Welcome to the 2018-2019 School Year
It's Time for a New GCISD Reads Challenge!
This is my favorite time of year! I absolutely love starting fresh and making new lists of books I want to read. Whether you and your child decide to keep track of pages, books, or genres it's time to honor every bit of reading kids do!
Part of what burns kids out on reading logs and challenges is when well-meaning adults put all kinds of restrictions on them. Let's face it; no one likes to be told their efforts don't count! If a student reads five pages for a science assignment, it counts. If they read an article in a sports magazine, it counts. If they research on a website, it counts! For this reason, the page challenge is my favorite. It allows kids to count the reading they do that's a page here and a few pages there.
This is also a great time for kids to practice reasonable estimates. If they read a book and then turn it in before they've added it to their reading log, help them estimate about how many pages it was. It's not fair to estimate that a slim Junie B. Jones novel is a hefty Harry Potter 700 pages but a reasonable estimate of 125 is just fine!
I know as parents and teachers we get frustrated when our kids get stuck reading a genre or series that we think is below their abilities. The worst thing we can do, however, is tell them they can't read it anymore. If you don't want to spend money on those books I totally understand but I wouldn't advise telling them to stop checking them out from the library. An alternative is to try to entice them to read something else, in addition to their favorite. Over time, they will move on and try new things but reading that's a little too easy is better, by far, than no reading at all!
I think my biggest message to you for the start of a new school year is RELAX! Encourage a love of reading by honoring all the reading kids do, helping them keep up with their log, and encouraging the exploration of their interests.
Happy Reading!
Mrs. Wagner
