A little motivation helps! 15 reading incentives that really work

KEEP YOUR students motivated to hit their weekly and monthly reading goals by offering a little motivation or reward. Here are some of our favourite ideas.

1. Hand out bookmarks. Bookmarks reinforce a love for reading and you can find lots of free templates on Pinterest.

2. Make time for game time. Save 15 or 20 minutes every week for your students to have game time in the classroom. Bring in new board games each week, and anyone who meets their reading goal for the week gets to play.

3. Have a popcorn party. Cheap, healthy, and delicious. Need we say more?

4. Listen to audiobooks. Have your students vote on the audiobook they want, and when they hit their reading goal, let them have time to listen to it every day.

5. Allow chewing gum for a day. Gum is usually off limits in the classroom, so it’s an especially appealing reward for kids.

6. Hike outside. Stretching your legs is a wonderful counterpart to time spent reading. Celebrate a reading milestone by taking a walk around your school building or neighbourhood.

7. Create a classroom lending library. This is an excellent way to reward reading with more reading. Ask students, parenting, and friends for book donations appropriate for your grade level. Once students reach certain reading goals, they can go to the lending library (or the ‘readbox’ in this genius example) to choose another book.

8. Make smoothies. A make your own smoothie bar is a healthy, delicious way to celebrate meeting a reading milestone!

9. Put together a classroom treasure chest. Stickers, tattoos, and pencils are always popular treasure choice filler. You can ask parents for donations, too.

10. Watch book trailers on YouTube. When kids finish a book, invite them to browse YouTube book trailers to look for their next read.

11. Offer homework passes. Try giving kids a day off of homework when they meet a reading goal. More time for reading!

12. Start a new read-aloud book. Let your class vote on your next read-aloud as a reward for their progress.

13. Give your class tickets. A lot of teachers use a class store as a behaviour management system, but you can also use it for reading. Give students tickets for books that they read, and then they can cash them in for prizes (such as inexpensive Book Fair titles).

14. Have lunch with the teacher. You can do this as an individual award for a really big goal or you could also do it as a small group award. Let students eat lunch in the classroom with you, or join them at their table in the lunchroom.

15. Have lunch with a friend. Once students meet a certain goal, designate a day where they can invite a family member or friend to join them for lunch.

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