Cats vs. Dogs

Parents,

In effort to encourage children to read at home I will now be sending home a Reading Log every Monday that must be completed AND signed by Friday.  I expect students to read at least one hour each week at home (ideally it would be about 30-40 minutes a night), however, I understand how busy schedules are. Once your child completes their required hour they can bring their form back to school and turn into me. There is an incentive to read more though. Both of my classes have been put into either the ‘Dog Team’ or the ‘Cat Team’. 

At the end of each week the total amount for each team will be tallied and I will let them know on the following Monday which team won for the previous week. Every child has to contribute at least 1 hour per week for their team, however, students can choose to read at home more to add more time to their side. Whichever team wins at the end of 1^st quarter will receive a special prize from Mrs. Sandusky. We will be keeping a chart of our time in our classroom.

In efforts to keep students honest, they must fill out the form as the example shows. Students MUST have the date, book read, pages, and times all listed with your signature next to it. I will also be checking at school to see what page they are on in their chapter books to keep the competition fair. Also, if for some reason your child does not bring back their form filled out, completed, AND signed they will be spending Fun Friday in Study Hall. Hopefully this will encourage students to be taking AR tests as well!

Why cats and dogs do you ask? Scholastic currently has a program called ‘Paws for Reading’ going on right now that inspires students to read in efforts to help donate books to students in need. For every 20 minutes that our students read a book is donated to a child in need through Scholastic and their literacy partners. So not only are our students getting to read great books, improve their comprehension and fluency, up their AR scores, but they are also learning how to help others. For more information check out www.scholastic.com/paws.

Thank you for your ongoing support,

Becky Sandusky