Homeworkopoly Tips

I used homeworkopoly last year for the first time in my class and the kids loved it. Our days were too busy to use it everyday so we only used it on Fridays. If a child had all homework for the week turned in (even if it was a day late...great incentive to have it turned in by Friday)...they got to roll one die and move their piece around the homeworkopoly board. Certain spaces on the board were designated specials and other spaces like "pencil place", etc... just got a small treat from the candy jar like a Jolly Rancher. One of the big spots said Mystery Prize and they got in my little treasure box. Another says Brain Binders and they're paper folding puzzles that the homeworkopoly site has a link to. You print them out on your printer and can copy them on your machine at school. My kids especially liked the Chance cards because they had neat "prizes" on them like 'sharpen your pencil whenever you wanted' or 'use the teacher's desk today'. Of course, I handpicked the Chance cards I was willing to live with for the year before we started the game. At the beginning of the year I randomly placed each student's game piece in a different spot on the board so they weren't bunch up. I also ran a strip of velcro around the inside of the board and attached a piece on each child's game piece to make the moving easy. I made their game pieces by going to a program like Print Shop and printing off 24 vehicles,laminating, cutting them out, and writing their name on them with permanent black marker. I had the best success with homework that I've had in my 16 years teaching. Hope this helps!

I created a game board using poster board. It is set up like monopoly only the spaces are addition avenue, presidential parkway, etc. There are also chance and Community Lunch Box instead of comm. chest. There is also a space called brainbinder, free parking, mystery prize, instead of jail there is the school bus and a go directly to the schoolbus space as well as a go space. Each Friday kids who have completed homework every day get a chance to take their turn. I found small wooden "tiny treasures" at AC Moore and put magnets on the back. These are the game pieces. Students have the same piece all year. They roll dice and move around the board. When they land on addition avenue for example they must answer a simple addition question. Most spaces are review spaces where I can get in a quick review of different topics already discussed. Brainbinders are puzzles...like a maze or similar puzzle to complete as a class or individually. They get a small prize when they pass go. We don't use any money for anything. And the comm. lunch box/chance are usually rewards like eat lunch in the room, have special sharing time, etc. but they can also be things like move back 3 spaces or something like that. You can adapt it to fit your classroom.

I made my board or a tri-fold project poster that I bought at Wal-Mart. I used the magnet men magnet clips (about 6-8) to hold the board up on the back of a metal storeage cabinet. They have magnet men at Really Good Stuff but I bought mine at a teacher's store. I used clothespins as the game pieces. For brain binders I have the children solve a current problem that we have been working on during the week--usually it's a math problem. I used Homeworkopoly for the first time last year and it was a great motivator in my class. I highly recommend it.

the sticky tac to keep the game pieces on the board. For the game pieces, I just cut up an index card and let the students write their name and decorate it.

For Brain Binders, I let the students view a Brain Pop video - they love watching those!

I have used this for the past two years and the students LOVE it. I make my own rewards because some of the ones are too young for my fifth graders or they are not something I am willing to do.

We play on Mondays if you have turned in all of your homework for the previous week. (Students that have an unexcused absence are not allowed to play.) MOnday is a good day because if I need the weekend to sort through something, I have the time. Fridays are just not good for me.

The first day of school I take a picture of each kid with my digital camera and then print them out. (I use their heads as tokens.)

After I had the board laminated, I put 2 small pieces of velcro tape on each space on the board. (Because your often have more than one student on a space at a time.) If I have more than 2, we just use tape. One the back of their heads, I have the other half of the velcro. It works out really well because I never have to pick any heads up off the floor!

~I do need to make a new board this year because I had it positioned in my classroom where a light was constantly on it and it faded to a yucky yellow orange.~

I make it one of the classroom jobs for the week. The students do it all. The child playing gets to roll the dice, but the one with the job moves all the heads, and instructs the students to draw their card, etc. I got some of those bright plastic enveleopes from the dollar tree and put the community chest and chance cards in there. That way SOMEONE other than the teacher monitors it and they play fair!

I also let my students name the squares the first day of school.

It has been a great homework motivater. They have the opportunity to earn prizes or privelages weekly.

Meli

I use the children's pictures as game pieces and place a magnet on the back of them. I also placed a magnetic strip around the perimeter of the board where their pieces land.

Hey all- I did Homeworkopoly this year- It worked great and ran smoothly for the most part. I used clothespins for the markers with their names on them. I also had 2 students each week in charge of homework. It was thier job each morning to go through the assignments and check off each studnet who had theirs. If there were 3 assignments and 3 checks you got to play- only 2 checks? Sorry about your luck- I did it everyday- and students played during my literacy centers. I didn't have a problem with cheating because (I think)
1- I had 2 students in charge
2- Those 2 students knew that if I found out they were allowing others to cheat (didn't have homework from them when I went to grade- or people landing on the good spaces too often) the homework people (both of them regardless) would be in BIG trouble.
I didn't have a problem all year- well- for awhile it did seem like MANY kids were getting lunch with teacher cards- but then I just put all the cards in a baggie and kids had to shake and draw each time. I previously just had them sitting in a pile!
Hope this helps!
Sorry so long!

Linda

For passing go, I give students a free homework pass good for one assignment. Streets don't get anything, Game spot gives that student the choice of picking a game to play with the class on Friday afternoon and being the leader. The mystery prize gets to pick a prize from the prize box which has gadgets, pens, pencils, erasers, etc. mostly from the dollar store.

I have used this reward system for the 5 years I have been teaching. It is a huge hit with most of my students and I do have a pretty good success rate for homework turned in on time and thorough.

My students play it at the end of the day on Monday if they turned in all their homework the previous week. I allow my students who have turned in their homework on time and everything is complete to roll twice. If there are some students who maybe forgot to do a couple of problems or didn't have the neatest handwriting, I let them roll once. That way, I am not punishing them for only forgetting to do some problems or their handwriting wasn't the neatest.

I use little cutouts for their names with push pins. It is up on a bulletin board because I feel that it is more of a motivation if they see it all the time in the classroom.

If one of my students does roll twice and doesn't land on anything that will give him/her a prize, I let them pick out a piece of candy so at least they get some reward for doing their homework.

I have attached a picture of my board and how it is set up. One of my students took the picture for a powerpoint we did, so it is not fully centered.:D Let me know if you have any questions.:s)

I plan to use it but not until January. I teach grade one. I have these extra large thumb tacks. I plan to number each thumb tack to represent each student. (The number corresponds with my register.) These will be the markers (play pieces). Homework is due Friday and I will check it after school on Friday and then on Monday those who have completed the work will get to roll a die On Monday or Tuesday. (I might let them roll two.) On each square there will be a chance for a sticker (the small dot ones) a treat like a peppermint or a few ABC shaped pretzels.

If a student lands on the Community Card they might get:

1) Pick a class story (for the teacher to read aloud) I did up 2 of these cards.

2) Teacher will pick you a prize. (I have a box of assorted goodies.

3) Invite another grade one child to play inside.

4) You have earned a BINGO game for the whole class.

5) Add one sticker to your chart and one to a friend's chart.

6) Free HW Pass valid for one month. Not valid on quizzes, Tests and Projects.

7) Extra colouring page to do in class.

8) Keep a stuffed animal at your table for the day.

9) Everyone at your table gets a treat!

10) Invite another grade one child to eat lunch with you.

11) You earn a Certificate!

12) 10 minutes of Extra Drawing Time for the whole class!

13) Write with ink for the day.

14) You have earned a treat for everyone!

Chance cards may also repeat a few from above.

1) The teacher will pick you a prize.

2) Add 2 scopps to the popcorn jar. (We are saving for a movie and popcorn party when it is full.)

3) Sit with a friend for lunch.

4) You get one candy.

5) You get a book!

6) Pick a prize.

7) You get an extra piece of drawing paper just for you.

8) First in line for Cree.

9) Add two stickers for your card. (These are the smelly ones or the sparkly ones.)

10) Add 1 scoop to the popcorn jar.

11) Free HW Pass valid for one month. Not valid for quizzes, Tets or projects.

12) You earn a Certificate!

13) Extra colouring sheet to take home.

14) First in line for Gym.

15) Add one sticker to your card.

sdwl

Other ideas:

15 minutes of computer time

10 minutes of Extra recess (individual or whole class).

Sit in the teacher's chair.

Work at another friend's table all morning/afternoon or all day.

Hi all! I tried to use Homeworkopoly last year with my fifth graders. They loved it! I only had prizes for certain spots, brain binders, community chest, etc. I didn't use prizes for everything. I kept it to a minimum and tried to utilize prizes that I didn't have to purchase- Sit at the Teacher's Desk for the day; Have lunch with the teacher today; Brain Binder; and of course 5-10 minutes of Computer time. Playing the game every day didn't work well for me. It takes time and I felt that I had to be the one to manage it. This year I have decided to make it the job of the Assignment Manager to monitor the turn-taking of Homeworkopoly as call out student #s to collect homework. This will only take place on Fridays. I thought about allowing students who turned in all assignments to use a pair of dice and those who missed 1 assignment to use 1 die. I still have to think this through, but I just wanted to share my experience and ideas with you. I am glad to see that others were having management problems, too. Homeworkhopoly just didn't seem to work for me as an everyday thing. Good Luck to those of you who try it. It is fun, when the management issue isn't a problem!- Erica

I have created my own board because there were a few differences I wanted to create. I'd be happy to email my file to you since it's in a Word document.

How it works:
Kids turn homework into separate "Inboxes" each morning (one for spelling, math, and reading).

During their "morning work" I go through the homework and check it in.

Teacher moves I've put with the board:
I have them take their turns at the end of the school day. They get enough time to take care of our daily "routine" and have time for the game. However, they need to get seated and quiet in order to take turns. This makes the end of the day less crazy for me. (Yes, we have had plenty of days where we didn't get to homeworkopoly becasue they didn't settle down. They still get their roles the next day since the work was in on time.

For Class Comedian game spot (since I teach 2nd and 3rd grades) I have created cards with jokes from kid joke books. The kids pick a card and need to practice it for fluency during the school day. At the end of the day when we are doing game realted items they can go up and read their joke. (of course those that got themselves ready and quiet first are usually the first to go up and read). I also make it their responsibility to ask if their is a word they don't know. I have had kids who were not ready to read it at the end of that first day. Since the goal is getting reading fluency up, I don't care how long it takes before they are comfortable reading.

I don't use the "Chance" idea suggested on the web site. I actually haven't thought of a good idea for that space yet so it's just like the curriculum spots. What I didn't like about the idea on the website is that many of the ideas they used would be interpretted by some kids as negative. I want the homework on time so I don't want anything negative attached to the "reward."

Passing go earns some silly thing from Oriental Trading. I went with cheap things (super balls are a huge success). It could even be a piece of gum or candy.

I made very simple homework passes in Word. I put the student's name on it and my initials so that I don't need to worry about kids taking them from each other or trying to sneak a fake past me.

I made a "Just Reading" corner and during morning work the next day kids can go to our reading area and read instead of morning work. (Best part is they think they are getting out of something.) Game spot works the same way and I only have games in my room that work on skills or build strategizing skills. Again, they think they are getting out of something when they play the "Mad Math" game!

Since morning work is corrected together the kids get the benefit of anything we go over in class they just haven't done it twice.

Brain Bender is suppose to be logic puzzles but I will have to put that together this summer, I didn't get to it this year.

The game is one of my bulletin boards. The pieces are just each child's name typed and laminated and put on the board with a tiny piece of sticky tak.

Depending on the area that you teach in you could ask parents to donate a package of fun pencils to your classroom at the beginning of the school year and use those for your pencil station.

If I left anything out, ask. I obviously don't have a problem sharing. I'd also be happy to try to help you rethink it for an older grade.

IT is GREAT! I went to the homeworkopoly site then made my own board out of posterboard. I don't know how many ideas that follow are on there but this is how I did it and the kids absolutely loved it! So did other teachers too! the kids felt special because no other class used it in their room. I used various clipart pictures (with each child's name typed on) from the computer. I tried to make each spot on the board relate to the curriculum in some manner. For example one space was called Sentence Street. When a student landed there they needed to answer a question about sentences. Or Times Square was another spot. I started asking questions related to the clock but by the end of the year I used multiplication problems. Nothing really happened if they got the answer wrong, it was just a challenge and a teachable moment.Definately use the Brain Binder spots. They were favorites in my room. I usually gave out a wordsearch or puzzle type paper to the student landing there or after we talked about some parts of speech we filled in madlibs as a class when someone landed on that spot. I didn't do those during the game. In spare minutes later in the next week we did those. Then I put the madlibs in a book for the class library--they loved it! I kept track each week of what students earned like prizes and such. I tried to redeem them on Monday of the next week. I had a mystery prize spot and Community Chest and chance spots too. For the chance and community chest I made up things like eat with a friend and the teacher in the classroom, have peanut butter on bread for snack, a juice box for snack, a phone call home about what a great student you are, stay in at recess with the teacher(believe it or not they loved this one)-sometimes I played a game with them if I had time or they just drew on the board etc. There was a painting place and Drawing Drive where they could stay in and paint or draw at recess. I tried to let those type of rewards pile up so I could have lots of kids in at one time. That way i wasn't constantly losing my recess time either. I know this is long...I have more information. Please email me if you want more details. It worked really well for me last year.

If you have honest students, you can have running Homeworkopoly be a "job." The student in charge just has the players come up, roll the die, and move the pieces. You don't have to be involved at all. :D

I went with writing the names of the players on the board, and it was their responsibility to see me at recess or lunch to play the game. Didn't take up any class time at all!

I used the game for the first 3 months of the school year. The kids loved it. I printed off some cars (clip art) and colored them with 5 colors. I put my kids into groups of 5. Each morning each team got to roll the dice and move their car. At the end of the day, the team who earned the most points (for good behavior, agendas signed ...) got to have one extra roll. As well, they earned money for having the most points, and also for doing well on assignments, tests, weekly spelling test etc. They collected the money together as a team and bought the properties. As the game went on, they also bought houses and "schools" to put on their property. When another team landed on an a teams property, then they had to pay "School Fees". It was a lot of fun. I had to make a few changes as we went along, but this year it will be ready to go!!

We make them pay $1 (funny money) if they don't have their worksheet, and put that in a free parking bag. (the kids came up with the idea themselves!!) when someone lands on the free parking spot, they 'win' the money. I had the kids come up with ideas for the community chess and chance cards, they came up with better ones than I ever could have! :o)

I haven't had any trouble with kids sneaking to the wrong spot, and they pay really close attention to where everyone is and what they rolled. It takes at the most maybe 10 minutes to get everyone a turn. I usually have them just go one at a time while working on somehting at their desk.

I play every day, and I have a student run the game while I am passing out end of day papers or helping students organize to go home. I call out the names of the student who can play (I have the names of no-homework kids on the board), and they go up and stand in line to play. If they land on a prize or puzzle spot, they may redeem it whenever they choose *on their own time*. So they just draw a card and keep that card 'til they choose to redeem the prize. I have a few who never redeem the cards for a prize, but I figure that's their choice. :)

Make it your own. I made "eraser place" and "pencil place" instead of brain binder. They get a free pencil or eraser when they land on this space. We do the game on friday afternoons when everyone is packed up and ready to leave. When they are sitting quietly we play otherwise we wait until monday. Usually they want to play and sit quietly. I give a mint to all who play. They roll the foam die and get a mint when they land on a blank spot. Getting nothing was boring one year and unfair if they did their homework all week. I praise them for doing their homework and make each spot worth the roll. The cards I laminated and wrote the prizes on them myself. Also, I have a homework chart with their name and the weekly homework with a space for the prize they get. This way I can keep track of who got what. (teachers chair, bean bag, etc) Make it your own and fun!!! Good luck :)

I went to WalMart and checked their clearance items. I found some paints, bracelet making items, bionicles, etc.... I also had coupons to use the phone, free homework, read to a younger class, etc.... We only did Homeworkopoly on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but the kids wanted to do it everyday. BTW - each of the prizes I purchased was $1 or under.

These are the rewards I use for the Chance and Community Lunchbox cards:

buddy lunch
cool pencil
use teacher's chair at desk
sit at teacher's desk
chew gum in class
earn treat for entire class
use chair cushion for day
teach class for 15 minutes
use eraseable pen for one day
sit anywhere for one day
read to a first grader
be a helper in a kindergarten classroom
take home a class game for one night
You choose! (student has choice of any above reward)

Yes, I used it last year for my first year in fourth grade, after teaching fifth for about 15 and 6th for 2 years. My class loved it. We played on Friday also, although usually in the afternoon, because of a hectic morning schedule. I used a 'prize box' for rewards that included things from Oriental Trading and other 'junk' you pick up from teacher's convention like posters, etc. I had a hard time deciding where to put my board because of my room and this was an obstacle for awhile.
I ended up placing the laminated board that I downloaded from the homeworkopoly site on a door that led to a furnace room. I used business cards for tags for the kids to use as markers to move around the board, because I couldn't pin anything to the board, but I could tape things. Magnets would have been ideal, but not for my area.
Something I will change this year is the prize box. I didn't like giving my fourth graders toys, even though the prize box had pencils, erasers, etc in it, they would generally choose the toy. So this year, I am having a 'leveled' prize box. By that I mean, on week one, if they have all homework in, they can choose a 'ticket'
instead of an automatic trip to the prize box if they land on that square. ( Pass Go, and other squares were opportunities to go to the prize box...) Then the ticket may be saved for another time, and redeemed with other earned tickets to go to the 'more expensive' prize box. ( Have to think of a label for that yet.) In that box, I am planning on having tons of school supplies that I am loading up on now, when prices are cheap. I spent 17 cents on glue yesterday at Wal Mart, and I would rather do that then some of the toys from Oriental Trading. I hope this makes sense to you...it is hard to explain for me, I guess.
You will need to think through what 'reward' students receive when they land on various spots, like the library, etc. I made my chance and community chest cards on business cards by Avery, and I will have less of 'help the teacher' ones to more things like 'computer time for 15 minutes' or 'sit by a friend today'. I need to think through that yet.

Hope this helps. I have taught for awhile and found that it is a good motivating tool for the students at Grade 4 level.

Right now spaces like "Reading Railroad" means you get to choose a new book from the class library any time you want instead of just after recess or lunch like normal. Also, "Snack Depot" means you get to bring an unhealthy snack for nutrition break instead of a healthy snack, "Water Utilities" lets you keep a non-water drink at your desk, "Electric Company" means you get to decide if we have the A/C on that afternoon, "Pencil-vania Railroad" means you can sharpen your pencil whenever you want, and "GO" means you get a raffle ticket (usually given out for good behavior) for the weekly drawing.

When we land on the LIBRARY, I give the kids a choice during silent reading time to either read in our classroom OR go to the couch in the library. Believe it or not, that's one of our favorites places to land!

I don't give anything when we land on a street. They seem ok with only getting "something" once in a while! They just call it a "blank" spot!

These are my chance cards:

Brain Binder - I read a Brain Quest Question, if they get it right, they get a sticker from my sticker box.
Take a book home from my library (must be returned the next day).
Choose a Mystery Prize
Choose a Prize from the Prize Box
Get on the Bus - Their piece moves to the bus, nothing else happens.
Move to GO - They get to choose a sticker from the sticker box when they pass GO.
Get One Sticker
Free Homework Pass

These are my Community Chest Cards:

Give a friend a compliment.
Make a picture for a friend.
Make a bead pin for a friend.
Give your classmates a high five.
Make up a new celebration.
Help out a teacher.
Help out in the dining room.
Read to a younger class.

I hope this helps you out!

I used it last year and the kids loved it. It was a great incentive. I only used it as a reading incentive so it wasn't too difficult to manage. If the kids read 100 or more minutes per week at home, had completed their reading log, and had it signed by a parent then they got to play. We played once a week. I made a few changes such as

Brainbinders- The kids could pick any Brain Pop movie to share with the class. (brainpop.com is a very cool site!)

Library spot- became -20 minutes of reading for the next week.

Passing go- the kids earned $20.00 in Starbucks, our classroom monetary system.

I made up "Roll Again" cards that I passed out quite frequently when the kids were just being good, or just doing what they were supposed to be doing without me having to remind them and so on. They LOVED these.

I really enjoyed using Homeworkopoly and would definitely recommend it!

10 points on an assignment
5 points on a spelling test
Treasure chest choice
Mystery Prize (my choice, whatever I have that day)
Mechanical Pencil
Bookmark
Capri Sun (The love that at the end of a hot day)
Icecream at lunch
First pick at class jobs
Line Leader
Extra computer time instead of morningwork (we only have about 15 minutes, so no biggie)


I have a few more, but that's all I can think of right now. Hope they help.

Question - Can one group do it each day?
Answer - I don't see why not but I think it might get confusing for you to keep track as to who is suppose to roll.

Question - How long would it take 5 or 6 students to do it daily?
Answer - Not long, I would say 2 - 3 minutes. 5 minutes tops. My entire class of 20 could do it in about 10 minutes.

Question - First thing in the morning
Answer - I don't think it matters when you do it. I did mine at the end of the day simply because that's when I had the time.

Question - How do you keep track of who gets to roll?
Answer - My kids sit in groups and when the group person collected papers and handed them in to me, he or she told me who didn't have his/her assignment. I simply wrote the assignment and students' names on a post it note and hung it on a piece of computer paper by my desk. When it was time for Homeworkopoly, I just looked at the post it notes and those students whose names were there couldn't roll.

Question - Assignments for the whole week or just the day?
Answer - My kids played only on Tues and Thurs. For Tues., I watched the assignments for the previous Friday through Tues. For Thurs, I watched the assignments for Wednesday and Thursday.

Question - Did I have problems with students cheating?
Answer - No, I didn't. I stood by them as they were rolling and moving their piece. Also, the rest of their group was there to watch them.

I hope you can make sense of my answers (I tend to ramble)! If you can't or have other questions, let me know.

-Do you use it year round? Yes I do. I used to use it daily but that took too long so I plan on using it weekly this year.
-What are some of the well liked prizes that you use for the spots? Write with ink for a day, sit at the teacher's desk for a period, have lunch with the teacher and a friend, pick and be the leader of a class game, move your desk to a chosen location for the day, have a special sharing time to teach something to the class (those are a few!)
I'm looking to add to the ideas that the gameboard suggests.
-Is the brainbinder spot a good idea? My students loved it.......they had to answer a question and if they did, they got to choose a piece of candy from the candy jar..........it was not too sugary!
-What do you do for the bus spot and mystery prize? If you land on this space, you will go directly to the yellow square (if you pass go, you do not collect your candy). If you are on the bus, you, need to bring in 2 nights of homework to get off (unless you have a get off the bus card). (I have to rethink this for next year since I will be doing it weekly. As for mystery prize, I had a box with one item in it and they got to select that item (they couldn't see in the box!). After someone earned the item, I replaced it.
-As far as redeeming the cards for various prizes, do you have the
students use them on the day they play or can they do it when they
want to use it? For example.. eat with the teacher, no morning work,
pick a job for the week, etc. For me it depended on the prize. I found it was easiest to give them the reward at the time they won but some things just couldn't be that way. I think you should look at your prizes and determine the rules based on them.

I had a brainstorm the other day and thought of a neat idea for motivating students to read AR books and take tests. I was thinking of making a gameboard similar to the homeworkoply gameboard and call it ARopoly instead. The students would get to roll the dice each time they read and took a test on an AR book. I think this would really motivate the students to read. I actually made my board for the game the other day and it looks pretty good. Go to the website listed above and look at the Homeworkopoly game for an idea what it looks like. I haven't actually filled in each of the spaces on the board yet, but I was planning to make a "GO" space and let the students collect 5 dolphin dollars when they pass go,in the next corner it will say "Catch a ride on the school bus" (instead of go to jail), the students would then go to the corner square diagonally across the board, it would be the school bus( they would pick a mystery prize), in the other corner they would receive 5 minutes computer time while other students were working. I will also put other various rewards around in different squares on the gameboard. My mom had an idea of using names of books instead of street names on each space, so I may do that. I've never done this before so I don't know how well it will work but I think it will motivate the students. I think this post may be really confusing but if you don't understand just ask. How to the website above and it explains homeworkopoly really well and then you can probably think of ideas from that. If you think of any let me know.

I use the homeworkopoly board for behavior. If the student does not get a red strip in their conduct chart, they are allowed to play that day. We take the last ten minutes to play. This really helps at the end of the year when the conduct chart does not work as well.