Our school district has a reading requirement of 10 books a year. The kids have from the time school ends in June until the following June. We finish ours over the summer. I keep a small journal of what they read, and we easily go through 100 books. When school starts I send in their reading requirement paper already filled out. Some of the teachers give the kids a small prize if they turn in completed papers during the first two weeks of school.
Ever since they've been little we read almost every night before getting ready for bed. We read kids books that are popular-Mo Willems Pigeon series; "Pinkalicous" by Victoria Kann; the Magic Tree House series and others. I've also tried to read them things outside their age range, like "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.
During the school year, we do the PARP (Parents As Reading Partners) calendar through the school. This year for each month the turned in a calendar they got $0.50 for the spring book fair. Both the older kids had $6.00 to spend this year on their own book. They also get a coupon each month for a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza, which we also tried to use every other month.
Through the Berks County (PA) Public Library System Summer Reading Program, we also fill in and turn in reading slips, and the kids can get prizes from the gumball machine using tokens they earn or earn tickets to trade in for larger prizes.
We also visit their school library a few times, but the past two years it's only been open mornings two days a week. Budget cuts reduced the program a lot. They used to be open five days with daily activities and a computer lab.
When we went to the shore I'd also stop at a store and buy a few new books to read there. Buying some new books kept them excited about reading.
I'll post more later on some nationwide reading programs that might give kids incentive to read.
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