It is that time of year again. The school year is just about over and it is time to hand out those achievement awards. Every year I struggle to find just the right balance between well-earned and well-deserved awards and recognition for students who didn’t accomplish a major feat but stuck it out another year.
Certificates go a long way for many students. Almost everyone completed a book this year or participated in a festival or concert. So I’ll head to Lakeshore Learning www.lakeshorelearning.com and purchase a bunch of certificates and those nice shiny gold seals. I’ll do certificates for book completion, festival participation, practice records, and attendance. It does take a really long time to fill these out, but most of the time the kids are happy to receive them.
Composer Busts. A few years ago my mom was at the Dollar Tree and they had black and gold composer busts for….you guessed it….a dollar. She bought them out and I am still giving them away. My students with perfect attendance and those who met a minimum number of practice minutes for the year will receive a bust.
I am not giving these out at a program this year because I ran out of time and the kids are about concertized out. So at their last lesson they will get their prizes. It doesn’t take much to make most students happy so this is a way to end the year on a high notes and to motive the students to keep practice during their summer lessons.