Blanchard gift shop encourages good behavior

Teachers at Blanchard Elementary are using their Holiday Gift Shop as a way to reinforce the importance of good deeds.

In order for students to buy gifts at the store, they must fill a card with 12 punches, one for each deed. Students can earn up to three cards and can spend two at the store and use the third as an entry into a raffle for prizes for each grade.

The reason this has become a success, said organizer and Parent Teacher Association president Jerra Hutson, is because the students know they have earned the right to come into the store.

Fourth-grader Eligah Burleson earned his punches by being quiet in the classroom, reading books and walking quietly in the hall.

He said it feels really good to know he earned his gifts and put a lot of thought into what he wanted to buy.

While he was shopping, Eligah said he was thinking about the kinds of gifts his mother and grandmother would like.

His teacher, Janet Brase, said she expected her fourth-graders to behave and was stringent with the punches so some of her students didn't fill their cards.

Unlike some other teachers, Brase used the punches to reinforce good habits in her students, such as turning in all work on time.

Brase had a Christmas tree displayed in her classroom using the punch cards for ornaments so her students could see how many punches they had earned.

All of the gift items were donated by local businesses and community members. Sometimes instead of actual gifts, monetary donations were made so Hutson could use the money as needed.

For example, Tuesday afternoon the store ran out of gift bags, so Hutson was able to buy the amount of gift bags the store needed.

After the items are donated, they are sorted into family member categories -- baby, mom, dad, girl, boy and so on. The tables look like the sections of a department store.

"We call it the Blanchard strip mall," Hutson said.

After the students pick out their gifts volunteers help them with wrapping those gifts.

Tuesday's volunteers included members of the Cape Girardeau Police Department and the AARP as well as individuals such as grandparents and the school's namesake, Barbara Blanchard.

Leftover items will be donated or held until next year's holiday shop.

ameyer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127