Chrystal;
Our school has the accelerated reading program also. This program is WONDERFUL!! I feel that many of our students have advanced in their accomplishments in reading as a direct result of this program. We feelthis program is so good, our P.T.O. is looking to purchase the accelerated math program for our school. I like your ideas, and may "BORROW" some of them as incentive rewards for students from you.
One of the things we did last year was to take all the students who met their reading goals for the whole year out to a local restaurant for an ice cream sundae, on the P.T.O.. I have allready been asked if we are doing this again this year by staff members
[YES we are].
I also have set up some community based business partnerships for our school. One business last year supplied pizza for all the students [at no cost] who participated in our summer reading program as an incentive. We are located in a low-income area and another partnership I have started is with a re-sale store to get used children's reading books donated for our students so that we [P.T.O.] can help make sure that our students have access to books in the home.
The things your principal has done sound familiar. Where are you from??
LORI

At our school March is reading month and we have a reading rally for the entire month. The school sets a goal of how many books are to be read and every week the kids turn in their slips signed by parent and teacher. The totals are added to a meter in the lunch room so the kids can see how close they are to the goal. If they reach the goal the principal has to do something silly...one year he did the Macarena in front of the entire school...a more daring principal in our neighboring school had to spend the entire school day on the roof of the school...the kids loved it!! We also do story book character day where students dress up as a story book character...teachers also dress up...I imagine there will be lots of Harry Potter's this year. We also have an accelerated reader program...this is an awesome program!! Our library is filled with "arp" books and each book has a point value...after a student reads the book they get to take acomputerized test on it for points...at the end of the year they use their points to buy different things...movie tickets, games, books...etc. that the PTO has purchased. Our PTO has supplied thousands of dollars towards our library and now the library is so succesful that they even have their own account. I am grateful that our parents have supported the reading goals that we have set and the kids are doing great!

Our elementary school is looking for ways to encourage our children to read. We have implemented a reading program called PARP (parents as reading partners). We have fun events that celebrate the children's reading accomplishments and the PTO gives each child a free book. We are always looking for fresh ideas to inspire the kids. It is now NYS law that the children have to read (or be read to) 25 books per school year. We, the PTO, feel it is our duty to encourage and reward the children for their reading efforts.
Any fun suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you.