If you are anything like me you are at that point in the school year where you are counting down the days to freedom! I have 20 more post-it notes to peel away before my days of basking in the sun begin.
When I reflect back on all the learning I have shared with my students this year it really is incredible! They have all made such great gains in all subjects, but especially in reading. I cringe at the thought of my fifth graders never picking up a book all summer. I know some students will voluntarily read all day long, while others would rather eat fried worms!
It is scary to think that much of the progress that has been made over the course of 9 months could be lost by fall if students never touch a book all summer. In order to prevent that from happening, I decided to create a free resource for my students and parents.
There are four steps I plan on taking to ensure students discover the value in reading each day this summer and that they actually set time aside to read!
Step One: Get Students to Understand the Power of Reading
I plan to talk with students about how much their lives can be impacted by spending just 20 minutes a day reading. We'll also compare possible conclusions if they read 20 minutes a day and if they read 1 minute or less a day by analyzing the following chart.
Step Two: Get Students to Sign a Reading Agreement
Once students see the value in reading, I will ask them to sign the reading agreement. I plan to make a copy of their agreement they make to themselves. They will take their own copy home to keep in a special place. This way, they can have a daily reminder over the summer of the commitment they made to themselves. Their parents can also use the agreement as a reminder and a way to hold their child accountable.
Step Three: Distribute Summer Reading Logs
The summer reading logs have space for a week's worth of reading. I plan to make enough copies for each student to last the entire summer. I am also going to talk with the sixth grade teachers at my school. I would LOVE for my students' future teachers to come by for a quick visit. I hope that they will talk with my students about how excited they are to be getting the reading logs from students in the fall. Maybe they could come up with some sort of incentive if students return completed summer reading logs the first day of school!? I would love to see the type of reading my new students enjoyed over the summer. What a great way to get to know the new class and see what types of topics they enjoy!
Step Four: Get the Parents Involved!
Involving parents in encouraging students to read daily over the summer is so powerful! They are the ones that will be taking over for me when I am no longer with my students each day. I wanted to find a way to express the value of reading to parents so I created a parent letter. It is my hope that all parents will realize how beneficial just 20 minutes of reading can be for their child!
To download this free resource and use it with your students just click on the image below. Together we can make an even bigger difference in our students' future. Let's encourage some summer reading!!!
I wish you all a great end to your school year...no matter how many days you may have left!
Jen
0 comments:
Post a Comment