[npa589]

Here are some reasons to donate:

1. It literally serves as a huge incentive for many students to make better choices while at school --- if only for the reason that they realize there is a teacher willing to show enough interest to reward them when they actually DO do something right. Many of the most challenging kids are ones that only hear about what they do wrong, so much so, that that is what becomes their identity.

2. Their excitement level when they get to pick out a card is unreal, just like when we would go with our Dads, brothers, or whomever to open up a pack, or go home and sift through the cards we already had. By the way, in my boxes, I also had a ton of empty packs from who knows how many mid 90s sets (mostly baseball and basketball). I put like 5 cards in an empty pack for certain students that are in the program if they had a "good day". If a kid is in the program, all they have to do, when not in my class, is show me their Behavior plan and that they had a "Smiley face" for that day, and out comes 2 or 3 cards.

3. These kids are growing up in a generation where collecting cards isn't as widespread, and many of them keep all the cards I've given them, and begin to organize and put them in groups. (Sound familiar you guys?). I've given some old 9-pocket pages I had to some kids as well so that they can organize them. In 15 years, who knows, some of them may be on Net54 talking with us. Many of the kids love sports, especially the ones that receive the most cards for "good days".

4. I figure I have given cards to over 600 different kids in 2+ years of doing this. It's not the cards as much as it is the attention, mentoring, and interest shown, but I know they have helped as a vehicle to bring kids from level 1s to level 3s. "Do your homework, read at home, get your behavior/learning plan signed by your teacher, and you get a card."