teachers...K-3rd grade

[kacaju]

I have a question...
I am a lunch lady who just got moved to a K-3rd grade school. Before this I was in our High School.
Oh my....what a difference and I have had to really adjust quickly!!

Anyway...my question. Would it be OK as a lunch lady to hand out a sicker here and there if I saw a child doing something good for a classmate?
Today for example, I had two different students (in different lunches) who went out of their way to be kind to a classmate.

I said thank you for helping out your friend. I did want to let them know they did a good deed.

Tonight I was thinking about would it be fun to reward the kids if I saw something like that again..or is that asking for trouble because they are so young and I certainly do not want to:
A. upset those who did not get a sticker or
B. have them start overdoing the niceness so they all get a sticker KWIM??

thanks for any advice

 

[Tinijocaro]

I teach 4th and 5th grade music but I think any time you acknowledge kindness, that's a good thing. It seems there is so much bad behavior in cafeterias (I teach in four elementary schools) that to reward those who are doing the right thing will help overall with behavior.

Just be sure they know that they can't ask for stickers or tell you when they've done something kind-it has to be random. Maybe say you only have a certain amount of stickers each day to give out. You can still give a kind word when you catch them being kind.

 

[Reddy]

I would check with the princpal to make sure it would be OK with the school
there may be a rule against it & I would hate for you to get in trouble for being nice

 

[katesorad]

I think it's a great idea! As someone else said, you may want to check it out with the principal or your supervisor (if you have one).

I'd personally rather have kids doing extra to be kind than not have kindness at all! When I had my first job bagging groceries at a grocery store, they'd give us little notecards every time we did something "Extra safe".. like bringing carts back into the store with 4 (the recommended amount) at a time, etc. I got a few of them, and it made me feel really good!

 

[kacaju]

I would check with the princpal to make sure it would be OK with the school
there may be a rule against it & I would hate for you to get in trouble for being nice

Good point. Thanks.

 

[Mickey2013]

Previous teacher here The school may have a school-wide program for recognizing good behavior. Many schools I've taught in and the school my kids now go to has a behavior plan that recognizes good behavior and you could give out the "school" reward.

Good luck cafe duty is one tough job!

 

[disykat]

I was also going to mention the school wide program. Most schools I've been involved in have "tickets" you can hand out.

 

[kacaju]

I will ask today if they have a school wide program. This is a different school district then where I used to be so I have no idea of what they do and do not do.

Right now the kids are full of questions as to why am I there and what happened to the other lunch lady and is she coming back. I will be here at least to the end of the school year and not sure after that.

As I said, it is so different then my HS kids. They just paid and left, no questions other then...do you have more ketchup? LOL!!