A summer reading streak
Summer days are long and loose, and daily reading can slip without anyone noticing. A paper streak chart, books they pick themselves and twenty minutes a day give the summer a small daily anchor, with a celebration waiting at the end.
- Time
- 20 min a day
- Cost
- $0
- Ages
- 4 to 12
- Where
- Anywhere you can sit
What you need
- A big sheet of paper or poster board for the chart
- Markers and a ruler
- Stickers for the boxes
- A library card
- A basket or bin for library books
Before you start
- A missed day is not a punishment. The streak starts over; nothing gets taken away. Keep reading something they want to do, not something they owe you.
- Library books get one home. Keep them all in the basket, and ask at the desk how long you can keep them and what happens if one is late.
- Skim what little kids pick if a cover looks scary, so a sensitive reader isn't surprised by a frightening page at bedtime.
Steps
- Draw the streak chart. Draw one box for each day of summer break and hang the chart on the fridge.
- Agree on what counts. Agree that any reading counts, including comics, magazines, you reading aloud and them reading to you.
- Let them pick the books. Let them choose every book, repeats included, and keep a stack within reach.
- Go to the library in week one. Visit the library in the first week, fill the basket and ask about a summer reading program.
- Same twenty minutes every day. Read at the same time daily for twenty minutes; on a busy day, a short read still counts.
- Plan the end-of-summer celebration now. On day one, let them choose a small end-of-summer celebration that happens whatever the final count.
If it stalls
- If the streak breaks, write the longest streak so far at the top and start a new one the next day. Now they have a record to beat.
- If they say reading is boring, switch the format before the habit: comics, a magazine, a joke book, or you reading aloud with them on the couch.
Longest streak this summer
Signed off: can do this.Signed by Date