Reading Challenges

It seems to be getting more and more difficult to get the students motivated to read on their own. A lot of students ask, “What do I get if I do this?”, but even more want to know if they “have to do this”.  This is very disheartening; especially for someone that has always had a love of reading. I try very hard to make the reading challenges fun and enjoyable, but judging by my completion rates, I fear that most students just don’t want to do it.  Not even for a free breakfast, free ticket to Six Flags, a popcorn party or a medal and certificate.

Earlier this year, students had the opportunity to participate in several reading programs. All students were eligible to participate in the Six Flags Read to Succeed Program where students had to read a total of six hours over several months. I think we had about 70 students out of just fewer than 700 that completed the challenge. Third thru Fifth grade students could participate in the Texas Bluebonnet Award List where they had to read at least five books from the list of twenty in order to vote for their favorite. What I love about this reading program is that their votes actually count towards who wins the award. I mean, how cool is that? Out of approximately 370 students that could have participated, I had only 10 that voted. What a shame!

Something new I added this year was the Bookworm Challenge. It challenged students to read a certain number of books over several months along with reading a variety of genres. This came about as a grant proposal that I and four other librarians created based loosely on the book titled, The Book Whisperer by Donalyn Miller. I had hoped that they would be motivated by a little competition in seeing that other classes were doing better, but needless to say, this has been disappointing as well. We haven’t quite completed it yet, but so far I calculate that I might have 60 students that totally finish and earn their certificate and medal that will be presented to them at the final assembly.

The final reading program that I have is for Kindergarten thru Second grade students. It is the Texas 2x2 Award List. It follows the same concept as the Texas Bluebonnet Award, only these votes don’t really count for anything. If they read the books and vote, they can enjoy a popcorn or popsicle party.  So, as we start to wind down the last month of school, I wanted to make sure that I read another Texas 2x2 book to Kindergarten, First and Second grades.  That way everyone will hopefully have an opportunity to vote for their favorite from the list in a couple of weeks. I feel a little bad that I have to practically do it for them in order to get them to vote.  I try to read at least 5 of the books so that everyone will be able to vote. Otherwise, I’m afraid this program will fare just as poorly as all the others.