POULSBO — When it comes to encouraging students to read, Hilder Pearson Elementary School is on the right track.

For the past few years, the school has been motivating its students in the form of brand new bicycles, awarded to two to four students who fulfilled the reading challenge Books for Bikes, a Masonic Lodge program.

The students are required to read for certain lengths of time and get adults to sign off that they’ve done so. Kindergartners through second-graders need to read a total of six hours, in 15-minute increments, to fill up a single book sheet. Third-graders through fifth-graders need to read a total of 12 hours, in 30-minute increments.

After they fill up the sheet, they can turn it in to the treasure chest in the main office of the elementary school. At the end of the school year, sheets are drawn at random to see which students will win the grand prize.

“We had seen in the past years, families get busy,” said Debora Foreman, principal of Pearson Elementary. “There isn’t a lot of home time dedicated to reading.

“This was an idea that we collaborated with the Masons on. They provide the bikes, we do the encouraging of reading.”

Students can fill out as many reading sheets as they like from the time the challenge starts, which this year was around Halloween, until the time it ends May 1.

Foreman isn’t sure how many sheets have been filled out so far this school year, but she does know one thing: “I’m either going to have to get a bigger treasure chest or smaller forms.”

“We’re seeing an increase in every year in the amount of reading that kids are doing at home,” she said, “and that’s a good thing.”

Last year, Foreman said the students had 150 more hours of reading than the year before.

The bicycles are purchased by the Masons of Warren G. Harding Lodge 260 in Poulsbo. After the drawing, Foreman said they contact the families of the students to find out if the winner actually needs a new bike and what their favorite color is, and then inform the Masons the bicycle color and size to purchase.

“Most kids like bicycles,” lodge leader Mark Brooks said. “It’s another way for them to get exercise. Too many kids sit down to a video game or TV and soak up that sort of entertainment, versus getting out on a bike on a good day.”

When Pearson Elementary picked up the Books for Bikes challenge about four years ago, Foreman said there were only two bicycles awarded to students.

In the last couple of years, however, there have been four bikes, and she thinks there’ll be four again this year.

Brooks said the lodge is working on fundraising for the program, with the hopes of expanding it to other elementary schools in the North Kitsap School District.

The lodge is planning a fundraiser for the Books for Bikes Reading Challenge program, a dinner cruise that will take place sometime in June, Brooks said. People interested in the fundraiser should call Brooks at 360-307-0093, or lodge secretary Skip Nielsen at 360-633-5936.

Brooks added that they’ve been very successful partnering with Pearson Elementary for the program.

“The knowledge that (children) gain from reading, even if it’s fiction, is well worth their time and effort,” Brooks said. “To me, a child that’s well read is well rounded, and that’s the way we look at it.”

But even though the challenge ends May 1 when the winners are chosen, the students themselves won’t know until Pride Week, the first week in June.

“The idea is, whether you’re reading Sports Illustrated for kids or American Girl Doll books, you’re reading,” Foreman said. “You’re extending your vocabulary and you’re understanding and enjoying your reading.

“If we can build a passion and a love for reading, the other stuff will follow.”