Treats for 4th graders -

4th graders too cool for stickers?  Hmm.  You're right food rewards seem to be what many teachers resort to.  It's hard coming up with inexpensive rewards too.  How about "points" that lead to being in charge of some things in the classroom like taking attendance (which you do anyway but they can think they're responsible), collecting homework, being your helper with "important" matters like distributing memos or papers, taking someting to the office, leading the class to the cafeteria, things like that.  Colorful pencils and erasers.  Stores like Dollar Tree (those "dollar stores") here have books that cost just $1 and could be a major award.  But no CANDY - because we know where that leads. 

Lanie 

As a retired teacher, I understand your problems first hand. Here is what I did to help the students see the benefits of working for a long term goal as opposed to immediate gratification for a small task. I found four discarded fairly flat boxes and wrapped them in construction paper - 3 in blue and 1 in bright red. I divided the class into teams for academic baseball. They had to teach each other (peer pressure) and work as a team on each problem. At the end of the unit the teams played each other. I had questions and problems that they had to solve while standing on the red box called 'home plate'. Some papers that I drew from the question box would be multiple parts, so it was possible to get more than one base and "push" a teammate onto home for a run and a score. It took days to play because the kids did not want to quit. One teacher even liked the idea so much that we began competing at the end of the year between rooms. Now as to the "reward".....sometimes it could be popcorn for the class if the score was very close or only the winning team got to have their lunch outside, etc. The result was children who taught themselves and each other and wanted to learn because they saw a longterm benefit to it. If everyone was doing a great job with the game and obeying the rules like not talking while a teammate was up and being very still, I would reward them for immediate good behavior with apples that were divided into portions by the team ahead at the time. Apples were really no big treat (like candy), but the fact that everyone wanted to get the biggest piece was.....and it was prepared and served by their peers. (P.S. As a teacher, it is so frustrating when you see how much the kids are eager to learn from each other when you got your degree and prepared at night to make a wonderful presentation. Oh, well, I tried to go with what worked!) When I left the school, one little boy lamented "No more baseball!" And baseball is a good idea because the boys don't think it is "girly". Be sure you reward the winning team though so next time you finish a unit they will work harder knowing that not everyone is going to get the 'prize'. Once they understood the game and the rewards, I would use it for many examples of the benefits of hardwook and waiting for that big reward.....even the idea of fairplay and supporting your friends, etc. Oh, and I never let the same group of kids play on the same team everytime or pick who their teammates would be. I tried to be overly fair as the referee¡ Hope this works as well for you as it did for me.