Need ideas for AR (accelerated reading) parties...

[shari2shop]

I am looking for some ideas on what others schools do for AR parties....

We do AR where the kids read books and test on them. They earn points for each book that they pass the test. It is all done on a positive/reward basis. Kids have goals set by there reading level and I make sure each goal is obtainable.

What are some fun/cool things that I could do for 4th and 5th graders that meet there reading goal??? We are a very rural school so going places will be hard to do.

Need a few ideas for end of 9 wks and a BIG end of year party.

We have done the following but are looking for some new, fresher, cooler ideas:
pizza party,
bubbles (lame, I know!)
Kites
coke floats
pop corn

Thinking about maybe:
skate party (have to figure out how to rent skates for the ones that don't have)
lazer tag party (gotta get the gear)
swim party for the end of the year


Thanks

 

[FoundMyPrince]

DD10 is going into the 5th grade. Her school has an "AR Cafe" at the end of the year - parents help set up tables with nice table cloths, balloons, fun background music, etc., and the kiddos have a special lunch. The lunch is made by the school's cooks - they have fruit slushies, little sandwiches with crusts cut off, etc. It's rather "healthy" food as far as school lunches are concerned, but it's really fun and the kids look forward to it. Also, each child gets to choose one book from Scholastic at the cafe.

 

[wdwiala]

Minute to Win it party?

 

[thinkerbell]

Ours celebrate each 9 weeks with parties similar to what you posted. We also do an ice cream party as one of the end of the 9 weeks parties with extra recess. The end of the year party for the 5th graders is a dance with songs that they already know the dances to like the Cha Cha Slide. They also have soda and ice cream. They love it. They also take all of the children who meet 100 points at the end of the year to the local park where they can play on the playground and eat pizza. The park is about half a mile from our school so they walk there and back. They really look forward to that every year.

 

[golfgal]

Not for AR but the party the kids like the most for meeting fundraising goals was by far the ice skating party. If you have an indoor rink near you that offers open skate chances are they have skates to rent. The kids had a BLAST!! Their other favorite party was a dance. One of the teachers at their school had a DJ business and they would come in and play the music and the kids would have a dance in the gym during the school day.

Do you have any kind of a budget to spend? If you do a fun end of the year party is to have a bunch of inflatables. It gets spendy so it might not be a good option but we did that one year, they brought in 5 different things-bounce house, obstacle course, etc. and we had them for several hours. We had the kids come out in shifts (K-8th grade). I think it was $1000 for that.

 

[AristocatFan]

We've done auctions and the kids loved them. The PTO purchased some items for us to "auction" off. The kids AR points equaled the number of "dollars" they had to spend.

 

[hsembrick]

Our school always does an end of the year AR party. Last year a local snowcone stand that had a mobile unit set up and did snowcones for the kids. PTO got sponsors and rented a couple of the bounce houses for the younger grades. What about one of the blow up obstacle courses? My DS is going in 4th and loves those things!

Popcorn(donated by local movie theater) and a movie-played in a teachers class

My DD was in 2nd last year had an Olive Garden party! Her class had the most AR points as a class and was awarded lunch from Olive Garden. The meal was donated by OG and a PTO parent picked it up. The kids went to the lunchroom, got a milk and fruit (or brought from home) came to the room and had salad, spaghetti and breadsticks! She talked about this award for weeks!

HTH

 

[minniebeth]

AR goal celebrations in my girls' school is more at the classroom level. Not as exciting I guess as the school parties.

They get popcorn/movie
Pajama day
Lunch with a teacher day
Ice cream party
Pizza parties

and the biggest hit is dress down day since the kids wear uniforms~

Nothing that different and exciting, but I know other schools do lunch with the teachers luncheon for the whole school and it is something the kids like.

 

[shari2shop]

Thank you so much for all the wonderful ideas!!!!

It makes me excited... I hope it will excite the kids too!!!

 

[MrsJackSparrow4Life]

At our school we have 6 levels of points the kids have to work through. Once they move up a level they get to go to the prize store that is open once a week. With each level the prizes get bigger and once they hit level 6 they get a trophy, a book and a special lunch.

It is a pretty big time commitment for the parent running the prize store but the kids love getting their prizes.

 

[Sarah7401]

At my son's school, they have a goal they have to meet every 9 weeks. If they meet that goal, they get a party or special activity. That has included, and extra hour or so of outside time; popcorn and a movie; make your own ice cream sundae; game party where parents and teachers bring in board games and kids can play them in the cafeteria. Then there is a cumulative total year goal. If you meet the year total, they have a swimming party at a local indoor swimming pool. The kids all love it!!