Bag O'
Books
Each night, students will bring home a Bag O’ Books. The bag will come home every night and will be returned to school every morning. During Reading Workshop in our classroom, students read books from their book boxes. (See the Weekly Newsletter for more information about Reading Workshop.) At the end of Reading Workshop each day, students will choose one or two books to take home to fulfill the 15 minute reading goal that I ask of them each night. Books finished at home will be added to the students’ reading Logs at school.
Researchers have found that time spent reading
is the main indicator of reading success as student
s progress through elementary
school. Obviously, students who spend more time independently engaged in text
are exposed to more words, more facts, and more background knowledge than their
peers who only read when asked to do so with their teacher while they are
in school. For this reason, I have set a goal for all students to read for at
least 15 minutes each
night during the school week. The minutes should be recorded on the
“Reading Counts!” calendar that is attached to this note. The recording of
minutes will start on the first of every month, and the calendar should be
turned in at the end of every month in order for students to receive a gift
certificate to the Newingham Store as a reward for meeting the reading goal.
A total of 15 minutes for five days each week will be the goal for each month. If students cannot meet the 15-minute goal on a given day, the time can be “made-up” on another day or during the weekend. I do understand that many students are involved in other activities that make some nights of the week very busy!