Donate Your Space-Consuming Modern Cards to an Elementary School

[BradH]

Great idea. Email sent.

[npa589]

Awesome! Thank you Brad!

[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."

[cubsfan-budman]

What do you do for girls in your classes? Do they enjoy them as much, or do you have different incentives for them?

I was going to make up a box for a neighbor who's a teacher (loved the idea, obviously), but I didn't want to just be making up something for half of her class...

[npa589]

Depends on the age for girls in the school, typically. 4th and 5th grade girls don't care as much, but K-3 (especially K-2) are ecstatic that they were given a reward. The situations for many of these kids is far below ideal (a completely different topic), so anything that they receive (or anything they earn, which is what I stress) is like a small treasure. A very high percentage of the behavioral challenges, however, are with the boys --- which is what prompted me to bring in cards in the first place. All the kids I "mentor" are boys, and even though I'm the music teacher, I played baseball and basketball extensively through high-school --- so, when able, I'll go out to P.E. and chuck the football around and school them in basketball. The ability to connect with kids that are in need of positive influence via both music and sports is definitely a benefit. I love Brahms, Beethoven, Bach, and Mozart as much as anyone, yet listened to some Eminem as well before basketball games. The cards are an added vehicle of the connection with interest in sports, as they are aware that the cards were mine.

[peterose4hof]

PM coming your way. I will dig some cards out as soon as I can and send them your way. I have tons of modern base cards (stars included) just laying around.

Excellent question by "cubsfan-budman" I never would have thought to ask what the girls in you class would like. I have some oddball non sports stuff; I will see if some of that might be appealing to them.

[brookdodger55]

Email sent
Mike Wrenn