Charles Warner|Daily Times Monarch Elementary School students line up for their turn in the jumping castle on the school playground Friday morning. The jumping castle and an accompanying slide and the chance to play on them were the rewards the students purchased with the "Monarch Money" they earned at school.

slideshow

Charles Warner|Daily Times A group of Monarch Elementary School students have a good time bouncing around in the jumping castle they and their classmates purchased to play in with the "Monarch Money" they earned last month.

slideshow

Charles Warner|Daily Times An inflatable slide was another part of the reward Monarch Elementary School students purchased with the "Monarch Money" they earned for doing their jobs at school.

slideshow

Charles Warner|Daily Times A pair of Monarch Elementary School students tumble down the inflatable slide they and their fellow students purchased with "Monarch Money" they earn to purchase rewards with.

slideshow

MONARCH — Good behavior that earned them “Monarch Money” enabled students at Monarch Elementary School to spend part of Friday playing on an inflatable slide and jumping castle.

Principal Anita Maness said the school’s Good Behavior program enables children to earn Monarch Money by doing their “jobs” as students. The money they earn enables them to buy rewards each month sponsored by the school’s PTO, although the rewards are the ones the students themselves request.

“They have to earn three dollars a day of Monarch Money over an extended period of time to qualify for the incentives that we have here each month,” Maness said Friday morning. “The incentives are financed monthly by the PTO and include the jumping castle and slide that we have three times a year. Some of the other incentives we’ve had include snow cones and extra recess. We’ve also had a free book giveaway and at Christmas we have a huge Santa Shop which is also sponsored by our PTO, local businesses and donations. The children use their Monarch Money to buy gifts for their families and friends.

“It is all student generated,” she said. “We try to reward them with what they want with what they work for.”

Work is the key word, as Maness said the rewards or incentives the students earn are the result of them successfully doing their jobs at school.

“I tell them it is like their parents,” Maness said. “Their parents have to work for money and they have to work for money to buy what they want.

“Their job is to pay attention in school, get good grades, show respect to everyone, and no tardies,” she said. “Their reward is they pay the money they earned for the incentives they want.”

Editor Charles Warner can be reached at 864-427-1234, ext. 14, or by email at cwarner@civitasmedia.com.