We are currently working on the first incentive program for reading that we have had at the school in the 6 years that my oldest have been there. The kid's have always done the AR program but that was not fully producing the desired results so this year the PTO is supporting something a bit different (at least for us.)
We are doing a reading incentive program based on March Madness and Pigs...
Our school is 620+ students in 36 classrooms over 8 possible grade levels including PK. We are creating 6 teams with 6 classrooms per team done on a random draw across all grade levels (so the teams have mixed grade levels hopefully) and are doing a "bracket" based on March Madness.
The first 3 weeks ALL the kids will read and report back their minutes (we opted for minutes instead of pages because that seemed more balanced) on Friday's. After the first 3 weeks the top 4 teams "advance" to the next segment of the bracket and have a read off, once again on a random draw. The next week the 2 winners from the prior week have a read off. The principal and vice-principal will be the "coach" of the final 2 teams and the prize is whichever team wins the other team's "coach" has to kiss a pig. We are also looking at having "coaches" for all the teams and have it so all the losing "coaches" have to kiss the pig but haven't fully decided yet.
BUT... we didn't want the kids who were knocked out of the competition to stop reading either so we have a little added incentive in there....
If the kid's reach a goal (275,000 minutes most likely) then BOTH/all "coaches" will kiss the pig.
This is the first year we have tried something like this but I am excited about it. And when I asked my kid's who they wanted to kiss a pig the answers were funny. From their favorite custodian in the cafeteria to our most prim and proper teachers/staff. Hopefully it will be a great turn out and a huge success!
I give each student a paper rocket. The students read 15 minutes each night to reach 1 hour per week. Each hour takes them to a planet. Each time they reach a planet they get a fact sheet about the planet and a small prize. The prize is designed to help them learn a fact about the planet. For example, when they reach Jupiter they get a ruler. This helps them to remember that Jupiter is the largest planet. At the end of the program the student recieve a poster of the solar system. They are thrilled. This approach has been very effective! They read for 8 hours, learn about the solar system and have a great time.
I think our next program will help them to learn the continents. (Read two hours-earn a continent!)
In past years we have always purchased games/books/skooters etc. and set up buckets for the children to drop tickets into for a raffle. Always a hit - BUT - last year we held a drawing where 3 children were selected (K-1, 2-3rd, 4-5th) as "PRINCIPAL FOR THE DAY". This was so popular you have no idea! And we found that no child felt left out, but left hoping that next year would be another opportunity. Once chosen days were established for each child to assist the principal for the day. It was really great and the kids all loved it. Good luck!
Our 3rd and 4th graders are doing it this year. The kids set goals of reading monthly - when they reach that goal they get a free personal sized pizza. Pizza Hut sends out a whole package of information and tools to help bring it into the classroom. Awesome program!
LOL, love your ideas but maybe changing the incentive and rewarding the students for their reading instead of the Principal doing a dare (although I think that it's a very FUN idea for the kids) may help.
We've done a couple of things. First, McDonalds has a program where if you read 10 books, you get a free meal. Pasta House has them as well. then there's the six flaggs reading incentive if you have a six flaggs in your area.
Next, we do the AR (Accelerated Reader) program at our school. The students have to read certain books that our school has AR tests for. Their grade on the test is on a "points" level. After so many points, they reach level one, then level two all the way up to level 5.
At the end of the year, we have an AR reward day. The rewards are as follows:
Level one, they get to attend a sock hop
Level two, the sock hop AND a talent show
Level three, sock hop, talent show and pizza for lunch
Level four, sock hop, talent show, pizza and a carnival (we have games where they win tickets to purchase prizes with)
Level five gets all the above THEN we take them for a free game of bowling at the local bowling alley that is within walking distance from our school.
Level five is very hard to reach for some of the students. Out of 260 students in the school, we had maybe 20 students who achieved that level 5.
You don't have to use the accelerated reader program to do this. You can assign a certain number of books to reach a level (or pages may work better as many students read the harry potter books which take longer and they may not reach a certain number of books.
Just an idea, hope it helps stir some creativity for you.
