Motivation for Some

"I was just trying to motivate them to read! Really. I had no intention of bankrupting the food budget, honey." - overheard at my house last weekend.

I just set up class accounts at BookAdventure. My own kids started logging in points last Spring, and 2 of them really love the whole idea of quizzes and prizes. But - AND THIS IS IMPORTANT- another one couldn't care less about prizes. Reading is its own reward. And that's really the goal here: to increase your LOVE of reading.

Still, different kids learn/work for different reasons, and a lot of my students are clamoring for the competitive stuff, so here we go:

Kids can take short quizzes on books they've read (picture books are allowed), and get sponsor-prizes if they choose, but since those aren't so great, I'll continue the goodie arrangement I already promised students.

Now I can make INDIVIDUALIZED incentive plans for each child. So listen up, guys: YOU have to decide how many points are reasonable for you to earn a prize. You'll tell me, and I'll set it up on the site. The goal isn't to compete with other people, but to challenge yourself.

Go to BookAdventure, sign up as a new user (even if you already have a home account), put in your first name and last initial, then make up a user name and password for yourself. Make sure you choose PLAY AT SCHOOL. Even though you're actually playing at home, this means that you'll be part of my "class," and I can reward your prizes. Your class name is either WednesdayWorkshop (notice that's one word smushed together, with capitals), or TuesdayWorkshop (same smushing concept). In case you forgot, your teacher's last name is Beaulieu.

Then you can choose quiz-o-matic and go wild. Go ahead, take any quiz you can - even if you read the book a long while ago. But you can only take the quiz for a book twice, so be careful. Also, the points are weighed according to reading level (which means harder books count for more points). I will know which books you're quizzing on, so limit the easy reads and twaddle, please!

A few notes for parents:

1. This site, sponsored by Sylvan (one of those pay-outrageous-fees-for-help-
with-homework places), has over 7000 books, so the odds are a book they're reading will be on the list. But we've noticed that a LOT of great reads aren't. Whatchagonnado? Just jot those pages on their Reading Logs instead.

2. Book Adventure is littered with Twaddle, as well as a few that are downright trash (especially at the older grade levels), so the kids have to get your approval BEFORE they read the book.

3. Some of the quizzes are just plain wrong. We've only had it happen a couple times, but it HAS happened. Let me know if that happens, and we'll adjust things.