Thread: Reading logs

Some great tips here, I don't have any tips for you. I agree that many kids just fill it in right before it's due! I know my own kids did this until I caught what they were doing. Perhaps you could keep the logs in school and have the kids come in and fill them out each morning.

I instituted a reading log just this year, after years of trying, unsuccessfully, to make middle school students accountable for reading outside of school. It's working well. How?

I went back to the elementary school format. A log with a place for date, title, (must be a book I've approved,) and parent initials. They don't get credit without the initials. They don't get recess or any other privilege if they haven't read the minimum # of minutes, cumulative for the term. They have a particular focus connected to classroom mini-lessons and a weekly assignment in class.

AND...1/4 of their total grade is based on the number of minutes their parents verify that they've read. I'm sure there are some parents who initial without verifying; I can't do anything about that. If they want to teach their kids to cheat, I can't really stop them.

In the beginning, there was quite a bit of grumbling, and many students sitting in study hall with their books because they hadn't logged enough reading. These days, most students log enough reading.