Your child’s book bag needs to be brought home and returned to school each school day. We will be using the books in this bag during independent reading time in class and they should be used for nightly reading practice. Independent nightly reading is a very important part of second grade. I do not assign homework over the weekends or holidays, but reading together should be viewed as a part of family life. I encourage reading to continue throughout these periods. We are looking to promote life long readers. You might find it helpful to select a time and place conducive to a pleasant shared reading experience.

Your child will be encouraged to find a picture book and a chapter book(if appropriate) to read and enjoy that are on a suitable level. Your child should ideally be challenged, but not overwhelmed by the difficulty of the texts. Books from home, the school or local library or from our book orders are also welcome. They should be clearly labeled with your child’s name for easy identification. As the school year progresses, your child will be bringing home reading group books with a note. These need to be the priority for that night's reading time. Please be on the lookout for these books and notes in the reading bag throughout the school year.

Each school night you child is required to read for at least twenty minutes. He/she should make at least ten minutes of that time an opportunity to read aloud to an adult. Please sit next to your child so that you can observe the text as they read. I would like to encourage them to self -monitor their reading rather than be waiting for an adult to correct reading errors. Sometimes it is also helpful for them to re-read a section to practice fluency and it is always important to make sure they comprehend what they have read.

Post its are helpful for writing down challenging words to read or understand. Many second graders can read words that they do not understand and the questioning by an adult is very helpful for vocabulary growth. Nightly word study and review counts toward reading minutes. (A parent reading aloud is a wonderful nightly experience, but cannot count as reading minutes.)

A parent should record on the reading sheet each night the date, books read, time spent reading and then a signature. There will be a weekly reading incentive with medals of gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention given to the children that read the most minutes for the week. We use minutes rather than books read because it is a fair measure of effort for all reading levels. A free ice cream/fruit cart (75cents) is given to the gold medalist each week and the winners are posted in our classroom. We create a reading totals graph at the end of the year and we celebrate our reading efforts and success. Many children set a goal of 200 minutes or more each week. This earns an automatic honorable mention certificate for most weeks of the school year.

Please note: Please assist the recording process by totaling the week’s minutes each Thursday night and noting it in the right margin of the recording sheet. This helps speed the process in school and helps with accuracy.

We also participate in a Pizza Hut reading incentive program that runs from October-April and they provide a free pizza award for anyone reading more than 300 minutes each month. We will also be part of the Six Flags Great Adventure promotion if it is still available this year.

For any of these programs to be successful, the reading minutes must be recorded on the sheets provided. Please help your child with the reading homework and record the minutes each night. Please note in the margin of the sheet when a chapter book is completed. Finishing a book that is started is a valuable goal.  Thanks so much for your help with this important part of your child’s homework. Please cut and return the section below to school tomorrow.

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I understand my child’s nightly reading requirement.

___________________ Parent Signature ___________________Child’s Name