One thing I have had great success with in the classroom is implementing a “Fun Friday” reward as a part of my behavior management system. Here are some of my favorite free or low cost and low-prep to no-prep tips to ensure that you’ll have a fabulous Fun Friday that will launch you right into the weekend:
My students love to dance along to cardio desk drumming videos on YouTube, some of my students have even asked to lead the class in their own cardio desk drumming routine to a song of their choice! If you’d like, you can cut pool noodles into sections for “drumsticks”. If you can’t find any pool noodles, I found I preferred using 6 tubular pipe insulation foam from the home improvement store, you get more bang for your buck as it is slightly longer than a pool noodle, AND it comes with a split seam-- perfect for storing on the support bars of the desk (just be sure to get the non-adhesive kind)
COST: videos are free, I paid about $1.50 per insulation foam piece. Two 6-foot pieces gets you 3 sets of sticks.
Another resource I love using is Blooket! I have used Blooket for every subject in my classroom. It is an AMAZING tool! I like to make Blooket sets based on what we are learning that week and pull them out on a Fun Friday. In the past, I have also had students create their own Blookets as review work! If you use the discover tool, you’ll find many sets that teachers have already created! There are many different game modes, but I’m sure your class will have a favorite *cough* crypto-hack *cough*. Sometimes, I even join in on my own device under a secret nickname and push people off the leaderboard. It’s fun to see everyone try and figure out who it is.
COST: Blooket is free to use however, if you want to duplicate and edit sets, you’ll need to pay for the premium version
Lately, I’ve been using a resource I discovered during virtual learning called Mystery Pixels! Mystery Pixels are GoogleSheets that have been conditionally formatted to reveal a special picture once all the correct answers have been filled in. I use MysteryPixels in my classroom by displaying it on my Promethean board, and every student comes up and chooses a problem to solve. Eventually, once my entire class is an expert in navigating the Mystery Pixel format, they will be able to complete them at their own pace on Google Classroom as early finisher work or as alternative assignments.
COST: Free! I find all my Mystery Pixel activities on various Facebook groups! You can also find them on TeachersPayTeachers from various creators.
Lastly, I always save my hand-on science activity that comes with my science curriculum for Fridays. Don’t forget students love to have fun and get their hands into things! Don’t be afraid to have some fun, especially with science. If my curriculum is lacking in hands on activities for that particular week or unit, I love using Mystery Science! Remember to check with your school to see if there are any science to STEAM supplies you can use in your classrooms.
COST: Depends on your chosen activity, this is where I tend to splurge on the classroom
Are you implementing a reward as a part of your behavior management system? Share what you are doing with me in the comments!