Summer Reading Goals & Paper Chains

 

These last couple weeks of school are just flying by with all the hustle and bustle of our End of Year celebrations. I am so very proud of all that my firsties have accomplished this school year.

The end of the year brings such a flurry of emotions. Excitement for summer, inspiration for a new school year, relief, stress, and the anticipation of less stress. Woot!

However, with that, the last day blues may start to kick in and you begin to worry that your young readers will forget all the wonderful strategies you taught them throughout the year. The dreaded "summer slide"...

To help combat this fear, my students set reading goals for themselves to help hold them accountable. We created Summer Reading Goal Paper Chains!

I began by telling my students the truth of what happens to students over summer break….the “summer slide”. They were appalled by this news. I asked them what could they do to avoid such a phenomenon. I happily received a smart answer: READ during the summer.

At this point, my students began making statements that they were going to read EVERY day. But then others piped in, and said they may not be able to do that because of family vacations and of course some of my firsties have a summer birthday so they would be too busy to read on that day (they are too cute).

This led to discussion of how many days long our summer vacation is. So, we counted: 76! We had a serious discussion of what was an acceptable number of days to read since summer was a busy time with their families.

At the primary level, I found it best to measure reading by days rather than by the number of books since there is a great variation in their reading levels. Some students are reading chapter books while others may still be approaching grade level standards.

They then began to set realistic reading goals for themselves and recorded them on a Summer Reading Goal Sheet (available HERE at my TpT store):

Summer Reading Goal Paper Chain

Then the crafting began. We made our paper chains to match the amount of days we planned to read.

I heard them counting by 1s, 2,s and making their chains in groups of 10. I also heard them discussing what books they would read:

“This link is for a nonfiction book about sharks, I want to learn more about killer sharks!” 

“This group of 10 links is for The Magic Tree House chapter book I am going to read because it has 10 chapters…I’ll read a chapter a night!”

This is music to a teacher’s ears!

Not only does the Summer Reading Goal Paper Chain serve its purpose to motivate your young readers to continue their love of reading over the summer, it took them a good hour to create them! It was a great end of the year craftivity! Not that I want to kill time or just throw busy work at them. They truly enjoyed making their paper chains and they were completely engaged in creating them for a great length of time! 

My firsties took these Summer Reading Goal Paper Chains home to their families.

As they read each day over the summer they plan to rip off one link. This colorful paper chain will serve as a visual reminder for them during summer break to read, read, and read some more... and avoid the "summer slide"!

This is a great visual reminder for parents as well; of the value of summer reading.

If you are looking for a Summer Reading List for your students, be sure to visit For the Love of Teacher’s article on Get Your Summer Read On- Reading List & Tips. She offers some great recommendations for favorite reads for kids of all levels, as well as tips and suggestions to provide your students and parents to help avoid the “summer brain drain”. You can read it HERE.

If you would like to read more about our End of Year celebrations, visit the blog post:

Fabulous in First Memory Books with a Growth Mindset

Happy Summer Reading!

Fabulous in First Memory Books

It's that time of year....
The end of the school year!

9 months ago, we all hoped it would fly by... ...and here we are again... another school year under our belt! I hope yours was FABULOUS!

We have so much to celebrate! Not that the school year over...well, of course that too ...but all that we have accomplished.

There is something about teaching primary students; you see such tremendous growth from the start of the school year to the final end. You may have students who struggle with letter sounds and by the end of the school year they writing paragraphs!

There is so much to celebrate!

Each year, I put together a Memory Book for my first grade students. Usually I create the book cover for each of them. But this year, I decided that I would create a template for my firsties to use and give them step by step directions on how to assemble the pieces.  

It looks a bit like this. Only you will have to imagine a 7 year old's smile on that cover. I included my own school photo to protect the identity of my firsties. You get the idea...besides it was a great year...I'm feeling fabulous too! Teehee.

If you would like to download this free template, please visit my TpT store at:

First Grade End of the Year Memory Book Cover Freebie

What's Inside?

I have found some really great resources at Teachers Pay Teachers and I have compiled them all in a three prong folder. Each day during the last month of school we add a page to our books.  

To help my first graders celebrate their learning this school year, I found this great resource from Love, Teach and Learn. They are called Growth Mindset Posters and there are endless possibilities for their use in the classroom.  

First, I had my students work in small cooperative groups and brainstorm all that they have learned as readers and writers. 

I was so pleased with how they collaborated; they took turns recording their ideas, they also helped each other sound out and write the words.

Mostly, I was astonished at how much they could vocalize all that they learned this school year. Take a look at this!

When they were finished meeting with their group, I gave them their own copy of the Growth Mindset T-chart for them to record their own learning as readers and writers. I was pleased as punch as I saw them roaming the room copying words and ideas from the anchor charts that hung in our classroom all year to remind us what good readers and writers do.  

Several of my students had asked for a second t-chart to record their ideas! Again...my fabulous firsties made me proud!  

I am pleased with how this page in their Memory Books turned out! When they look back at their first grade year as a young reader and writer they will remember how they learned how to:

Check it! Do a double Check!

Scoop up words!
Take a sneak peak!

Use time order words! 

...their lists went on and on!

The Growth Mindset Posters by Love Teach and Learn were an awesome addition to our Memory Books. My firsties can refer to them all summer and remember all that we learned. Be sure to add them as part of your End of the Year celebrations with your kiddos...it's perfect for all ages.  

Which reminds me, I must share another great End of the Year activity with you! The Summer Reading Goals chain! You're going to love this! Click HERE to read more about how my students set summer reading goals!

But for now, this FABULOUS first grade teacher needs some shut eye so I am ready for our last week of the school year!