“…and the award goes to…”

After the performances wrap up for the year, it will be time to turn your attention to awarding the students for their efforts.  In the case of students graduating from the school, often the banquet committee will approach the teacher for recognition awards to be given at a celebration banquet. Here is how I recognize and reward my student's after the performances are complete:

While you can buy any manner of pre-printed award and either hand-print or computer-print the student’s names, I find that it is very economical to use a program such as Microsoft Publisher to create student chorus awards.  I give copies of all awards (including previous years) to the recognition committee for my 6^th grade students who will be graduating from our school.  I laminate the 4^th and 5^th grade awards, and display them in the room (or in the hallway outside the room) during the coming year.

Displaying the student awards is a great idea because:

1. The students enjoy the recognition and seeing their awards makes them feel good.
2. It's a great way to promote your program! Even students who do not participate in chorus are interested in the awards on the wall, which leads to…
3. Student interest in the awards leads to more students signing up for chorus at the start of the new school year!
4. Room décor is taken care of for the coming year, which makes things easier for me.  Sometimes I’ll change out a seasonal border around the awards, but this takes care of bulletin boards for the year.