This post, originally written 27 Oct 2017, was updated and merged with a post originally written 27 Oct 2010, in Jan 2022.

When it came time to set goals for my kids for Book-It (or summer reading programs, etc.) the standard methods weren’t/aren’t a very good fit.  I wrestled a bit with this the first year we needed to set Ariel’s Book-It goals. She was pretty good about reading, even without any incentives, so it almost seemed silly to set goals for her to read a certain number of books or pages, or for a certain amount of time.

Most of my children have been pretty avid readers, like this, so when it comes time to set goals for them for Book-It, we could designate a certain number of books or pages, or a certain amount of time spent reading, but that wouldn’t really challenge them.  They don’t need to be encouraged to read.  But it occurred to me that first year that what Ariel could use help with is becoming a better-rounded reader.

The kids do need to be encouraged to read a variety.

Our Alternative Goal-Setting Method

Each child has her own preferred genre, and largely sticks to it when choosing reading materials.  We wanted their goals to stretch them and help them grow as readers, not just make them feel good about what they’re already doing, so instead of assigning an overall quantity of reading, we assigned new types of reading material.

I compiled a list of genres, and assigned a certain number of different ones to be read each month.  This list could vary, depending on the age of the student; the one I put together was for my 5th grader, and is probably appropriate for 4th or 5th grade up through about 7th grade.  (A high schooler could use it, too, but with a high schooler you might want to get even more detailed with the breakdown.)

Download our genre list for big kids.

(If you’re interested in teaching your student(s) more about the individual genres, Drawn Into the Heart of Reading seems to be a really great resource for this.)