Reading at Home: My new incentive chart this year!

Well...With just 2 small weeks until the start of school, I have broken into my classroom and started setting things up and getting it ready for my new kiddos! Many of my classroom management systems from last year have stayed, but there were a few that I knew I wanted to change this summer (usually because I didn't like how they worked last year).

One thing I am changing this year is the way I keep track of students' reading progress with their home reading assignments. My 2nd graders are assigned 20 min. of reading at home each night and are given a new Reading Log every month for  a parent to write down what they read, how many minutes, and circle whether it was read to self, read to them, or read with a parent. I like to see what my kids are choosing to read at home because it lets me know what types of books interest them and also whether they're reading at all! Their faces light up when I ask them about the book they've been reading at home and they love to tell me all about it!

Last year, I gave my students 1 sticker for every 100 minutes read at home (one week of 20 min per night). By the end of the year, {most} had a bee hive chart full of stickers and were proud to take it home. There was no reward...and surprisingly, just the act of putting the sticker onto the chart each week when I checked their log was reward enough! They loved it. This year, I am just plain tired of using stickers...and I happened to have this adorable tree pocket chart that was unused!

I decided to use the pocket tree as a level-up system for my readers! Every 100 minutes read at home, students earn a bookworm (so.cute.) and move their bird up one more branch! They get a nice visual of how much reading they have done throughout the year and can really feel proud about their hard work. I am loving it! We'll see how it goes. Do you have other ideas for tracking the reading your students do at home? I'd love to hear about them in the comments!