Using Reward Charts to Build Confidence When Reading

Using reward charts alongside reading is a great way to help foster a reader’s sense of accomplishment and confidence. Here are some easy ways you can use them to motivate children on their reading journey. 

Ladybird Readers is a large range of fun and engaging books, written for young learners of English as a foreign or second language. Using reward charts alongside these books is a great way to help foster a reader’s sense of accomplishment and confidence; they can be tailored to individual learners and used in the classroom or at home.

It is important to consider the needs of each learner when designing and using reward charts – there is no one-size-fits-all with reading. Individual reward sheets can make learning more inclusive and help celebrate different milestones for each learner.

For some learners, something more tactile than a reward chart may work well, such as marbles, sweets or even sand in a jar. If you’re an educator, this approach can be used as a collaborative reward for the whole class and ensures everyone is included.

Challenge ideas for your learners

• Practise one new word every day
• Read a page of a book every day
• Read a book every week
• Retell the story
• Act out something from the story
• Draw a picture from the story

Include different options so that learners have a choice and autonomy. Learners are often more motivated and interested when they’ve chosen their own challenge.

Try a summer readathon

Why not try a summer readathon? You can create a special reward chart and set the challenge to read a new Ladybird Readers book every week during school holidays. Try and include a range of books to keep it varied and interesting:

• A traditional story, such as Cinderella or Little Red Riding Hood.
• A favourite character story, such as Peppa Pig or Peter Rabbit.
• A non-fiction title, such as Deserts, Dinosaurs or Cars.

To make reading feel like even more of a fun holiday activity, you could work your way through some of the books below, which all share the theme of summer and holidays.

• Timmy: The Picnic: Why not head out for a picnic and bring the book along with you?
• My Little Pony: The Camping Holiday: Can you make a tent or a den? Now crawl inside and read the book together.
• Peppa Pig: In the Garden: Head out to your garden or local park and find a good reading spot.