic and name the child and then drop the treasure into the other pot. its amazing how a glass bead being put into a pot encourages the other children to do the right thing. When the pot is full all the children get a treat.eg 10 mins video or extra fruit.

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We don't have stickers-tried a star chart for tidying up once but we felt it didn't mean much to the children and it didn't encourage them to participate. Now at tidy up time we gather the children together and give them each a job to do-much better and they all get praised for what they have done. It also means that instead of running round telling everybody else that its time to tidy up they are all focused and we have found it a lot less stressful.

The only stickers we have now are for birthdays.

Linda

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Hi

Thanks for some lovely suggestions.

I have a star chart but it's because the whole school follow the same system, but I will have 'marble in the jar' type rewards so that all Reception get to recieve whole class treats!

Thanks again

Becky

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