At our school, we send home "reading logs" in the student's homework folder. Each night, the student should read with a parent and record on the log what was read. In my class, we send home some type of reading material at least 3 times a week. It might be a sight word poem, the small reading group book that is being read that week, or their "popcorn words". The student may also read whatever they have at home and can include this on his/her reading log. The reading log has space for 20 entries. I check my student's reading logs each morning. Each time a reading log is complete, the student gets a star by their name on our class graph. Every time a student completes 5 reading logs, they are the "SUPER READER" of the day. Being the SR is a big deal! The student gets to pick a special decorated paper crown to wear all day. Some of the themes I used for the crowns are cowboy, cowgirl, sports, smiley faces, flowers, football, baseball, and rock stars. I just used stickers with those themes that I purchased at "Hobby Lobby" to decorate the crowns. If you are SR, you get the be the line leader, messenger, sit in a special chair during independent reading, and the best part is..... THE TEACHER BUYS YOU ICE CREAM AT LUNCH!! This concept has worked like a charm this school year. With the combined total of 40 students, we have read over 5,000 books at home so far!
I just ordered this new book from Debbie Diller. I can not wait for it to arrive!! The website says it will be available on February 7th. You can "like" Debbie Diller on facebook and get info about this new book. I really am excited about reading this book!
This is our way of saying good-bye each day. The first time I saw this poem was on my sister in-law's fabulous blog (firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com) and have since learned that it is one of Dr. Jean's songs. DUH! I used chart paper and clip art to create this chart that we hung by our door. After reading it together a few weeks, most of the students could read it by themselves. We pick someone to read it at the end of the day and the rest of the class echo reads with them. The students also love to read it during literacy stations when they are in the chart station. 
