Our Reading Log Journal

Hey everyone! While many folks out there are cursing the massive snow that is hitting the mid-Atlantic states, I'm finally finding time to get caught up on things. Two of my rugrats have been playing basketball, so our family has been running seven days a week lately. It is nice for us to finally get a chance to breathe, thanks to the cancellations. (I just hope no one loses power!)

I finally uploaded the reading log journal pack onto TeachersPayTeachers. 

Yay! 

It only took me three full months to manage this. Pathetic, I know. Like I said, we've been busy.

I LOVE this reading log journal because it really holds my students accountable for their independent reading and allows me to interact with my students. Last year I tried a log that required a parent signature but didn't require any type of response. This turned out to be an epic FAIL! Some parents/guardians forgot to sign it on a regular basis. Some parents lied for their children. (I suspected a few, but a few parents confessed that they signed it weekly without ever seeing their child crack open a book. Sigh.) I feel that independent reading is extremely important, especially when our entire Language Arts block in 4th grade is only 70-90 minutes long, so I couldn't just toss it aside. I read several teacher blogs this summer and someone (I'm sorry I forgot who) said he/she had encountered the same problem until a weekly reader response was required. This, folks, was a lightbulb moment for me. 

So, I scratched the parent signature and added a short weekly response assignment that reflects the skills we are currently working on in the classroom. It has made a great difference. I will never go back to the old way of doing reading logs.

My reading log journal pack includes a journal cover, a letter to the student and their family explaining the expectations, a list of 22 ideas for reader response assignments, two rubrics for assessing the journal, and two reading logs -- one page with a filled-in example week and two blank weeks and one page with three weeks worth of recording space.

Honestly, this journal has made a difference in my classroom and I believe it could help others. If you try this, please give me feedback on TPT under your "My Purchases" page. 

Have a great day! It's time for me to go play in the snow.