100th Day

We celebrated a big milestone this Wednesday - the 100th day of school!

A great thing happened on the 100th day of school. In my class, each student has a goal to read 40 chapter books by the end of the year. I have a couple who are already up to 50 books, some who are still in the teens. There is one girl in my class who was a self-proclaimed book-hater at the beginning of the year. With LOTS of encouragement and some good books, I think her view on reading and books is changing. On the 100th day she reached her 40 book goal. Not only did this girl dislike reading at the beginning of the year, but she still has the lowest reading level in the whole class. I gave her a certificate, like I give all my students when they pass their goal, and told her how proud I was of her and had a high-five session. She was beaming and so, so happy. She took the certificate home to show her mom, and they immediately went out and bought a frame for it so they could put it on the wall! She told me all about it the next day and has decided she will read seventy books by the end of the year. Not a small task for a nine year old reluctant reader!

Here's some pictures of my kids during reading class yesterday (the best part of the day!):

During this time, students search for a good book, read, keep track of their books in their Reader's Notebook, or discuss some book with me. Currently, my class has been going through an extreme Percy Jackson and the Olympian phase, which has created some good discussions.

This Thursday and Friday is the 4th - 6th grade Amazing Race retreat. My next blog will fill you in on the details of some of the challenges, but here are a couple of sneak peaks:
Sunken watermelons.... cow tongue.... buried haystack clues....


xoxoxoo
Laura