Reading 20 Minutes at Home

Dear Parents,

Up until now, a large part of your child's school day has been spent learning to read. In third grade, a shift occurs where your child will begin reading to learn. Meaning now that your child can skillfully read books, they will start getting more enjoyment and information from reading.

In our classroom we spend about an hour each day doing Reader's Workshop. At this time your child will be reading their leveled book from the library, reflecting or responding to what they have read, and also conferencing with me about their reading. This is a very important part of our day and your child's library books are the key to making this time meaningful.

For this reason, I've asked that your children do not take their library books home for their 20 minutes of nightly reading. When kids take their library books home, 2 things are likely to occur which impact the effectiveness of Reader's Workshop:

1. They forget their book at home and have nothing to read during Reader's Workshop.

2. They finish their books at home and spend most of their Reader's Workshop time down in the LMC looking for new books.

Your child's nightly reading is like the icing on the cake, a bonus to all the purposeful reading they have done here at school. You're probably wondering what your child can read for their nightly 20 minutes... here are some ideas:

• They can borrow a book from our classroom library.
• They can read books that you have at home. Reading with siblings and parents is a great way to spend those 20 minutes.
• They can read books from the public library.
• They can read children's magazines that you might subscribe to.
• Anything else that you feel is appropriate reading for your child!

Please let me know if you have any questions about this change from last year! :)

Mrs. Meyer