Does anyone do a reading incentive program??

[Moxie]

My 7yo is a great reader but stubborn. This summer, he was vet motivated to read by the summer reading program at the library. Does anyone do anything like that at home? I'd love ideas! Would it be cruel to make him earn pieces of a Lego set?

[Critterfixer]

Sort of. I have required reading material, but I also have "prize books". They are books I've picked that I think are enough of a challenge, without being too difficult. I try to pick books that my boys wouldn't pick for themselves (fiction--my guys are non-fiction readers for the most part) but books that I think would appeal to them in content.

For a prize book they get to read only one chapter a day, and they have to report on it for me. Sometimes I'll want an oral narration. Sometimes I ask for a few written sentences. We might discuss the story together. At the end of the book they get a prize that they pick out. The monetary value of the prize is determined by the number of chapters and my current financial state.

 

The prize program is in addition to required reading, not a substitute. But the boys love it.

[MissKNG]

Pizza Hut Book It

 

Applebee's Bookworm Club

[Erica in OR]

We do the Pizza Hut book program. I like that you can set the goals yourself for your student to earn the certificates each month.

 

Erica in OR

[2queens&1princenmyhouse]

http://www.bookadventure.com

 

I've seen this but haven't done it yet.

[Um_2_4]

I do reading challenges fairly regularly. Not every month, but 4-5 times a year.

Sometimes it is just read x number of books this month (with at least some reading done daily) and they have a record sheet up on the fridge. If they meet their goal then they get a prize. Whoever reads the MOST may get an extra bonus.

Sometimes I do genres. Like a list and read 1 book from each type of book on a list.

Then i made a reading bingo: "read a book set in another country", "read a book with more than x pages", "read a book about a famous american", etc., etc.

[Aquakiwi]

My kids earn movie dollars for reading extra books. I just made up the dollar coupons on the computer. They get one movie dollar for each book they read at the required level. They need 5 movie dollars to pay for a movie or 10 movie dollars for the movie and snack. Realistically we would be going to the movies anyway so it isn't actually costing me anything extra. It works well for my 7 year old son who needs external motivation.

[Mrs Twain]

My kids read 2,000 pages over the summer. I choose a stack of books from the library which are at an appropriate reading level for each child, and the child picks from that stack. We pay them 1 penny per page which equals $20 if they complete the 2,000 pages.

 

Then dh and I help them learn how to manage money using Dave Ramsey's principles (i.e. the child has three boxes--God's work, savings, and spending).

[smfmommy]

I have offered to take my daughter out to any restaurant she wants when ever she reads all the books in our house.  Not counting things like the dictionary, etc and we only have about 1100 books.  She is a huge reader and will probably make it by the end of this year.  I haven't made it easy since I tend to swap out books when we get something new/better.  She has all the fiction read she is just trying to finish up the non-fiction.

 

I will probably offer something similar but a bit more attainable for my less voracious readers.  We do the summer reading program at the library too but they usually have it tackled in less than 2 weeks.

[mommymilkies]

I've resorted to this because I have a big stack of books I want them to read and I'm trying to make them move away from just listening to audiobooks for weeks on end. They can pick one from the stack and I have a prize bucket with Lego minifigures, packs of Glee gum, suckers, chocolates, little toys, dollar bills, Bertie Botts, etc. When they finish the book and can discuss it with me to prove they actually read it, they can pick from the bucket.

[kricau]

Is anyone else having trouble with the Bookadventure.com website right now?

[Tonia]

I did one year - I got some punch cards from Rainbow Resource and made up a "prize basket" with various little things in it. For a certain number of punches on her reading card (one punch per book) she could choose a prize. When the card was completely punched it was something bigger - movie, lego set, etc. It worked well at the time.

[Guest]

These are some great ideas! I just asked my son if he'd be interested in a reading challenge for an incentive, and he replied yes. I asked him what kind of prize he'd like, and he said, "a dog". Shooting a little high, kid!

[sourpatchbaby]

I don't know where you're located, but we also do the Six Flags Read to Succeed program https://feedback.sixflags.com/rts/default.aspx (gives each reader a free ticket plus one adult/teacher ticket as well). They read all year long and in the summer time we get to go there where we couldn't afford to before. We also do the pizza hut program as well.

[Critterfixer]

 

I asked him what kind of prize he'd like, and he said, "a dog". Shooting a little high, kid!

:lol:

But that's why I set a dollar value per chapter, myself. And also why I insist on choosing the books and setting the limit for how many chapters per day will be accepted toward the prize. If I let them loose, they would pick very easy books, and would eat them up by the gross. So I pick, I set the value and the time for prize books.

[weederberries]

I print bookmarks with numbers 1-20 around the edge.  They can read 10 chapter books and I will buy them a "new" book at Half Price Books.  When they read 11-20, I will buy them an ice cream cone.  The alternating prize seems to grab their attention and encourage them to continue on.  Edit:  I use a hole punch to "stamp" their bookmark as they complete books.  They have to tell me about the book and then I will stamp it.  

 

I chose the numbers of books, because my children are still in short novels that they easily finish in a day or two.  If they were reading longer works, I would lessen the number required.  

 

[mrs.m]

I randomly tape a dollar bill at the end of books they are currently reading. They never know if they are going to get a surprise if they finish. Finishing is an issue around here!

 

We are also trying Book Adventure. But they aren't into it.

[domestic_engineer]

bumping for any new ideas ...

[pitterpatter]

We do the summer reading program at the library.

[MiMi 4under3]

I randomly tape a dollar bill at the end of books they are currently reading. 

 

I love that I'm not the only one who's thought of this... but I tape $20 to the end of the math books - the sooner they finish, the sooner they get the "reward."  :laugh:

 

We don't do reading incentive programs because the one time we tried, reading turned into a chore.

[k8c]

My 7yo is a great reader but stubborn. This summer, he was vet motivated to read by the summer reading program at the library. Does anyone do anything like that at home? I'd love ideas! Would it be cruel to make him earn pieces of a Lego set?

 

I did this, though not piece by piece.  When my DD5 was just starting to get on a roll with reading, we went and bought a bunch of $10 Lego sets and then she had to read a certain number of "points" (accrued based on book length and difficulty, etc) to earn one set.  Eventually, however, it worked so well that I had to do it by time limit, and we moved up to more expensive sets.  For example, a $30 set she had to read 300 minutes, a $40 set was 400 minutes.  Now that she is over the "hump" and we have found a genre of books that she really loves, we don't have to reward her (in fact, we have to try to get her to stop reading and go to bed!), and she really hasn't noticed that we don't do the program anymore.

[Jamee]

These are great ideas!  Thanks for sharing.

[basketcase]

Our incentive is that the kids get to stay up later in order to read. Reading time starts about an hour before lights out. Sometimes when they're really a handful, I give them extra reading time (send them to bed early, basically). Typically they're quite happy about it, ha. There's also the fact that children who read a lot need new books, so mine get trips to the used book store and the library. Occasionally when both my older kids have read a classic, we watch a movie version of it. Very basic rewards, but they work great for us. 

[Farrar]

I let the kids do any incentive programs that they want to do, like the summer library one.  One year ds won the Kindle Fire they gave away for our branch.  And they always have something the kids want.  Last year you got a burrito from Chipotle.  They got to walk to the Chipotle and buy them with the coupons themselves.

 

However, I won't do an incentive program "in house" so to speak.  It's one thing to me to say, "I don't know, check the rules of that other person's program," and another to have to run it, even for just two kids.  My experience with incentive programs in the classroom is that they always turn kids into grubbers.  So I just require them to read.  And buy them books.  That's the incentive.  You read a book, you get more.

[FO4UR]

No.

 

I use allowing them to go to the bookstore with some cash as incentive for other things.

[CrunchyGirl]

I have a good reader but there aren't other ways for him to earn money. So all books are assigned a point value (suspiciously mommy seems to assign higher point values to certain books). Each point is worth 20 cents towards lego sets or 10 minutes playing his car driving video game (only time he gets to play video games).

 

For example, a Box Car Children book is worth 3 points. The Railway Children is 7 points. Books I determine to be of no literary value (most of the library) aren't worth any points but I don't stop him from checking them out which he almost never does.

[sewingmama]

I love that I'm not the only one who's thought of this... but I tape $20 to the end of the math books - the sooner they finish, the sooner they get the "reward." :laugh:

 

We don't do reading incentive programs because the one time we tried, reading turned into a chore.

Love this....I am going to do this to my kids ETC books to encourage them to do more then 1 page at a time.

 

I would do it in my DD's math book also but I'd probably have to tape in $100 for her to want to finish it LOL.

 

We've tried reading programs here but they tend to flop. My kids are just too active to want to read a lot. They aren't motivated by prizes enough to want to stop jumping on the trampoline or come in from playing outside. I don't mind...they are good readers for their age and I like them being active. I was the opposite at their age....I never did anything but read and whilst it was good for my academic development it wasn't great for my social development.

 

My kids read in bed at night...which is the best motivator for them because it's read or go to sleep....and they hate to go to sleep lol.

 

For school every day I require them to read a chapter of a book I choose for them....so for any other reading they do I let them choose....and I don't care what it is as long as it's words lol.

[Elisabet1]

I did that. I used Book Adventure. 2000 points equalled a Lego spinner. You can set other levels and prizes too. A Lego Spinner was not that expensive..maybe $10 at the time. It worked wonderfully!!! And Book Adventure is free. 

[mamakelly]

Several years ago, my dd finished 12 weeks of vision therapy. She was reading much better, but still needed a push to become a fluent reader. So I told her if she read 20 American Girl books of her choosing, I'd take her to the AG store and buy her a new AG doll. It worked like a charm! By the end of the 20 books, she was a total bookworm. I didn't mind buying the doll as a reward, LOL!

[Jamee]

The Scholastic summer reading program this year is themed Reading Under the Stars.

[My3girls]

We did read to succeed through Six Flags this spring. That worked well, and we got 4 free tickets to use this summer.