Your child will be responsible for reading a minimum of 20 minutes each night. Once a month, students will be assigned to read from a specific genre. He/she will be required to choose a chapter book on grade level within the monthly genre. (The trade books can come from home, the school library, public library, or our classroom). After reading each night, your child will record how many minutes were read and how many pages were read beside the appropriate day of the week. A parent will be required to initial beside the student’s recorded information. (The log sheet should be kept in the front of the binder). If your child reads the entire book before the end of the week or the end of the month, he/she will choose another book to read. The next chapter book can be from any genre, but must be on grade level. I will take a weekly homework grade (on Mondays) based on the reading logs. Each day counts as 20% of the weekly grade, so it is very important that students read each night.
If a student finishes a book before the end of the week and wants me to check their log sheet, they will be required to let me know at the beginning of class. As a reward, the student will receive a reading sticker. The student with the most stickers at the end of the semester will receive a special reward.
Beginning in September, I will be assigning a monthly book project, which will be completed at home. The book being read on the specific genre should be used for the book project. (This is another reason why it will be important for the students to keep up with their reading on a daily basis).
My purpose for the reading logs and book projects is for students to be exposed to a variety of literature types and that they will find at least one genre that they really love to read. If reading is not one of your child’s favorite things to do and they are struggling to get their books read, here are some ideas:
1. Make sure the book is not to difficult for your child to read.
2. Have your child read out loud to you for the first 10 minutes and then read silently for the remaining 10 minutes.
3. Take turns reading out loud together (student reads a page, parent reads a page, and so on).
I am really hoping that by the end of the school year all my students enjoy children's literature as much as I do!