About halfway through their kindergarten year, each of my daughters were starting to grasp the foundations of reading and I knew it was important for them to spend time each day practicing. I wanted them to continue to love books and associate reading with something positive. I created this simple system to help support their learning-to-read journey. It worked amazingly well for us and I have since shared it with other families who also loved it.
I printed a 10 by 10 table on a piece of cardstock and ordered a pack of smiley face stickers from Amazon. Each time they read a “level 1” book to me they earned a sticker. We kept the reading chart on the fridge and after reading 100 books, their chart was full of stickers and they earned a reward.
The simplicity of this system meant there were minimal tears and arguing. They didn’t have to rate the books, summarize them or keep track of what they had read. They just had to read a book and get a sticker. If we got busy and missed some days, the system didn’t fall apart. If they were in a motivated mood and read several books in one day, they got several stickers that day. If they were struggling and got frustrated, we just stopped and finished it later and they still earned the sticker when they were done.
I doubted this plan at first because it seemed like a super slow process where they would NEVER reach their goal. However, about halfway through they could understand the progress they had made and it started to gain momentum. The prize seemed within their reach and their reading skills had improved significantly. I no longer felt like it took FOREVER just to get through one book.
The best time to start this system is when your child is beginning to read basic sentences with support. For some kids this may be in pre-school or at the beginning of their kindergarten year. For us, it was after winter break when they had spent a few months in school and were ready to move up to actually “reading.”
We did not use the sticker system for anything that was assigned from school. My kids really didn’t get homework in kindergarten but there were reading lists or mini passages sent home to practice their reading skills. We still completed these but they did not earn a sticker. We viewed the sticker challenge as something extra and fun to do with mom to help support what was being assigned by the teacher or done in the classroom.
A few tips to keep in mind:
Choose a time that works for you and your child.
A lot of people use bedtime as a time for reading with their child. I would not recommend using this time to work on learning to read. I love keeping bedtime reading as a way to connect at the end of the day with both girls and didn’t like it when it became a time for work. I also found myself less patient in the evening and they would often intentionally prolong the process to avoid going to sleep. For my oldest, I found reading a book or two in the mornings before school was best because there was time before the bus came when it was quiet and just the two of us in the house. For my youngest, we found the best time for us was 15 or 20 minutes before I started making dinner.
Choose a “big” reward that your child will want to work toward.
You will know better than anyone what is best for your child to acknowledge and celebrate their hard work. I think an experience gift is always a good idea but my older daughter finished in the spring of Covid lockdown. She earned several things that would help entertain her while stuck at home. My younger daughter earned a day trip to the Washington D.C. Zoo.
Choose the books yourself (instead of letting them pick).
Hopefully your library has the early reader books in a separate section. If they do, there will still be a mix of books from pre-reader up to level 3 books. Many times your kid will gravitate to the fun covers regardless of reading level. You want to avoid books that are above their level and will cause frustration or take too long to get through. I would have the girls pick out other picture books while I scanned the early reader shelves.
Stick with pre-reader or level 1 reader books.
Quickly flip through the books to ensure they are appropriate. I have found that two books both labeled as “level 1” can be vastly different in reading abilities. When starting the challenge, choose pre-reader or basic level 1 books. After a few weeks you can probably move past “pre-reader” but I would still stick with level 1 books for the duration of the challenge. The goal is to build their reading skills to a place where they feel confident in their ability to read an entire book on their own.
In summary, here are the super basic steps to get started.
- Print a 10 by 10 table on a piece of paper or yardstick.
- Buy a pack of stickers.
- Visit your local library and stock up on level one books.
- Each time your child reads a book to you, they place a sticker on the chart.
- Once they have read 100 books, they earn a reward.