Twenty Book Reading Challenge

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If you haven't heard yet, you most likely will hear soon, our class has a Twenty Book Reading Challenge and your third grader is expected to read twenty books this year! 

I love this part of third grade and I am going to be participating in the challenge along with the class.  I invite parents to participate too.  There are so many fabulous books for elementary students and reading with your child is a great way to have conversations about books and other things going on in your child’s life.

Here are the highlights of the challenge: 

Students will read at least twenty books this school year!  

Some of you might think that sounds like an awful lot of books, but it's a reachable goal and one that reflects the importance of students spending time reading books, other than school books, every day. Third grade is the grade in which students switch from "learning to read" to "reading to learn."  For the most part, third graders know how to read words; now we want to be sure your third graders can understand what they are reading so that they can learn from what they read.  We spend our year focusing on learning comprehension strategies and practicing them.  The best way to practice is to read, read, read.  

I also genuinely hope to foster a love of reading in each child. This challenge is an opportunity for third graders to explore lots of books so they can find out what they like to read and really enjoy reading.

Each student gets to pick the books that are most interesting for him or her and at his or her own reading level.

Books for the Twenty Book Reading Challenge are free-choice books, meaning students pick books at their particular reading levels that appeal to them. Students will learn to pick a book at their reading level by picking a random page in a book and reading it with their hand open.  Every time they read a word they don’t understand, they fold down a finger.  If they make a fist, they are not quite ready for that book, unless they have an adult to read with them.

Students can choose books from our classroom library, the school library, or the Pacific Grove Public Library, books they have at home, books they borrow from friends, or books from anywhere else you might find interesting books for them to read.  I did my own third grade Twenty Book Reading Challenge over the summer and loved so many of the books I read.  I'm looking forward to sharing some of these books with the class this year.  

Students will be reading some longer books.

As a general rule of thumb, students should plan to read books that are on average 80 pages long.  Some books will be longer; some will be shorter.  Please note that if students are reading longer books (over 150 pages), they can come ask me if they can get credit for reading two books. There are third graders every year who read the Harry Potter books, for instance, and I want to be sure students are not penalized for reading longer books that interest them.  

Students will be able to do some (but definitely not all) of their challenge reading at school.

I have scheduled 20 minutes per day for silent reading at school.  Students are also expected to read for 20 minutes every day at home.  This means 40 minutes of reading their challenge books on school days! That's not even counting those "hidden moments" when students can snatch some extra time with their books:  when we have an interruption in class, when they are in the waiting room at the orthodontist, on driving trips, or waiting for a sibling at swim lessons, for example. 

Students will keep track of their reading in their Reading Challenge Journals

Soon after school starts, students will bring home their Reading Challenge Journals for their families to see.  This journal is where students will keep track of the books they are reading and where they will write about the books they have read.  

Thank you in advance for helping your students become or continue to be enthusiastic readers