How to Motivate Your Students to Read at Home

Genia Connell is a third-grade teacher. Here, she shares her unique incentive program that gets students reading. Try it in your own classroom to encourage students to read at home!

Every teacher knows that getting children who have already decided reading’s not for them to read at school—let alone at home—can be a monumental task. That's why for years in my third-grade classroom, I've used an at-home reading incentive program. It's called Reading for Rewards.

Through this program, children who previously avoided picking up a book at home start reading hundreds of minutes. 

I know what the research says: Children should be intrinsically motivated to read. But things don't always happen as they should (sometimes I find myself feeling unmotivated to exercise, for instance).

And based on my anecdotal data, this program works: Every year, I hear from a couple of parents who share that participating in this program led to their child picking up a book at home—for the first time ever. 

 Getting Started With Reading for Rewards 

Implementing the program is simple: First, I introduce Reading for Rewards to my students at a class meeting, telling them I am going to pay them to read using “Big Bucks,” which are homemade coupons. 

After the buzz dies down, I explain it in greater detail.

Here's how it works: Any student who wants to participate fills out a monthly reading calendar. 

Using this calendar, students track: 

• Solo reading 
• Reading with their parents 
• Reading aloud to siblings 

All of these activities count toward rewards. Reading in school does not. 

The calendar needs to be signed by a parent and turned in the first week of the following month.

Students receive one "Big Buck" coupon for every 100 minutes they log on their reading calendar. Any leftover minutes carry over as “cents” to the next month. I record each student's minutes monthly to keep track. 

These "Big Bucks" can be spent on prizes and rewards once a month at the Big Bucks Store (more on that later) or saved for next time.

Download the free reading calendar!

The Payoff

One key to the program’s success is that it is optional. No one has to participate.

The first month there are always a few students who decide not to do it. When giant dollar bills are being paid out, however, and their friends and classmates are excitedly shopping at the store, you can see the longing in their eyes.

Because lending Big Bucks to a friend is strictly forbidden, those students, often my less enthusiastic readers, realize there is only one way for them to get in on the action: They are going to have to read.

The Store

The store is really just a hodgepodge of things I have collected over time or parents have donated. The cost of items for sale ranges from one to 15 Big Bucks. Items include: 

• Dollar store-type merchandise
• Pencils
• Stuffed animals
• Books

It also includes homemade coupons, which are one of the most popular items. Students can get coupons for free books from the book order, a free homework, or bringing a stuffed animal to class. Scholastic eGift cards are another great option to include in the store — that way, students can pick out their own books. 

Of course, this program isn't perfect: There's always at least one or two students who think I'll fall for them reading 300 minutes every day of the month. A little conversation helps us agree on a more accurate number.

And there's a time factor, too. Setting up the store can take up to 15 minutes. 

It’s all worth it, though, when I see the excitement the store generates and hear their plans to read even more next month because they are saving up for a big-ticket item. If you get rewards at your coffee shop or local pharmacy, you're well aware of how compelling rewards can be! 

Shop engaging books that get students reading below. You can find all books and activities at The Teachers Store.