Recording Reading And Incentives 2010

Ideas for keeping track of books read and keeping motivation high during the summer reading club:

Reading log templates

The official reading logs (to come)
The official graphics to design your own (to come)
NB: a great tip from Kiama Library - put your reading log templates up on your library website for downloading ... that way kids who are keen readers can print more as required.

Please contribute any reading log designs you create to share as well

Reading logs / reading records / reading passports can be used to count books read or minutes spent reading
Wollongong City Library create a reading calendar for kids to record what they've read - it also features the dates for library activities during the summer reading club
Use scary / halloween stickers or stamps (eg.bats, sculls)
Lucky-dip – children who have read a certain number of books receive a lucky-dip prize. Once they have received their lucky-dip, they are encouraged to keep reading by gaining an extra entry into a major prize draw held at the end-of-club party.

One librarian challenged her summer readers: if they read 2500 books, she would dress as a chicken and do the chicken dance on the library steps! The children were so anxious to see the spectacle, 355 children read more than 5,800 books!
add strips of paper to a paper chain that gradually works its way around the library
kids put a marble (or other small item such as a paper clip, coin, etc.) in a giant container so they can see how many books everyone read over the course of the summer
collecting a popcorn kernel for every book read and having a popcorn party at the end of the summer
puzzle pieces / beans / beads in big jars or containers to represent books read
one library built an enormous bubblegum machine out of hoola hoops and vinyl - children put one gumball in for each book they read...at the end of the summer they used the gumballs for a mosaic art project
one library used this great idea for a "Catch the Summer Reading Bug" theme, they made a container out of a large cardboard box, cut out the front and placed a large piece of plastic, decorated the box like grass with little bugs and bees, then placed the cereal through a hole in the top of the box. The kids could "feed" the bugs....perhaps you could have spiders and other creepy crawlies to go with the "scary" theme
Create a community ‘score sheet’ – add eyes in the dark, bats etc. to a notice board to show how many books have been read

cover the wall in our teen area with a maze of some sorts where the teens move their person around every time they turn in a log, moving closer to the goal of the end-of-the-summer party / lock-in