Mrs. Musick
Dear Parents,
We are still having a very difficult time getting our Reading Logs returned on Monday. This week I had less than half of my students return them! I did remind my students that this is a weekly reading grade. Last week I had to record several zeros as I never got some student's reading logs. If you did not see a graded reading log in your child's Friday Folder then a zero was recorded. Let me assure you that we teachers HATE doing this more than anything!! However, if I do not have the log I cannot give them a grade. I will accept any Reading Logs you have at home tomorrow, Oct. 20. I will take 11 points off for the reading log being late but this is much better than a zero. I will not accept any late reading logs after tomorrow. Having said all of this I have decided to simplify things somewhat.
Each night, students will bring home a bag with their home reader in it. The bag will come home every night and will be returned to school every morning. Your child may choose to read a library book or another age appropriate book they have instead of the home reader. This is fine with me as long as they record the title of the book they are reading and write a summary about the part they read that night.
Researchers have found that time spent reading is the main indicator of reading success as students 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 that their peers who only read when asked to do so with their teacher while they are at school. For this reason, I have set a goal for all students to read for at least 20 minutes each night during the school week (Monday - Friday). The minutes should be recorded on the "Reading Log". The recording of minutes begins each Monday, and the Reading Log should be returned the following Monday in order for students to receive their weekly reading grade.
A total of 100 minutes will be the goal for the week. If students cannot meet the 20-minute goal on a given day, the time may 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! =)
Please be sure that they write the book title and number of minutes read on their Reading Log and that you initial that they have read for those minutes. The Reading Log will be due each Monday and will be graded as follows :
100 minutes ~ 100
90 - 99 minutes ~ 90
80 - 89 minutes ~ 80
70 - 79 minutes ~ 70
60 - 69 minutes ~ 60
less than 60 minutes ~ 50
I believe in communication between the home and school, so if you have any questions or concerns PLEASE do not hesitate to e-mail me, send a note to school, or call and leave me a voice message. I promise I will get back to you as soon as I can. Thank you so much for your support, it truly makes a difference =).
Have a great evening =)