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Motivate Your Child to Pass More Stories!
Madeline Waters • July 10, 2023
The more stories students pass, the more they improve.
The quickest path to reading competency is to successfully complete as many stories as possible while maintaining accuracy and comprehension. And yet, you may notice your child prefers to work at a leisurely pace—unconcerned with how many stories they're passing each week. How can you motivate them to increase the number of words and stories they read?
Over the years, we've collected a few tips and tricks for parents like you:
- The Point System. This good old-fashioned incentive program can yield great results. Give your child a certain number of points every time they pass a story—for example 10 points per story. When they reach a certain number of points—for example, 100 points—they earn a reward. Young readers love small prizes like stickers. Be sure to verbally recognize your child's achievements, too. You will get the best results if you pair point distribution with well-deserved verbal praise.
- Story Options. Celebrate your child's success with appropriate program adjustments. Offer a
reduced number of required read alongs or practices as a reward for consistent accuracy on the quiz and pass timings. If your child scores 100% (or whatever you determine is appropriate) on several quizzes in a row and passes stories with a low number of errors (ideally two or fewer) on their first attempt, allow them to drop the number of required read alongs or practices by one. This will help them move through the program more quickly. In order to maintain this privilege, their scores need to stay high.
These incentives can also be tied into the points system. Reduced read alongs or practices can be offered as rewards for a certain number of points earned.
- Personal Progress Monitoring. When developing readers take responsibility for their own success, they can progress more quickly. While progress monitoring is already built into the One Minute Reader program through points and progress graphs, we also offer several free printables to make the reading process more interactive, motivating, and progress-oriented for your developing reader. Click here for Blank Graphs, Student Surveys, Story Title Labels, a Weekly Story Tracker, and more!
Note that we are not encouraging students to skim or speed read. Passing stories requires careful reading, comprehension, and accuracy, and readers are held accountable to meet the pass criteria in order to move ahead. As they build fluency, they will be able to read and pass stories more quickly, which will accelerate them toward reading proficiency. Be sure to keep tabs on their comprehension and accuracy throughout the process, and make adjustments if these elements start to slide.
Parents are awesome at motivating their children to do things they may not want to do. Use this superpower to help your child make optimal progress in reading. And if you have additional tricks up your sleeve, please share them! We would love to pass your wisdom along to other parents.
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We've arrived at the season of giving thanks--but shouldn't that be every season? Research shows that grateful people are happier and healthier. Here are 12 easy ways to cultivate gratitude with your kids all year long. Click on the links to download free printables! Keep a stack of these Gratitude Cards in a central area of your house. Anytime your child has someone to thank, encourage them to fill out a card! Play Gratitude BINGO. Download these printable BINGO Cards and instructions for playing . The BINGO Cards are an interactive PDF, so you can type on them before printing if you wish. Keep a family Gratitude Journal. At the end of each day, ask your kids what they were thankful for that day. Write their thoughts in the journal. Encourage your kids to think of things specific to the day, and ask them to try not to repeat things from previous days. This practice will help them notice that there are new things to be thankful for each day. Download this Gratitude Scavenger Hunt and have kids complete this activity with friends, classmates, or neighbors. Design your own scavenger hunt using this interactive PDF with different items, so you can play as much as you’d like. Decorate your home with a Gratitude Tree. Create the tree by drawing branches on a poster board or by standing real twigs in a pot or vase. Have kids write their gratitudes on the Gratitude Leaf Cards and add them to the tree. Hopefully you'll be adding branches all year long as your kids think of more and more reasons to give thanks. Take a Gratitude Walk. Walk outdoors with your kids, and have them carry a notebook and pen. Ask them to be quiet during the walk. Have them notice and write down what feels good and what they appreciate about being outdoors. After the walk, ask them to elaborate, either verbally or in writing, on what they wrote down. The books on this Gratitude Book List are all about giving thanks. Whether you're looking for picture books to read aloud to younger kids or chapter books that inspire reflection in your older kids, this list has dozens of fantastic titles. Sometimes the simplest questions can lead to the most profound answers. Use these Gratitude Conversation Starters to prompt thoughtful discussions in your family. Do a daily Gratitude Meditation. Have kids close their eyes and think about the word “thankful” for a quiet minute each day. When they open their eyes, have them write down, tell you, or simply reflect for a moment on the things that came to mind. Have kids write what they’re thankful for on little slips of paper. Have them put the papers in a jar or add them to a bulletin board. Be a role model. Offer your own reflections whenever you feel thankful for something. Take pictures of the things your kids are grateful for. Print the pictures to make a Gratitude Collage to display in your home. P.S. We are thankful for YOU! Thank you for all you do to help your kids become better readers. Please connect with us if One Minute Reader can support you in any way.
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