Rewards system in preschool and early primary (elementary) school?

Question

What are the basis for stablishing a rewards system in preschool and early primeray (elementary) school?

Is this a widely accepted practice in kindergartens and schools?

Is there any criticism for this practice in small children?

Answer 1

As a Pre-K teacher, I most prefer to "catch children being good."  If you see a child behaving in a way that is positive, just by saying "Wow!  I like the way Johnny is listening so quietly and keeping his hands in his lap!" then suddenly all the children will be listening with hands in their laps.  It encourages positive behavior without teaching that there must be concrete rewards for positive behavior.  This works just as well for parents at home.  Nothing is more rewarding to a young child that a little praise, a smile, and a hug from a parent.

Answer 2

the real basis in most cases is creating an understandable system of letting the children know what is acceptable and not acceptable.

most classrooms us the "stop light" system green cards for children who followed the rules and yellow cards for those who had to be warned and stopped an unwanted behavior and red for those who would not stop the unwanted behavior(usually meaning they broke a rule like hurting others, or disturbing the classroom activities).

some classrooms use happy, sad or other faces, and usually the younger the child the less sophiscated the system, and by the time they reach the kindergarten class rooms they have a chance to earn at least several green cards or get red cards for unwanted behavior.

also most classrooms who use this process have further rewards....after so many green card days the child is allowed to choose a reward from the treasure box.

Answer 3

Structured reward systems are usually used for children with some kind of behavioral problems. There is a lot of controversy about using such a system. The main problem is that you really want children to want to learn or to change their behavior  for the pleasure of learning and to please themselves. You also risk setting up a situation where a child will only work for rewards. That being said a Behavior Modification  approach based on rewards can be quite effective for kids with behavioral difficulties who don't respond to less stuctured approaches. I would stay away from any classroom that routinely uises such an approach for everyone.

Answer 4

I agree with teachers pet. In my experience, using something like red/green/yellow cards and the treasure box works fairly well. Something that I used to do when I worked at a daycare with little children was I would do a chart with everyones name on it, and I would have the multi-colored stars. Each child had a certain thing they had to do, *easy things like clean up after snack time* things like that. And if they did what they were supposed to do then they got a star. Also, they could get stars for doing their homework, being nice (doing a good deed), and helping someone else. At the end of the week, the children with 10 or more stars got to choose a prize from the Prize Wheel. It ranged anywhere from getting an extra snack to being able to sit out one class and read in the library, just different incentives. Ask your class what they enjoy, and make them based on what they say.

Hope I helped.