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August 22, 2013

101 Best Ways to Motivate Kids to Read


           Phew!  It’s Thursday, it’s the first week, I’m tired!  Yes, I am tired!  It has, however, been a very nice week.  The kids are really gathering information about how our class works and then applying it nicely.  It isn’t without its bumps, but what first week isn’t.  One of the best things about this week-the kids want to read!  They are interesting in what books I have and really reading them!  One young man said, “This is the best classroom library I’ve ever had!” as he sat reading a Michael Jordan biography!  It’s such a great feeling!  One of the biggest draws in my room is the 101 Best Children’s Novels Challenge.


            Here’s how it works!  I found a list from Children’s Books Guide.com that listed the 100 best children’s novels ever.  I really liked the list.  I have read or know of most of the books on the list.  I know I had a lot of them in my classroom library as well.  So that was a big bonus for me-I wouldn’t have to work too hard to gather them together for the kids.  But there was ONE problem-one glaring problem-my favorite children’s novel WASN'T on the list!  It’s even mentioned time and again in the comments on the bottom of the blog.  How could this book NOT make the list?  It’s one of the books that every kid just LOVES!  Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing wasn’t there!  That’s where the +1 comes into play.  I added it, one more book!  That just made it a little more fun! 

            Now, the kids don’t get to just “say” they have read them.  They will be taking a piece of construction paper that has been cut into a ¼ piece section.  This section will be folded like a card.  On the outside, they need to take their time to draw and color in a scene from the book. It cannot be the cover-it needs to be a scene that they were able to visualize from the text.  On the inside, they will need to write a thorough summary of the text, with a beginning, middle, and end as well as key events.  These will be displayed in the hall next to the sign I made of the list!  

            I will also be keeping track of how much reading they do of these books.  Each child will receive a key chain with a piece of black elastic string for jewelry making attached to it.  Once they have read a book, completed the project, and have it approved by me, they will earn one bead.  Each book read will equal one bead.  Then I set goals for various levels with various prizes.  Below is  a picture of the goals and prizes I would like to see them work toward.   

This will be a quick visual for me of who is challenging themselves and who needs some motivation.  The other thing I will be doing is allowing the kids to add a bead if their Book Club or whole group book is one of the 101 Book Challenge.  This way I know all kids will have an opportunity to earn beads throughout the year. 



            If you are interested in this list, I’ve added the list, with the goals, to me TPT store.  It is uploaded as a Power Point Document so that you can change both the 101st book and the goals to meet your needs!  I’m looking forward to seeing how this works and watching my kids grow as readers!


Happy tomorrow’s Friday, but I still have so much to do! 

Have a great one,



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