Reading: At Home

In order to promote literacy at home, I use reading calendars so my students can track their reading every night for each month. It is recommended that each student engages in a minimum of 20 minutes if they are in kindergarten through second grade and 30 minutes of reading per night if they are in third through sixth grade, but they are encouraged to read more if they would like. As a way to motivate my students to complete their reading and calendar per night, at the end of each month, I tally up the number of minutes they accumulated individually and the two with the highest amount is recognized in a school wide reading celebration where they, along with the rest of the winners, receive a certificate and a special treat like ice cream.

I also like to post my students' totals for each month on a class bulletin board so that their parents and others at the school can see the hard work my students are doing at home to become better readers!