The Self-Sufficient Classroom
Why I Got Rid of the Classroom Reading Log & What I Use Instead
In my classroom, I typically ask students to read 20 minutes per night. I truly believe that reading nightly with a parent or even independent reading helps foster a love of reading within my students.
I used to give students a reading log to complete nightly or weekly BUT found them to be monotonous. If your students are anything like mine, I’m sure you saw a serious lack of engagement, and lost or incomplete reading logs. I was not able to truly see if students were reading nightly or how they were applying concepts that we have been learning in our reading and writing classes to their own independent reading or writing time. The reading logs seemed to squash my students love of reading.
LETTER TO THE TEACHER HAS SOLVED THIS PROBLEM!
Because of Letter to the Teacher, STUDENTS CAN:
-Share what they are reading with the teacher
-Develop better writing skills
-Make connections between what was taught in class to what they are reading (no matter the book or concept).
-Work on dictionary and thesaurus skills
-Create reading and writing goals
And develop:
a true passion for reading, a love for writing, and a joy for sharing what they are reading!
-Khrystina
Summer Break Countdown!
Are we there yet?… I can taste the freedom! With just a few more days to go, I can actually see HOPE in the distance.
This year has been a challenging year, but I am determined to make the end of the school year a memorable one for my kiddos!
As an end of the year gift, our whole team has decided to keep it simple but fun and we are giving our students bubble wands! To go along with those bubble wands, I made customizable You Blew Me Away Gift Tags for my teacher friends to place on their students treats.
If the school year hasn’t already ended for you, I do hope that it is at least slowing down for you.
You can snag these FREE gift tags in my TpT store!
Happy (Almost) Summer Break!
-Khrystina
Testing Season Again…
As teachers, what is the one thing that we continually come back to, round and round as the year continues? TESTING! We give regular classroom assessments, quarterly district testing, and those dreaded end of the year state tests. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE assessing my students to see their growth, but I do think that at times, we are doing a disservice to our students by giving so many test. We are taking the love and joy out of school at no fault of our own.
To make my end of the year testing a bit more “happy” in my classroom, I created these testing motivational slips for my students. Each morning, students come into the classroom and will find these slips attached to a small test prep item (example: donuts, crunch bar, goldfish crackers, etc.).
While these tests are so important, I am always looking for a way to bring some fun and excitement to their day. I want them to show what they know and all that they’ve learned throughout the school year. They deserve to be celebrated! You can grab these testing motivation slips in my TpT shop!