A virtual marble jar the whole class fills toward one shared reward, sized for the projector. Free, no sign-up, and saved in your browser so the jar is waiting tomorrow.
Working toward: Extra recess
0 of 20 marbles · 20 to go
The jar is saved in this browser on this device, so it is still there tomorrow. Nothing is sent to a server.
A good whole-class reward system is a marble jar the class fills together toward one reward everyone agreed on, with a marble added each time you see the behavior you asked for. At Chalkbox, we build free classroom tools, and this class reward jar replaces a real jar and a bag of marbles with a picture the whole room can see.
Setting it up takes six steps:
Say the reward is extra recess and the goal is 20 marbles. You tell the class the rule up front: one marble each time you catch the behavior you asked for, and five marbles when a whole lesson stays in the green on the noise meter.
That class filled a 20-marble jar in three school days. If you want the next jar to last longer, raise the goal before you add the first marble.
We suggest a reward that costs nothing and that you can give within a day of the jar filling. A few that fit the Reward box:
A practical way to choose is to offer two or three rewards you are happy to give, let the class vote, and type the winner. Keep the wording short so it reads from the back row. "Music during writing time" is 25 characters, well under the 60-character limit.
For the goal, we suggest a number the class can fill in about a week or two. At 2 to 4 marbles a day, a 20-marble jar fills in 5 to 10 school days, while a 50-marble jar takes 13 to 25. A small goal on the first jar lets the class see the reward arrive before you ask them to work toward a bigger one.
You can change the goal at any time. Raising it adds empty slots to the jar. Lowering it below the current count trims the count to the new goal, so a class at 24 of 30 that you drop to a goal of 20 shows 20 of 20 and a full jar.
Name the behaviors that earn a marble before you add the first one, and write them on the board next to the jar. When the rule is written down, each marble you add matches something the class can read and repeat.
Examples of behaviors you can name:
Point to a level on the voice level chart at the start of an activity, and add a marble if the class holds it to the end. For a bigger target, keep the noise meter running and add +5 when a full lesson stays green, as in the example above.
Add the marble the moment it happens, and say out loud what earned it. "That's a marble for lining up in under a minute" tells the class exactly what to do again.
Use the "−1" button to fix a mistake, such as a double tap on "+1 marble". We would not use "−1" as a penalty. A jar that drops after a rough moment turns each marble into something the class can lose, and the reward keeps moving further away.
If a behavior needs correcting, hold back the next marble and tell the class what will earn it. The count stays where it is, and the class knows the exact step that gets the jar moving again.
"Empty jar" asks you to confirm before it clears the count, so a stray click cannot wipe out a week of marbles. Save it for the day the jar fills and the reward has happened.
A class reward jar fits when you want every student working toward one shared reward. It holds a single count for a single class, so team competition and individual targets need a different setup.
| Question | Class reward jar | Team points | Individual behavior chart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Who earns | The whole class together | Each team on its own | Each student |
| Who gets the reward | Everyone, when the jar is full | The team that wins or hits its target | The student who meets the goal |
| Fits when | The whole room needs the same habit | Groups competing suits your class | One or two students need their own target |
| Verdict | Start here for whole-class habits | Add when you want teams | Add for students who need more support |
Choose the class reward jar when the whole room needs the same habit, like quick transitions or a calm noise level. If groups competing against each other suits your class better, keep team scores on the classroom scoreboard. If one or two students need their own target, give them behavior charts and keep the jar for the class as a whole.
The jar is the wrong pick for a teacher who needs a record of each student's behavior, because it does not track individual students. Our recommendation also changes if you need a dated record of when the class earned marbles, since the jar keeps no history; use a paper log alongside it. For a wider plan that combines these systems, see our classroom management strategies.
The class reward jar runs one jar for one class at a time, saved in one browser on one computer. Each limit has a workaround:
Type your class's reward into the class reward jar above, set the goal to 20, and add the first marble the next time the room goes quiet on your signal.
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Three examples are a marble jar the whole class fills toward one reward, team points where groups earn their own scores, and a class goal for holding the right voice level through a full lesson. The class reward jar on this page runs the first one. You can tie it to the third by adding marbles when the noise meter stays green.
Start with 20, the default, or any number the class can fill in about a week or two. The jar accepts any goal from 5 to 100 marbles. At 2 to 4 marbles a day, a goal of 20 takes 5 to 10 school days. A smaller goal on the first jar lets the class see the reward arrive sooner.
Only to fix a mistake. The "−1" button removes one marble, which is useful after a double tap on "+1 marble". We would not use it as a punishment. Hold back the next marble instead and tell the class what will earn it.
Yes. The reward, goal, and marble count are saved in this browser on this device, so the jar is waiting when you open the page tomorrow on the same computer. Nothing is sent to a server.
No, the class reward jar does not sync between computers. It is saved only in the browser where you set it up. To move it, note the reward, goal, and count, then enter them on the other computer. A count of 17 takes three taps of "+5" and two of "+1 marble".