I was sent these Brag Tags from Boost Promotions to help showcase how Brag Tags work in a kindergarten classroom.  All opinions are my own.

This last year was a rough year in my Kindergarten classroom.  The kids didn’t take to my clip chart like in years past, so I started doing the class store route.  They could earn pennies, and then buy items from the class store with the money they earned.  It worked great for a few months, and then it died down again and stopped working as a positive reinforcement.  I began looking around at how I could change up my behavior plan for my classroom with a unique twist on positive reinforcement.  That was when I read about brag tags.

Brag Tags are little tags that have different positive statements on them that your students can earn.  They come with chains so that each student can place the brag tags they’ve earned on their chains.  The brag tags have different sayings such as “star student”, “I know my sight words”, or “perfect attendance”.  The great thing about these is it’s a great way to reward a variety of behavior all in a positive and specific manner.  The students know exactly why they are earning their brag tag and it helps to encourage more positive behavior.

I got my brag tags from Boost Promotions, who guarantee to be the cheapest place to purchase your set of brag tags, and after looking at their prizing sheet I know they are! They have so many different options of brag tags for elementary or middle school and even have them for your business, which made me want them for my piano students now! They even have teacher kits for you to purchase for a discount.  I also love that you can customize them with your name or if you want to go for a cheaper route, you can buy pre-made designs without your name.  I also love that they aren’t paper, making them sturdier than the ones you can buy off Teachers Pay Teachers.

Once I found my brag tags, I was able to put them into place with my classroom.  My students loved them and would get so excited whenever I brought them up.  It was a great way to end the year.  I definitely wished I had bought them at the beginning of the year instead of not using them until the very end of the school year, but I was definitely happy with how happy my students were.  Isn’t it crazy how excited kids get about a little tag?

I choose a variety of different brag tags to help with situations I had noticed in my classroom throughout the year, along with some behavior I wanted to keep moving forward in the positive manner that it had been.  I chose a few academic tags to give to students who learned all 50 sight words, could finish their math facts, and could read on grade level.  If I had them longer I would’ve loved to get more academic ones to help build upon each other.  For example, I would’ve loved to have given some for 25 sight words the first half of the year, and then gave another one to the students who learned all 50. I also chose some behavioral brag tags such as good manners, being a good friend, raising your hand, following the rules, and being a teacher helper.  I loved being able to reward students for both positive behavior and great academics.

When I received my brag tags I didn’t have much time before school let out so I began using them quickly.  The students loved them, but they weren’t organized as nicely as I would have liked.  So I have come up with some tips for you of how to use your brag tags in the classroom!

My Tips For Using Brag Tags:

Storage

In order to store my brag tags I would buy a craft tool box and place each different type in one of the storage bins.  I found one that I will use in the future from Amazon here.

Classroom Display

I bought some hooks to use as a way for my students to display their brag tags.  I would put the hooks on my classroom closet doors with their names above it and then they would hang their brag tags underneath their name.  You can get cheap hooks here.

Awarding Brag Tags

You don’t need to pass out your brag tags everyday, but I would choose one or two days or a specific time each day to pass out the brag tags.  I would pass mine out during morning meeting and then help the kids put them on their tags during creative thinking time.  It is hard for the kids to put them on themselves, so I suggest having an activity they can do alone while you help each kid put their tags on their chains.  For the students that needed immediate feedback or if I could tell my students were having a rough day, I would say “Wow, (insert student name) I have a feeling you are going to get a brag tag for good listening!” If that didn’t work I would then pull them out if need be and give one or two out as special ones.

Who Gets Brag Tags

Not everyone gets a brag tag, and that is okay! The students need to earn them and when they do, they can receive one.  If they didn’t learn all 50 sight words, they won’t get one.  If everyone else got perfect attendance for the term, except one kid, they won’t be able to earn one and that’s okay.  I also don’t keep track of who gets what brag tag and I am glad I didn’t.  It makes it simple and easy, plus I think it is great if the kids are able to earn multiple brag tags of the same name.  They can earn multiple behavior tags if they are behaving well. Kids will be working toward different brag tags as well, which is great for pushing individual goals with the students.  Don’t overwhelm yourself with brag tags either.  I chose 8 brag tags and would love to choose 5-6 that are also specific to each term.  

Don’t Ever Ask For A Brag Tag

My rule was the students were not able to ask when they would get a brag tag or tell me something they did to earn a brag tag.  I would decide who gets the brag tags and when.  If they asked for one, it was an automatic no awarded brag tag. 

I love brag tags and it was so fun to see how much my students loved them too! So to get you ready for the school year, I have teamed up with Boost Promotions to giveaway $100 worth of product (student rewards) so you can start using brag tags in your classroom.  Plus entering is super easy, you get 10 entries just for letting them send you some samples! How awesome is that right? You can enter HERE. 

Thanks to Charissa Lee Photography for the wonderful photos!