Not the Summer Slide, but Summer of Growth

Ah, summer time.  Most teachers feel like this:

But many families may have mixed feelings about the long summer days.

They're grateful for the break from school, but they may have some wonderings:  what do the kids do with so much unstructured time?  Will my child maintain what he learned over the past school year or will he regress? 

Reading logs for the summer

In my district, the teachers and students are still moving along.  So I've been super busy with my files and end-of-year reports.  Of course I've been procrastinating finishing my files because I've been trying to compile some kind of summer resource for my students (hee hee).  This summer resource is very simple:  mostly reading response activities and problem-solving, since my third and fourth graders struggle with comprehension and word problems.  I wrote a little letter explaining that THIS IS NOT HOMEWORK but a continuation of skills developed throughout the year that can be used AS NEEDED.  Along with this very small packet I wanted to give them a reading log.  So, because I'm new to third and fourth grade, I wanted to see how different teachers created their reading logs (I already know that Beth Newingham has some great resources).  So I Googled "reading logs third grade."  That opened a can of worms...

I scanned the first page of results and these titles jumped off the screen: 

Stop Homework » “I Hate Reading Logs,” says FedUp Mom

Reading logs killed the bibliophile | Woulda Coulda Shoulda