I want to do a reading log this year where the students have to read 20 minutes a day and write a couple sentences about what they read, then get a parent to sign it. I did this last year and a lot of them really liked it. Here is my question: What if you have a student who does not read 20 minutes a day but one day or two days reads the full amount? Would that be ok with you? Some of my students did not want to read 20 minutes a day but would prefer to read for a longer time in two days.
I have done this for the past two years. The first year I didn't really put too much emphasis on it because the parents didn't seem to care and I had too many other things to worry about. So I gave rewards to the students who did it at least most of the time. This past year I decided to really focus on it and checked it every morning. I still had about half the class who didn't do it on a regular basis so I started making kids stay in at recess to read if it was not done and signed each morning. I don't like having kids miss recess but I went from the half the class not doing it to only a couple kids not doing it. So I think it depends on how much of a priority it is for you. I think it is okay for kids to skip a night and then read more on another night. But then you would have to keep track of minutes instead of entries and that can get tricky and time consuming. I would just think about how much time you will have to devote to it and go from there.
I think it's best that students read for shorter periods more frequently than doing it all at once, but I know that sometimes there are conflicts and flexibility is needed. In the past I have had students keep track of minutes in their reading logs, but I am trying something new this year. On Mondays, I will give students a reading log for the week with five quick response questions. The reading logs will be due the following Monday. Students will be required to read for 20 minutes five nights a week, but they can choose which nights. After reading they will complete one of the responses. Once again, they can choose which one to do each night, but will have the whole thing done by the end of the week.
I would be ok with occasionally clumping the reading over a few days weekly, but not monthly. I know some kids have sports practice on Tues/Thurs then I'm ok with doubling up Mon/Wed but not going more than two days without reading.
I'm not sure yet -- I'm still trying to decide. There doesn't seem to be a perfect solution. :lol: I thought about spot checking the reading logs during the week, but this isn't a practical solution for my organizational and teaching styles. That is one of the reasons why I decided to collect the logs weekly instead of daily. Unless I come up with something else I like better, I'll probably include a section on the reading log for them to document each night's reading time, pages, and parent signature to verify.
I am planning on having my students complete reading logs too. If you search Laura Candler in her Odds and Ends cabinet there are two different types of reading logs.
A Week As long as a student doesn't try to go more than a week without doing any reading, i wouldn't care. i wouldn't want to encourage a study habit of "let's put something off and then cram".
I think part of the difficulty for kids today is reading endurance. The reason we have kids read daily for 20 minutes is to help build their stamina. How likely is it that your 5th graders will read for 40 or 60 minutes? Sure, there might be a few exception, but from my experience with 5th and 6th graders the stamina is not there.
Some kids have busy schedules after school and can't read every night. I'd definiely accept long periods of time, reading is reading. I wouldn't make any kids miss recess because they didnt' read, I just think it should be intrinsic.
I am using the Laura Candler one. I agree that most students have endurance problems with reading but I did have some kids last year that would read for two hours one day because they wanted to get the reading over with for the week. I guess I will accept it this year also because I can't check it everyday. I do like the idea of asking questions instead of them just writing a two sentence summary. Will have to look into it.
