home reading program

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Home : 2003 : May : 23

home reading program
By Cathy-Dee

This is what I do and it seems to work quite well.

1) I first ensure I have a good selection of books that are geared to the reading levels of my students. We are fortunate in that our school has let us buy a number of
little book sets that are specifically made for young readers. I have a good variety from very basic (2-3 words per page) to more complex (a whole paragraph).
2) I colour code the books and have them in bins. I use coloured dots on the covers. Yellow is the easiest, then green, then blue and finally red. So many start with yellow or green level books and then move upwards as they

learn more words.

3) I have a simple form for my parents to sign - it has a space for the name of the book, initials and any comments.

4) I send 2 books home each day with the form in a zip-lock bag.

5) Each day I check to see who has returned their book bag and I put a sticker on their reading chart (I buy the little pads of charts). Usually each chart has 20 squares. When they fill their chart they earn a trip to my prize box.

6) I decide the order of the charts at the beginning of the year so I can easily tell just by the charts who has been returning their books faithfully and who hasn't. This is great during parent-teacher interviews when I can show the parents where other students are and then stress again the importance of reading these books daily.

For the most part the program works well. I always have 2 or 3 who just do not do the work.

Another fun thing is to build a book worm around the classroom. Just make coloured circles any size. For every 10 books read (you set the number)(I've done with each chart that is filled) a circle goes up with that student's name on it. The goal is to reach a certain spot in the room and the class earns a treat (might be a field trip or a movie).