Monday, October 29, 2007

100 Book Challenge Update:

October 30th marks the beginning of the 2nd quarter. Students in both 4th and 5th grade are required to read 2 steps nightly Monday through Thursday. I will check for these 8 steps every Monday morning. If you don't get to read one night, make it up over the weekend.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

Class Calendar

Do you want to know what is coming up each week? Click on the link in the column to the right to get to our classroom calendar.

100 Book Challenge

Both 4th and 5th grade classes are doing the 100 Book Challenge this year. This program is a system for independent reading. 100 Book Challenge combines six essential components to involve the entire school community—students, parents, teachers, and administrators—to achieve measurable results in reading test scores for every child, regardless of current status.

Your child will be doing lots of reading in school and at home. The reason for this program is simple: research shows that students who read for one hour every day, from books that they can read and want to read, will succeed in school and beyond. The more books your child reads at his or her independent level, the better reader he or she will become.

Here is where the parents come into the picture. I need your help! Your child will bring books home from our school’s collection or a library book to read every night. For each 15 minutes your child reads, he or she will complete a Step on the reading log. Each student needs to read a minimum of 1 Step every night. I encourage them to read even more if possible. You will sign the log to show that the reading was done. The reading should be easy and fun for your child; it should not be a struggle. If your child is looking around the room or not actually reading, then the step should not be added to their Logsheet.

I have been working with each child to find their reading level. After working with me, each student is given a skill card to work on thoroughout this semester. I am challenging each student to look up the vocabulary they don't know and to study the words on the back of their card. When he/she believes he/she knows all of the vocabulary words, I will test them to see if they are ready to move on to a different color.


GUIDELINES:

  • 1 Step is 15 minutes. Even if the student read 2 books in that time, only one step is signed. It doesn't matter how many or how few pages were read. What matters is that he/she read for 15 minutes without stopping.
  • Each student should be reading a minimum of 15 minutes nightly. Even if we have read that day in class, and I have signed their log, he/she still should read 1 step that night.
  • Every Monday, I will check their reading log. Each student should have a minimum of 10 steps a week. This will count as a homework grade for reading/ela.
  • For every 20 steps your child reads, he/she will earn a "ROCK".

Click on the following link to read more about the 100 Book Challenge:

100 Book Challenge