Student Recognition

2nd graders LOVE attention! Most of them, anyway!
I've found over the years that if I can give them recognition on a routine basis, the better they respond!
A couple of years ago, I started recognizing a student a week as our " Star Student".
The kids ate it up!
Last year I read what several teachers did with their "Star Students" and I went a little on the overboard side. The kids loved it...the parents loved it....it got a little wearing on me!
SO, this year I am trying to find a happy medium.
I've already told you about these cutesy little Stars I'm going to use instead of the good ol' standby
Student of the Week poster I used last year.

We like to have a grade level ceremony every Friday afternoon where each teacher "Recognizes" a "Star of the week".

There is clapping.

There is fanfare.

There is cheering!

It's a lot of fun!

They will be given one of those stars and this paper which will explain to the parents what fanfare will take place during the week. (I've adjusted it a bit to 'tone it down' from last year and hopefully take some of it off of me!)

There are also other student recognitions I am doing:

*Knocked my socks off- I mentioned before I got this idea from Denise at Sunny Days in Second Grade- she has cutesy little tags to attach to dollar store socks...I made my own. I'm going to give one a week to a student (Who is NOT my star that week) that has done a really good job of improving or just did something fantastic.

*Desk Fairy- I'm a neat fanatic....well, okay, don't look at my teacher desk and think that, but the kids desks being a hot mess just drives me UP the wall!! So, I tip over their desks when they're messy so they have to clean them up   encourage them at every opportunity to keep their desk clean and organized. The Desk Fairy is a trick a LOT of teachers use to do this....and I love it! I found this little poem at Mrs McCumbee's blog ....and although she calls hers "The Queen of Clean" , I'm sticking with the Desk Fairy.

I'm not yet sure what 'treat' I am going to attach to it...I have several students with SEVERE food allergies, so I am hesitant to do something food-related. It may end up being a "Pick a piece of Recess Equipment" tag or "Free Computer Time" tag....will figure that out in the next few weeks.

At the end of the year last year, I bought some cute  awards from Erin Stephan on TPT. I ran each one off on different colored cardstock and we had a little 'ceremony' to give them out. My students absolutely LOVED it. They would try to guess WHO got each award before I called out the name....and it was funny to me how they categorized each other ("He's a great artist", "She is always smiling", etc). So, this year, I think I am going to do this every 6 weeks. Here is the link if you are interested in the awards.

I think this is plenty for me as far as student recognition goes, but I am always opened to new ideas. So, how do YOU recognize your students?