Box Tops for Education

Middle school kids need incentive to do something like bring box tops, that they probably view as something for "little kids." Maybe offer the homeroom that brings the most box tops a pizza party, extra credit in school, no homework passes, or something like that.

Jenny has it right. Offer some type of contest. Our school had never really collected any box tops until this year when I became coordinator, and we collected almost $800 from September till the Feb. deadline and have almost $500 already for the December check. Winning homeroom will receive free breakfast and home made milk shakes. Also break the year long contest down into monthly smaller contests and offer free popsicles or ice cream. I expect it to take three years to achieve great results. So far this year, the 6th grade students have been the most enthusiastic, and I am hoping this will carry over throughout their middle school years. I will also be offering some type of prize to the homeroom who collects the most during the first week of school next year. This will encourage students to clip over the summer.

Another idea we are going to try - have a "favorite teacher" contest.  The students bring their box tops to their favorite teacher.  Then the teacher who collects the most wins a gift basket, put his/her name on the marquee.  Sometimes kids will do more for their favorite teacher than anyone!  LOVE the great ideas :)

I run monthly contests and the top class wins: a cake party (day old pastry donated by a foodstore) ice cream party, candy shower, goodie bags, etc. The top team at the end of the year wins an off campus lunch (the pizza place is next to the school). An inexpensive way is to ask the principal to do a stunt. The kids or the teachers can be competitive. I send out the tally sheet in the school newsletter for them to see who is in the lead. Also I have incentives for the teachers, like this month the winning classroom teacher will receive a GC to a bookstore donated by a parent.  We tripled the earnings at our school since I took over. Good Luck!

I've had local businesses donate ITunes, Best Buy, Walmart & Target gift cards that the Principal gives to the top 3 earners at each 6 Week assembly, the top earning teacher gets one too. So far, it's working.