Thank you to everyone who sent ideas for incentives for older AR
students. Here are the ones I received.
Janet L. McCoy, media specialist
McAuliffe Elementary, Tulsa, OK
mccoyjl@nsuok.edu
what about movie tickets?
A lot of the teachers at my school let students who reach their goal
for
the week eat in the classroom one day a week. Surprisingly (to me),
this
is getting quite a good result. Also, some teachers let the student
in the
class with the most points for the week get a soft drink from the
machine
in the teachers' lounge (I suspect this will end due to new
nutritional
standards in the state, but if you don't have.....) Another thing
teachers
do is show a movie at the end of the 9 weeks and students who reach
their
goal by a certain date get to watch. This has kids scrambling to get
their
goals. I am convinced that frequent deadlines for certain rewards
helps.
Just to say you'll get XX if you get this many points isn't as
effective
as setting a deadline.
We allow our students to apply points to the cost of their yearbook.
It
works for some.
My best incentive by far for my 3-5 group has been a coupon for lunch
in the library with a friend. It was a pain for me, and didn't work
this year with my schedule, but for the few years I did it, boy was
it a hit! The kids who "won" this prize had to schedule the
lunchtime with me. I choose to only do it 2 days a week because it
cut into my lunchtime/sanity break...I need that time to be with
grownups! They could bring one friend to eat with...pack lunch or
school lunch (some talked their parents into bringnig in Macdonalds
or something). It was one of the "prizes" in our point bag
incentives for different point clubs. Parents told me it was such a
big deal....the kids would look forward to it, plan who they would
bring, what they would bring to eat and share. It was a time to get
away from the noise and have some quiet time to talk with friends.
Some friends even held their ticket until other friends got it then
redeemed them together for a little lunch party. I reminded them
they could talk and have fun, but not be rowdy. I only had to kick a
kid out once because he wouldn't settle down.
We also let the kids earn baseball hats for the first milestone
point club. (25 points) They wear their hats every Friday. Each
grade level has a different color. Unfortunately, once many of them
get their hat, they don't care about going any furthur.
Our readers earn the right to attend the state Children's Literature
Festival with a certain number of points based on their grade level,
30 for
third grade, 40 for fourth grade, etc
Glory” has always worked the best for us. Plus. . .getting the
parents and teachers truly supporting the program. Here are a couple
of pictures that show ways we used “glory” to get students to
participate. I considered this my “Read-a-thon” no matter what the
teachers were doing in their own classrooms. It truly boosted
readership and circulation and was easy to administer with parents
managing the bulletin boards. The parents loved seeing their kids
pictures moving along. . .
I haven't tried this, but know another librarian who
did. She challenged the entire school to reach a
certain number of points during the year and then had
a celebration when the goal was met.
Have you thought about having an "AR Committee" composed of some
students
and getting their ideas? I meet every May with about 5 or 6 high
point 4th
graders to plan the AR for next year - I give them the group rules
1. can't cost a lot of money - we are a poor school - and that
eliminates
the "lets all go to 6 Flags" plans
2. Can't impact learning time - that kills the recess all day
suggestions
3. no videos - that's my rule - I can't see celebrating reading with
videos.
I make a big deal about it, the kids poll their fellow class mates
for ideas
and I've gotten some really good suggestions. We do lots and lots of
parties.
This is not really that different, but we
have paperbacks from bookfair donated by the parent group. Also
reading
bracelets we purchase from ALA. We don't count points. Once a week,
we
draw names for winners. Kids can enter their name each time they pass
a
test. (We keep track of winners and spread it around through the
year).
I'm hoping this works. I'm a library/media clerk between schools,
but one of the school I may end up at had some interesting
incentives. She had principal for the hour, teacher for the hour,
and "librarian" for the hour. Oh and I think she had monthly lunches
with the principal also. For the teacher for the hour, she said she
would have the student ask what was the teachers worst subject, i.e..
spelling, or timed math problems, and then have the "teacher" give
the class one of those tests. She (the library/media clerk who left)
said the kids loved it.
For the librarian, the student got to sit in her desk check in and
out/ and read the story for the class.
do dog tags from J.P. Cooke Company. They come in various shapes and
colors and are imprinted with the school name, a reading slogan the AR
points and a picture. For example...I had a round one with a baseball
player imprinted on it and it said :Score Big With Book/ Calhoun
Elementary /10 AR points. And another was in the shape of an acorn...
it said I'm nuts for books 25 AR points. You get about 200 for under
50
dollars. You can also get the chains for just a few cents a piece. My
kids can't wait til the end of the month when I run the AR report and
hand out dog tags. Its the best incentive I have used.
used the ALA Graphics READ cd to make mini-posters of students who
had reached 100 pts. This was 5th and 6th graders. They seemed to
really
like them and I could also then save the files on my computer and
make the
library computers use them as screen saver slide shows.
At a previous school, I had good luck with reading related arts and
crafts projects, combined with a snack. We made bookmarks,
refrigerator magnets, book covers. The kids enjoyed talking while
they worked, and since we don't have a formal art program, it's a
real treat to get out glue and markers.
I bought tickets on a roll, whenever I see anyone engaged in positive
behavior, bringing books in on time, or what ever, I give them a
ticket. They put their name, class and grade on the back. I draw a
name out per week, it can be one for third, one for fourth and one
for fifth and they get to choose a paperback book. The more tickets
they have in the container, the more chances they have to win. I
stock up at the book fair or have parents donate gently used or new
books for this.
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