Reading Reward Day!

I love to watch my kinders GROW as readers! Every year each student makes gains in his or her own way. One student may finally get all 26 letter names and sounds while another may surpass this grade level and the next. 

SO, why not celebrate it?!?

This year our principal set a school-wide reading goal and all grade levels worked together to meet it! 

So, she planned a Reading Beach Day. 

Students were invited to dress in summer clothes (which included hats, sunglasses, and flipflops), and bring a beach towel and their favorite book from home. This added a fun element to the "Day of Reading" I already plan for my class each year!

To celebrate the reading growth of my students we 

Read. All. Day. 

for one day within the last weeks of school. I plan surprise guest readers, I read aloud a few of my favorite end-of-year books, and I plan fun centers that are all about reading. Students rotate through these centers for about 10-15 minutes at a time in small groups.  (Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate with the beachy theme, but we still had fun reading indoors.)

1. Bookshelf Reading:  At this center students can read (or look at) literature off our display shelf. Books on this shelf are changed out weekly during the school year with texts that align with our theme or topic for the week.

2. Text Book Reading:  I use an old set of first grade basal text books as a supplement for guided reading groups once students begin reading independently. They love this center because they can re-read favorite stories together

3. Online Reading:  Of course, we have to involve technology in our reading centers. Starfall is my go-to website and it's a site with which all students are familiar.

4. Leveled Reading:  This center includes ALL the leveled and decodable readers students were able to choose from for self-selected reading throughout the year. They love this because they can choose new books for a challenge or reread the "easy" ones they have outgrown.

5. Magazine Reading:  At this center my assistant shares a summer "Scholastic Let's Find Out" magazine with students. This was a weekly favorite all year long.

6. Newspaper Reading:  This is my personal favorite! I save a set of kid-edition newspapers (provided by the local news) for this center. When students are settled I ask, "How do grown ups sometimes read the paper?" Responses always included, "With coffee!" or, "With their feet up!" So, I serve them my special of the day - Clear, Cold Coffee (AKA water) and allow them to put their feet up while reading, "just like a grown up."

What have you done to celebrate reading achievement this school year?