Thursday, December 1, 2011

Reading for Homework

How do I motivate my students to keep track of how much they are reading at home?

One way I keep track of my students "Home Reading" is with this handy bulletin board.
All I did was printed out each students picture and staple it to the BB. Then I attached a star sticky note next to each picture. Last year I had laminated stars but this year I couldn't seem to find them. I am afraid I put them in long term storage while our building is being renovated. Anyway the Post-It stars work too because instead of having to wipe clean the other starts I just swap them out each month.
Each week when my students turn in their Homework Log, I quickly check how many books they have read and quickly jot down that number on the one of the starts points. At the end of the month I total it up and let them know if they reached our monthly goal.

What do they get if they reach the goal? A Pizza Hut coupon for a free personal pizza! They love this and it is all courtesy of the Book It! program.
Click on the image below to read about it.
FYI, the kids love getting the coupons, but they love getting the numbers on the stars more. They are a funny bunch. :)
So how do you motivate or keep track of your students home reading?

4 comments:

  1. Great idea! What kind of goal do you set for first graders each month? Do you increase it as the year progresses? Thanks!
    tjulch@mpsomaha.org

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  2. Well, last year I had a goal of 10 books a month and kept it at that for the whole year. However, that was super easy because if my students do their homework daily they read 5 books a week. It is currently 10 books now but I am thinking of raising it to 15 books a month sometime in the second quarter. I am still thinking about it.

    Ms. M

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  3. I love that! How about actuall adding a star for each book they read?
    That way they have a clear cisual where they stand.

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    A Teacher's Treasure

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  4. Great idea! I have a home reading program but it's optional so not everyone does it. Maybe if I made it visual like yours they would.

    Barbara
    Grade ONEderful

    P.S. Come on by and check out my giveaway ;)

    ReplyDelete

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