PORT NECHES, Texas — Tribe rallies, cheers, and collecting beans is a typical day at Port Neches Elementary School, where students work hard so they can play hard.
Ask anyone at Port Neches Elementary and they'll tell you Thursdays are special.
"Thursdays are more fun than any other day in the week,” said student Bront Ballew. “We really just get to wear whatever we want as long as it's in our color like a headband or a wig or a bandana or suspenders."
They call it "Tribe Day."
"It's where we all have to wear our tribe gear,” said student Ella Provencio.
Principal Kimberley Carter started the reward system three years ago to encourage good behavior.
"This gets them in school,” Carter said. “It gets them in their seat, promotes a positive attitude or a culture of learning and loving each other and protect their, like their shirt says ‘protecting their tribe.’"
For these fifth graders, it's all about the beans.
"The way we collect points for our tribe is we earn beans,” said student Maddox Britt.
"Whoever wins the most beans throughout the six weeks, they hang it on their door and it shows that they're the winner," Provencio said.
The school's six tribes compete against each other every six weeks.
“We do a big tribe pep rally where you go all out in your tribe colors,” Provencio said.
"It's normally really fun and really insane,” said student Brynna Copeland.
And every tribe has their own cheer
"My favorite part is probably that we always win the tribe cheer," said student Kaitlyn Figueroa.
Mrs. Carter said the house system has helped improve behavior. In their last pep rally, only one student sat out because of misbehavior.
Students love the rewards and teachers love that it disciplines students while creating a fun and competitive learning environment.