So, I adapted this idea for different grade levels. Once I get back to school I'll add some more images of our final products. Unless of course I saved it to my desktop, then it's history as our computers are being updated and I think I forgot to backup those desktop items. Oh, well.
Kindergarten, first and second grade used Pixie3, one of my favorite programs, to complete their goals. One of the reasons I love this program is that I'm able to set up projects and share them with my students. So once the students are on the program they click join project, find a blank page, put their name on it and get to work. Then at the end of class I save the project and they just close out of the program. It makes it easy for me to check on everyone's work and at the end it's easy to print.
Kindergarten wrote one sentence about where they will read this summer. Then they illustrated the sentence.
1st grade wrote an opening sentence, where they will read, how often and one book they plan on reading.
2nd grade had to write an opening and closing sentence, where they will read, how often and two books they plan on reading.
3rd grade did the same as second but they had to add strategies they would practice as well. They did not use Pixie. First they wrote their plan on paper. Then they moved to the iPad and used the Postcard App. First they copied their writing and then they selected a photo and a stamp. (The one drawback to this app is the work can't be saved and completed at another time.) Once it was completed they saved it on the iPad and they used Flick to send it to me. I printed them and found out some fonts don't print very clearly.
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| 3rd Grade |
4th and 5th grade did something different. They each made a trading card with a book recommendation. They started out by filling out a form with the title of the book, author, genre, 1 interesting thing and why they liked it. Once that was completed they took a picture of the book with their iPad. The next step was to go to the Big Huge Labs Trading Card page. Once again, this part has to be done in one sitting, no saving and coming back allowed. But it does allow you to look at the final card and go back and edit before the final save which is huge. Once the information was filled in and saved they also sent the saved image to me via the Flick app. I printed one half sheet size card to laminate and hang in the hall and then printed quarter sheet sized cards for each 4th or 5th grader. On the last day of class they exchanged cards and had a nice set of cards to take home with books to possibly read over the summer.
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| 5th Grade |
All the students took home a laminated copy of their plans or book recommendation. I encouraged the children to hang their plans on the refrigerator or their bedroom door so they would see them everyday and not forget to fulfill their plan.
With all my students, except kindergarten, I talked about the importance of summer reading. I told them about the research that shows children that don't read over the summer come in behind in the fall. I reminded them to go to the library and how they've learned to pick out good fit books this year. I mentioned it to parents in their final progress note as well. Here's hoping the project is helping some of them stick to their goals.
