Summer Reading Project

Our oldest is entering first grade in the fall and she isn't entirely confident in her reading capabilities. As a way to help build her confidence and improve her skills I've come up with a 12 week long Summer Reading Project. To be fair I'm not an educator so this project isn't based on anything other than practice, practice, practice. With that being said, I've already noticed a difference in her ability to sound words out and recognize sight words; so we're going to go with it. Read on for my TAKE on a Summer Reading Project for early readers.

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My basic idea for the project was to create a reading journal but I wanted to also supplement the reading with additional skills like drawing and writing. My daughter selected 12 books (1 for each week) and in addition to focusing on reading her weekly selection she uses her notebook to draw 2 pictures, identify 10 vocabulary words and write 2-3 descriptive sentences about the story. We focus on reading the book everyday and split up the other items i.e. vocabulary and sentence writing throughout the week. Depending on the amount of activity during the day we vary our reading time (i.e. not at bedtime when she is exhausted) but try to spend 15-30 minutes focusing on it. 

Once Lucy has mastered the book she reads it to her siblings and adds a star sticker to the cover of her notebook. There is a lot of repetition with this method and I do get concerned that she just memorizes her book of the week so a couple weeks after mastering a book I have her go back and read it before starting on a new book. While this project is a time commitment we've made it a priority this summer and I know it's helping when she says things like, "that word was easy." She loves books and I want her to love reading as much as I do and as a bonus it helps fill the time when her younger siblings are napping.

Project Materials

Summer Reading List

As an bonus incentive, we were at Barnes & Noble in late June and they have their own Summer Reading Journal program where kids in grades 1-6 can earn a free book (age-appropriate) if they record 8 books that they have read in this journal. The program runs through September 3rd and you better believe we will be brining in our journal to claim our book. I think it will be such a proud moment for Lucy!

Please feel free to share if you have any tips about teaching kids to read and Happy Summer Reading!