Cards for the Kids

I'm lucky because I get to combine my hobby and my job.

For the past couple years I've been giving away baseball cards to the kids in my class as a reward for various accomplishments.  It's amazing how much motivation a little piece of cardboard can generate.  When they know that there is a card for a perfect score on a paper, the kids seem to do better.

Here are my fourth graders after getting cards as a reward for perfect scores on their times table quizzes.  The sheet had four quizzes on it and they got a card each time they got a 30/30.  Everyone got a least one card, and several earned four.

Since I'm in SW Michigan, I give away mostly Tiger cards.  Two years ago I won a couple Ebay auctions for huge lots of Tiger cards.  I've also got a couple hundred Cubs cards available, but I can't convince the kids to take them....though I do threaten them with another year of fourth grade if they don't root for the Cubs!

I hope this doesn't come off as sexist, but even the girls get excited about the cards.  I have, though,  noticed a difference between the boys and the girls when they are picking their cards.  The boys typically look for a player that they know....my Justin Verlander stash is pretty depleted.  The girls, look for something else....shiny cards.  They could care less about the player as long as the card is shiny.

Since I bought my stash a couple years back, my cards are a bit dated.  If anyone has a bunch of Tiger singles from last year or this year lying around and you'd like to give them a new home, I'd gladly take any and all you'd like to send my way.  I'd be grateful...

...and so would these guys!