I recently saw an idea on Instagram from one of the many teachers I follow about using a rubber duck to reward students and to give them special privileges. I’ll be honest, at first I thought it seemed a bit cheesy and didn’t think that my students would respond to it at all. I honestly didn’t dig any deeper into how she used it, because I just didn’t think it would be something that would “work” with my kids.
Yesterday, though, while in line at Meijer, I noticed some small rubber ducks in the checkout line. They were part of the last minute, impulse buy section right where you checkout. They were only .59 cents, so I grabbed one and decided right then to try it for the month on March in my room (March – lucky…kind of works). When I got to my room I sat that cute little duck in the front of my classroom and just waited for the questions. Of course, as soon as the students arrived the questions started. “Why is there a rubber duck in our classroom?” “Mrs. Taylor, whose duck is that?” “Does the duck have a name?” “Is it a boy duck or a girl duck?” I just love 4th graders!
I explained to my students that he was a lucky duck and that one of them would be his caretaker for the day – which made them a lucky duck too. Being the lucky duck means that that student got to be my errand runner for the day, first in line for lunch and recess, and anything else that might come up during the course of our school day. They were ALL IN! I told them that during our morning work time I would randomly choose a student (ClassDojo) and IF that student was on task and getting their morning work done, they would be the Lucky Duck of the day! Now I really had their attention. I chose the Lucky Duck and set our new little rubber friend on that student’s desk. All day when I needed a little help, my real life Lucky Duck would jump up and do their job! It was the cutest thing I have ever seen. Y’all, this cheap little rubber duck brought new life into our classroom today!
It’s been a long, rough school year, not only for teachers but also for students. I started the year by saying that these kiddos will remember this year forever, and I wanted to make those memories happy and ones that they would talk about for a long time. Who knew that a little rubber duck could help me do that?!? I’m so blessed to get to spend my days with such energetic, loving. amazing little humans. I truly believe that I am the LUCKY DUCK!
Julie Anne Taylor 