The Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge ends in exactly one week from tomorrow! (3pm EST, on Friday, September 5th, to be exact.) The program has been a tremendous success this year—kids have surpassed the 2013 world record for summer reading (pretty early on, we might mention), and a record number of students, teachers, and schools have participated this year.
Collectively, kids have logged over 247 million summer reading minutes—a huge accomplishment—and many of those minutes come from schools competing for a top 20 slot in the challenge. If you're an educator at one of the many schools involved in the program, the beginning of the new school year is the perfect time to reward students for their hard work. So hold some celebratory events as you handle the final details of the program—it’s another great way to encourage kids to read more!
Our Summer Reading Challenge team put together some ideas for you—check them out below! And if you do have a celebration, be sure to share them with us on Twitter (@Scholastic) or Instagram (@Scholasticinc)!
Wrap Up the Details
- Plan a back-to-school open house before the beginning of the school year. Give prizes to kids who turn in paper log sheets from summer and then arrange for students or volunteers to enter them into the website before 3 p.m. EST, September 5, 2014.
- Invite the entire campus to stop, drop, and read for 15 minutes each day in the final week of the program.
- Help students without computer access over the summer enter their reading minutes when the new school year begins. Enlist a team of parents or retired teachers to assist. Students may log minutes until 3 p.m. EST the last day of the challenge, September 5, 2014.*
- Send out a media release publicizing your summer reading success. A sample release is available in the Toolkit.
- Download all the logged minutes no later than September 30, 2014 if your school used the Classroom Registration student sign-up. After September 30 the Summer Reading Challenge website is closed and individual reading stats are discarded.
Reward Success
- Hold a rally and celebrate your school’s reading accomplishments, awarding prizes to students with the most minutes read.
- Ask a school leader to complete a wacky stunt or grant a special privilege if your school meets its goal.
- Invite students to create and submit a piece of art showing something from their favorite book they read over the summer.
- Host a family picnic celebrating summer reading success. Plan to give out ice cream or other treats. Acknowledge how important summer reading is to success in the coming school year.
- Celebrate all your summer reading success at a finale party. Hand out prizes to students and enter names of students who logged reading minutes into a raffle for small prizes.
* Until August 21, reading minutes may be entered on the current day, and up to two weeks prior. However, after August 22, students will be able to enter minutes for the whole summer up to the current day.
