Fighting the Home Reading Battle No More…
I fought the “Home Reading Battle” for many years…I think that we all have. We assign home reading because we know how important it is for students to strengthen their reading skills and improve their reading fluency. We want kids to love reading and make reading part of their daily life. We assign a “Reading Log” to track their reading because we certainly don’t want them to lie to us and tell us they have read when they really haven’t.
I have done so many different versions of the reading log. I have had kids record the title, author, pages read and time read. I have had them write a summary of what they read that night. I have had them do a different written activity every night to show me that they read. At the end of the day, I felt like I was SUCKING THE LIFE OUT OF READING! I remember hating having to stop reading and then record what I read, or worse, write a paragraph about what I read. It was a total turn off.
A few summers ago, I had an epiphany! Ok, maybe not an epiphany, but it was like a light bulb went off. My students always liked when we switched up where we read. They liked to read outside, under a tree, under their desks, with a pillow, in the hall…anywhere except for their seats. This made me think about home reading as well. From this, my Nightly Reading BINGO was born! These BINGO boards have been a game changer for my students and their PARENTS!!!
On the first day of each month, I copy the BINGO boards for that month. Then we tape the paper into the front of their agenda, folded in half (a homework folder would work as well). Each night, they choose a space to complete. This could be “Read to a Pet” or “Read in the Bathtub” or “Read in an Unusual Place” or “Read About Sports.” Once they read for their required minutes (15 mins for me), they can put an “X” in the box. Easy Peasy! It is so much fun when they come into the classroom and check in with me announcing “I read on the washing machine last night” or “I read to my pet hedgehog last night!”
The BINGO boards also support reading aloud for some nights to help promote Oral Reading Fluency.
Now I know what some of you are thinking, they can easily just check off that they read even if they haven’t. I get it! I struggled with that as well. What I came to was the realization that some kids aren’t going to read no matter what we do. It just isn’t going to happen. They will lie on a reading log, or they will lie on Reading BINGO, or they will just not complete either. Truly, I was tired of punishing those kids who were actually reading.
As the year progresses, I like to have multiple options for kids to choose at the start of the month. I let them pick from a BINGO board that is already filled out completely with ideas or a board that has some blanks in it. I allow them to choose their own ideas to put in the blanks. They might write something fun or silly in the blank, or they might just write “read in my bed.” This allows those kids who just like to sit and read, the chance to do so.
I hope that this style “Reading Log” helps you as much as it has helped me!
~Heather
If you like Nightly Reading BINGO boards, would should definitely check out my Nightly Math Fact Practice BINGO.
