time out for summer reading!

OK, I will get back to last summer's catch up posts in a bit, but I thought I would take time out today to share what we are doing this year for our summer reading program!  Mostly because I am super excited about it. =)

I have big nostalgia about the summer reading program we did at our library in town growing up.  It wasn't just a minutes logged or reports written based program, but there were categories of books we needed to read and we had to spin a wheel to see which ones we needed to read for the week.  I really wanted to do something like that last summer with our kids, but I just wasn't proactive enough and didn't get anything put together.  When Mom had my niece Evie for a week and was going to go to the library, that turned on the light bulb in my brain again about it and I asked Mom to look at the program (which they still do) and write down the categories.  I hoped I could think of something to do with them.

Mom not only wrote down the categories, but came up with a great idea to put them on clothespins for the kids to draw!

And bonus that Steve dug up my clothesline in the backyard so I had a big bag full that I have not been using. =)  We wrote 24 categories on clothespins three times so each of the big kids had a set.  

We used:  Dog, Cat, Horse, any animal, Boy, Girl, Geography, Science, Biography, Mystery, Sports, Craft,
Historical fiction, Non-fiction, Picture book, Chapter book, Math book, a magazine, Comic book, Mom's choice, Mom's choice, Mom's choice, your choice, your choice

The kids grabbed stocking hats (HOPEFULLY we won't have any use for them this summer! =) and dumped the clothespins in.  The plan is to draw 3 clothespins every week.

The genius of the clothespins is that they can clip them to the handle of their library bag (each of them has one thanks to Mrs. Lynne!), and we can head to the library to find books that fit the categories and the reader.  Then they can also check out 3 more books, and that is about what fits in the bag.  I know they can read way more than that, but if we go every week or more than once a week we can keep that stash rotating.  And they read each others too.

I was also struggling to figure out how to mark each book as completed for each kid.  They can blow through them so fast sometimes, and I wanted it to be a bit more of a challenge to get that "stamp" (that is what we got growing up!).  Our friend and favorite librarian Ms. Jenn came up with a great plan for that.  Use the library's summer reading program in combination with it!  Our program has them read a book and either write or draw about it and hand in the paper when they are done.  Each week the library draws from the papers submitted for prizes.  So each kid now has to do a Bookawocky page to complete their category.  (This is also a HUGE bonus for us as it gets Grace to practice her writing and spelling without her even realizing it!)

Then once everything is checked by Momma or Dadda, they can clip their clothespin to their Reading Goal sheet hanging in the sunroom (with oh so fancy blue tape).  As you can see I also have one for Henry and he gets to put stickers on for books he reads with Momma or Dadda from the library.  He has to do stuff like the big kids, ya know.

What I now need to come up with is prizes.  Everyone is SO VERY EXCITED about this now, and I want to keep that momentum and I think the prizes will do it.  I remember being thrilled to pick something out when I completed a goal at the library and I hope they will too.

Need a summer reading challenge with your kids?  Give it a try!  It wouldn't kill the adults to come up with a few categories to expand their horizons and do it along with the kids too.  Hmmmm, we just might have to do that!