One of the frequent hot topics on my state's school library listserv is Accelerated Reader ideas - anything from Accelerated Reader rules, Accelerated Reader parties, even Accelerated Reader bulletin boards. Although I agree that there are some disadvantages of using reading incentive programs such as Accelerated Reader (AR) or Reading Counts, I believe the good outweighs the bad in most cases.
I'm going to talk about AR in this post, since that's what I have the most experience with. I believe most of these ideas could also work for Reading Counts, or any other reading incentive program you may be using in your school. I've worked at several different schools, and I will admit that reading incentive programs work better in some schools than others due to a number of factors. Based on my experience, I believe the keys to success with reading incentive programs are coordination, collaboration, and communication.
Coordination
I'm assuming that if you're a librarian, you coordinate the reading incentive program at your school. It's been that way at every school I've worked in, but I know this may not be the case in all schools. If you're new to your school, find out what has been done in the past. Ask the principal, classroom teachers, and students what's worked well and what hasn't. Next, develop a set of rules and incentive ideas for students. You can click here to see my rules. Feel free to use them as a guide to create your own. It's best to have a specific reward for students to work toward.
On that note, make sure you have a budget for rewards and know exactly how much it is. At my last school, my principal told me it would be no problem to take the students on an AR trip, but he didn't give me any concrete numbers or mention exactly where the money would come from. A few months later, when students were excited about the reward they had earned, I was told that there was no money. We eventually worked it out, but the experience left a bitter taste in my mouth.
AR Reward Ideas
Here are some AR reward ideas - things I've done in the past and a few things I've heard of others doing:
- A trip to a local park
- A trip to a local inflatable place
- Popcorn, soft drink, and movie party
- Ice cream sundae party (complete with fun toppings like gummy worms, marshmallows, various syrups, etc.)
- Pizza party
- Extra play time outside with bubbles and sidewalk chalk
- Sock hop in the gym
- Special lunch in the library
- Breakfast with the principal
Most of those ideas have minimal costs. I've done an AR store in the past, where students "purchase" items with their points, but I don't recommend it. It's very expensive to buy the gifts, time consuming, and stressful helping the students figure out how many points they've used and how many they have left. I did an informal poll on my state's listserv a few years ago and concluded that most people who have tried AR stores don't feel that they are worth the time, effort, and expense.
Once you have established your rules and your rewards, it's time to move on to the next step.
Collaboration
This step is probably the most challenging, but I feel it's the most important. First, you need to get your principal on board with what you're planning for the reading incentive program. Have everything figured out and ready to go before speaking to your principal. Let him/her know what you're planning to do, how you're going to reward the students, and give him/her a copy of the rules and any other pertinent information. Try to finalize everything on the spot, because these things tend to drag out if you need to have a second meeting.
Be sure to establish who will be responsible for everything, such as goal setting, rewards, and other program maintenance such as reporting, point clubs, announcements, etc. At my school, classroom teachers are responsible for goal setting, and I handle all the other program maintenance and coordination.
Next, have the classroom teachers (or other people responsible for setting the goals) set a goal for each of their students. If they need help, here's a chart (scroll down to page 6) to give them an idea where to start. I try to make this as painless as possible by providing a spreadsheet of each homeroom's students with a blank box beside their names to enter their goal into.
If you have Infinite Campus, you can export the student names directly into spreadsheets, so most of the work is already done for you. I'm sure many other student information systems have this feature as well. You will then have to enter the goals into your program.
Keep it Simple
I make a special effort to keep things simple as possible for my classroom teachers, because they truly are the ones who make our AR program work as smoothly as it does. Each class comes for less than an hour each week, but they are reinforcing the program every day. Instead of requiring teachers to log into AR to monitor their students' progress toward their goals, I print a Goal History report for each homeroom every Friday. Teachers are welcome to log in at any time, but I know they don't always have time. Even this small gesture keeps them happy and makes them more willing to discuss the report with their students.
I am incredibly blessed to work with awesome teachers. I can honestly say they are a joy to collaborate with. My program would not be nearly as successful as it is without their help.
Once you get all those things in place, it's time to get the word out!
Communication
As I've mentioned before, I used to work in the corporate world. I spent 5 years in sales and marketing before I got into education. While I can't say I miss much about that life, I did learn a lot of things along the way. No matter what you're doing, effective marketing is critical. People can't act on something unless they're aware it's available, and it's your job to let them know.
I "advertise" my AR program in a number of ways. First, I talk to the students during library class. I explain the reward and what they have to do to earn it. We also go over the rules. I teach students how to take a test if they haven't already mastered it. Then it's up to them. I do a few reminders here and there, but we certainly don't force anyone to participate.
Parent Communication
Next, I communicate with parents. I created an AR brochure with Frequently Asked Questions to hand out at Open House. I also send a newsletter home several times a year, which includes information about AR Home Connect. I love Home Connect, because parents can log in from home to see how many points their child has. They can even sign up for emails that tell them when their child takes a quiz and reports their score. If you can get parents using it, it will save you a lot of time looking stuff up.
My favorite thing, though, is the school wide communication. I like to get some friendly rivalries stirred up. The way I do this is by using our Poster Maker to create some signs. If you don't have a poster maker (I recommend getting one if there's any way you can - they are amazing), you can always use poster boards, bulletin board paper, or even printer paper.
Our Library Goal Tracker
I found a goal thermometer graphic online and blew it up, banner sized. Each week, I calculate the percentage of students meeting their goal (in the entire school) so far and color in the banner. As you can see from the picture, about 25% of our student body has met their goal so far.
I also make matching half sized goal thermometer posters for each teacher's door and calculate for each homeroom each week. They put them out in the hallway and I color them in each week. The students love to compete with the other homerooms.
Last year, we did a special contest in the final nine weeks grading period. If 100% of students met their AR goal, we would have a day where "Kids Rule the School." We pitched it as a day where kids would get to vote on all their activities, including what to have for lunch and the activities they would do for the entire day (such as electronics time, movie, recess time, etc.). My principal jumped on board with the idea and helped me promote it over the intercom.
Guess what? We met the goal.
Every student in my school met their AR goal for the 4th nine weeks grading period! To celebrate, we had "Kids Rule the School" day, and I even had the mayor arrange for a fire truck to come and lift me up in the bucket so I could take a picture of the entire student body making a 100 on the ground! We made it in the local paper and everyone was so excited!
I also make a big deal about point clubs. When students earn 25, 50, 75, or 100 points for the year, I put their names inside the rings on my Olympics AR bulletin board. If they earn over 100 points, I will put their picture on a medal that will go outside the rings. I also have my principal announce new point club members each week. I think it's important to get the principal involved in AR recognition, because it shows that the entire school thinks reading is important. At the end of the year, I give special awards for point club members.
As I mentioned earlier, I've experienced varying levels of success with Accelerated Reader throughout my career, but I hope some of these ideas will get more of your students excited about reading.
What ideas can you share about reading incentive programs? What works in your school? Please share with us in the comments!
M says
It's so difficult to get some of my kids to fully participate. They want to choose their own books and have the privilege of independence on going to the library. We have been told the kids should be reading at home but not all of them do it. Plus, library is often closed . We are pressured into making our kids meet their goals because of fear of the data being used on our pdas. It's suppose to be a school wise effort not just a classroom effort.
Lisa says
Thanks for the ideas!
Cherina says
Jocelyn,
What an awesome blog! I am a 4th grade teacher who will transition to the library media specialist position next year. It is an exciting, yet terrifying undertaking. The current librarian is phenomenal. She runs an excellent Accelerated Reader program at the school. Her shoes will be tough to fill, so I'm glad that your blog had some helpful advice. The students at our school who reach 100 AR points normally go on a special field trip. One time, the librarian held an AR auction. Students earned points throughout the year. At the end of the year, students used their points to bid on different prizes. These weren't just any old prizes. The librarian had spent the whole school year sending letters to famous authors, actors, music groups, sports stars, and so on. She received a ton of free goods, like an autographed Joe Paterno football, signed ballerina slips worn on a New York stage, autographed posters and books, etc. The auction was amazing. It was such a blast for the students and really motivated the children to read.
Kathy says
Have you found a good substitute for first graders that aren't quite ready for AR but would like some of the incentives for reading? Our first grade classes are seldom entered into the system until after Thanksgiving and then most are still too young to do the testing, but they would like to earn rewards like the big kids....
Elem_Librarian says
Kathy, This is definitely a tough problem. I run into the same thing. I have found that first graders are typically ready to test on their own after the Christmas break. Some completely independent, some with the help of a partner. We start AR in Kindergarten at my school. Obviously K and 1st need a lot of help, but we set the goals really low and help them succeed to get them in the habit. I hope that helps. Older students LOVE to read to the younger students and help them take tests.
Kathy says
Awesome idea! We have reading buddies for K-1 and they could definetly help them do learn how to get on the AR program etc. I will suggest this idea next week! Thank you!!
teach63 says
How do you manage the library traffic? How many are allowed in the library at one time?
Elem_Librarian says
I do library passes for morning visits (I assume that's what you mean?). Each teacher has 3 passes, so they can only send 3 down at a time. Also, each teacher has computers in his/her classroom that tests can be taken on.
Judith says
Hello sorry I know this is an old post. But how many hours were you the librarian in your elementary school? I only have 3 hours so I never had time for any of this. We also use AR.
Judith says
How does the library passes work? You said that each teacher has 3 passes to send the students? Do they come whenever they want? There's no set date for when a class can come in with all the students? Wouldnt it take longer for 3 at a time to go? I am in the library from 9am to 12pm Monday through Friday. I have certain teachers assigned to a date and time with 30 each and I have all the kids come in with the teacher. I do not even have time to decorate my library and im new stuck with all these new and old books from the previous librarian.
Kate L says
We started library passes here this year. Last year was my 1st year as librarian and it was very chaotic. The way we do it is at the beginning of the year, teachers sign up for their class library day/time. Students are welcome to come to the library during all open times without their teachers (1st-4th grade) but must bring a pass with them. On the front of the pass is the teachers name and grade number. On the back are all of the student's barcodes for that teacher. Each teacher has 3 passes, so it helps limit some of the foot traffic in here. It still gets chaotic at times, but our students can also self check in/out using their passes so that frees up a lot of my time to do other tasks as needed. When they come to the library, they hang up their pass so I can see who all is in here and then they proceed to check in & find new books. When it's time to check out, they grab their pass, scan their barcode and their books.