Adding a challenge to summer reading

Well, it's that time of year again: summer!  Lazy days hanging out with friends, time at the pool, visiting family,  attending camps, reading and writing.  Wait.  What?  Yep, reading AND writing.  As you may recall, if you were a reader last summer, we created our own summer reading program for our 6 year-old son (http://citygirlinsmalltownamerica.blogspot.com/2012/06/summer-fun-and-reading.html).  His goal last year: to read 10 Magic Tree House, or other similar chapter books, to earn a trip to The Little League World Series and a t-shirt from the games.  It was such a success, that this summer, it's the same reward, but he has to read five, more difficult chapter books (he's moved up five reading levels since last summer, so we're expecting more challenging books, which may take him longer).  He's chosen a few of the Matt Christopher baseball books to start out with.  Any books he reads over the designated amount earns him a dollar per book to spend how he wishes at the game.

He's also going to write this summer!  His teacher sent a notebook home with every student encouraging and challenging them to write in the notebook 4 days a week during the summer.  If this is completed and returned to her at the beginning of the school year, they would get a special "mystery gift" from her.  Challenge accepted!  As our son is a very visual learner, we've created our charts again so he can track his progress for both his reading and writing.







There you have it!  A summer full of fun, sun, water, books and writing!  Stay safe out there!