3rd Grade Readers at Sac - Catching The Joy of Reading

The 3rd grade team at Sacajawea started a simple little system for recognizing and tracking how many books they had read and understood in the beginning of October.

Each time they read a book and passed an Accelerated Reader (AR) quiz on it they received a piece of a pumpkin puzzle, which they put up in the hall.  They have to pass with at least 80% correct.  Research shows that students gain the most from their reading practice if they score 80% or more on their AR quizzes.  With each new quiz they got more pieces for their pumpkin and could add many pumpkins to the patch.

These readers caught the fire.  Based on their puzzle numbers, our Sacajawea 3rd graders read 338 books in their reading ranges during the month of October, only counting the ones passed with 80% accuracy.  We are thrilled!

Here are some important things we know about reading and about students:

• Students grow the most in reading when the majority of their independent practice is at just the right level (not too easy or too hard).  In reading, we call that their "ZPD" (zone of proximal development).
• Students are more successful when they are involved in tracking their own goals and their own progress.  
• Students are more motivated by the feeling of success than they are by trinkets or gadgets (Research actually shows that external rewards such as prizes make kids read less, over time).  
• Reading practice makes a huge difference.  Some of our students are already seeing the results of daily reading practice in higher reading levels.
• When students really become successful, reading is its own reward.  They sneak books around with them and find excuses to read whenever possible. 

The great thing is that this reading fire keeps on burning.  This month, instead of pumpkins, third grade will build turkeys.  They start with a naked little turkey and each book quiz they pass they get to add parts to their turkey, until it is complete.  They can add as many turkeys as they earn.

Hide away and read a book every night!  It is fun and it makes a difference.