I know you probably experience the same week-to-week struggle of trying to get students to return their library books on their check-out day. The struggle is real!
Here's a super simple idea I use that might be beneficial to you for the upcoming school year.
I keep a sticker chart in which classes earn a sticker for having two or fewer lost, overdue or damaged books on their check-out day.
How does a class earn an On-Time Returned Books Reward Party?
- K-2 must earn 10 stickers (I see them twice/week.)
- 3rd-6th must earn 5 stickers (I seem them once/week.)
Once a class has earned all their stickers, they get to celebrate with a reward party during check-out the next time they come to library. I only have the party during check-out because I can't afford to sacrifice an entire class time for the party due to still needing to stay on track with lessons since Library is in the Specials rotation.
I print half-sheet copies of our reward party letter and send it to the teacher to send home to families at their earliest convenience. This is an example of my letter for this year that I created in
Canva. (I like to coordinate as much as I can with my theme for the year. It just makes me happy!)
Since it's too hard to predict the weather a week or more in advance of a party, I quit using extra recess as a reward party option. Missouri weather is just too unpredictable! However, extra recess may be an ideal option for you.
Additional Inexpensive Library Party Ideas:
- Movie and Popcorn
- Teddy Bear Picnic
- Glow Party
- Crafts
- Water Day
- Extra Recess
- Picnic on the Playground
- Dance Party
- Yoga
- Freeze Dance
- Musical Chairs
- Escape Room
The sky's the limit! It's all about whatever works for you, your time frame, your budget, and your sanity! ;)
The free time party just works for us because of the novelty of students getting to bring in their own things that we can easily do in the time frame classes have for check-out/free time.
How it works:
- Allow students to bring in a game of their choice to play during check-out, along with an optional snack. If they don't bring a game, we have plenty of STEM resources for them to use.
- Water only (due to carpet and potential damage to books.)
- Students are only allowed to eat at a table to keep the snack mess to a minimum.
- I let students know the games they bring are their responsibility and they are allowed to choose whether or not they want to share their games with others.
In addition to our on-time returned books chart, I send weekly email reminders to families with students that have lost/overdue/damaged books. When our overdue books become excessive, I sometimes make a post on our library Facebook page to encourage families to look for their child's book or pay to replace lost/damaged books.
I also do an end-of-year reward for students that have all their books returned or their fines paid, but I'll talk more about that at the end of the year.
What do you do to try to get students to return their books? What kind of parties do you have in your library?
