I want my students to love reading. Cultivating a love for reading while also improving reading levels requires a delicate balance between skill practice and well... fun.

My first round of Book Club is done with my small guided reading groups. Each group is given a choice of books at their level, and we meet daily (with my higher groups every other day,) practicing various skills and engaging in book talks. Through these groups, I set the stage for more independent work and student led discussions. Throughout the series, we gather information to create a Dodecahedron Final Project   Throughout the years, I have created several novel study packets that end with a Dodecahedron as the final project.

The kids love these, and the final project is so great for display!

I have really been struggling with what to do about keeping track of student reading this year. I have never been a fan of Reading Logs and the feedback I received from parents in my first years of teaching made me drop them completely. The Reading Logs (and at one point nightly reflections) were making my kids hate to read. 

I still wanted to keep kids accountable for their reading, so I had students and parents sign a sheet stating they did in fact complete their nightly reading... And I am sure most of them did!

Reading Logs just don’t work. Aside from keeping track of daily minutes, they are not effective as a tool to create life-long learners who love to read. This year I am going to try something new. I am going to have my students fill out a Reading Goals sheet. We are going to start with a mini lesson on different types of Reading Skills. We will brainstorm areas a 4th grader might need to work on and we will talk about strategies that might help a person obtain that goal. The key to this goal setting activity  is that the document will be a constant work in progress. We will check in, update goals, add to strategies as we learn new ones, and change goals to better suit us as we grow... I am hoping to instill the importance of self reflection. We will see where it goes! You can download my sheet for free below or in my Teacher's Pay Teacher's store!

Happy Teaching!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/My-Reading-Goals-3360196

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