Prize Buggy

At the beginning of the year, I decided that the MC needed a reading theme that would tie everything together. I came up with "Catch the Reading Bug."  I even made a brochure that outlined all of the neat programs the MC would be running throughout the year.  You can see a copy of it by clicking on the picture below.

One of the programs I have really enjoyed and that seems to have been very effective is the Prize Buggy Punch Card.

Here's how it works.  At the beginning of each month, K-5 students receive a punchcard with 5 slots to get punched.  Second through fifth grade students are encouraged to read at least one book from the Genre of the Month as well as an AR book and 3 other books or other media of their choice.  K and 1st grade students are encouraged to read 5 of any type of material.  After reading each material, they get a punch in their punch card.  When they have completed their punch card, they bring it to the Media Center and pick a prize from the Prize Buggy, with the exception of  K and 1st grade. They come as a class at the end of the month to the Prize Buggy.

Here's the front and side view of the Prize Buggy.  It's really just an AV cart that I decorated with fabric and loaded up with white baskets full of prizes.

Here are some close ups of the prizes.

Since the reading theme is "Catch the Reading Bug" all of the prizes are bug related.  I get the prizes from Oriental Trading.  I spend about $50 a month, which to me is a very insignificant amount to pay for encouraging the kids to read.  When I ran a circulation report and compared each month to last year, circulation has double and sometimes tripled since last  year.  Students, parents, and teachers seem to really like this program and I am so happy that it has encouraged the kids to pick up books that they might not have otherwise read.

Here are some pictures of the students choosing their prizes.  Even the fifth graders love it!

This is just one of the exciting programs I started this year.  If you'd like to know more, you can click here to read descriptions of all the Media Programs I am running.  I'd love to hear what you think.