I let the girls buy anything they can read in the store within 15 minutes! Parent or teacher - What a fun way to get kids excited about reading! How this could look in the classroom or your home: With my 3rd graders I printed out play money and I was the bank. The treasure chest was called a 'store'. They would earn money for quizzes they scored 80% or higher on, and then could spend their money - but only if they could read the item AND knew know much change they were supposed to get back. Some feelings were hurt in the beginning, but they quickly shook it off and realized they needed to read and do math if they wanted to buy anything -- and the reality is - in the real world if you don't have strong academic abilites, you won't be able to get a high paying job that gets you all the (material) things you want. (But please don't use this as a mean to humiliate children into performing well). Think about your presence and relationship with you kids/students before doing something like this. I have the gift of stopping meltdowns at level one - for example knowing to explain to kids beforehand that they will be dissapointed at first (and that's ok! That's life!), but in time they will feel really great about their progress. If you don't have that gift DO NOT proceed without a modification and/or discussing ideas with your academic coach/ head of culture/ VP. **See how we're also hitting on developing socio-emotional strength here!!!**
Here's an example modification for young kids, or ones prone to meltdowns:
Lay out 5 cheap items and write the names on a paper in front of them. (CAR, BUBBLES, DOLL, HAT, STICKERS, football) - Plan it so they end up with 2 or 3 items - make some words you know they can read, and a couple words that are challenging. A couple words can have phonics rules that you've been working on. It helps to think of synonyms for items (for early readers put jet instead of plane).
Before starting say: Today we're going to start a new reading program (or something along those lines). It's going to be challenging sometimes, but mostly fun, and you can do it because you're very smart. Have you ever thought about why you need to learn to read? One reason is to be able to shop for the things you want and need. So we're going to practice that by having our own store! Each week (month, etc) I'm going to give you 5 items to read, and if you can read them, you can have them! Isn't that great!? But, if you can't read them, they will stay on the shelf and you can try to get them again next week. There may be something you want today, but can't read. But as long as you have a positive attitude, you'll be able to get what you want in no time! It's okay to feel disappointed or sad for a little, for example you may frown or sigh, or even cry a little (MODEL being sad and getting over it). But, you will not scream or fall out or be angry (I like to model this really exaggerated - kids get a kick out of seeing us have a 'tantrum' and it gets them thinking they should not act that way). Are you ready to try to read these items?
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