A Peek at My Week {11-23-13}

Happy weekend-before-Thanksgiving and welcome back for another edition of  A Peek at My Week!  Like many of you, I am counting down the minutes until Thursday because this will be our first break from school since we began in early September.  It's been a long time coming and I am going to cherish every moment!

I'm not sure about the weather where you live, but here in Wisconsin, I think winter has arrived.  We have already had our first snow (thankfully now melted) and I think it was a high of 20 degrees today.  Brrr..... Makes me want to sit in front of the fire with a nice mug of hot cocoa and a blanket.  I think my pup Rosie had the right idea this morning when she found a spot of sun to warm herself.

We only have three days of school this week so it is going to be a short one.  I'm excited to announce that a student in my class is about to meet the 40 Book Reading Challenge.  (Read at least 40 books in a variety of genres)  How did my students become so motivated to read lately?  I have to honestly say that I think it is because of my new TpT product, Reading Genre Tags.

After reading Donalyn Miller's The Book Whisperer, I knew the book challenge was something I wanted to try.  Last year, I rolled out the program and had students record their reading on a chart in their reading folder.  How did it go???  Terribly.  Students either lost their recording sheet or forgot all about the challenge so it was a big FLOP.

This year, I got smarter!

I created a sticker chart for the challenge and posted the challenge chart on the board.  When a student would finish a book in a particular genre (and pass the AR test with a score of 80 or higher), he or she would fill out their challenge chart and we would put a sticker in that category on the sticker chart.  This made my students' reading more visual and public -- easier to keep track of.  How did it go this time???  A little better, but still not great.

Enter my new  Reading Genre Tags that I just posted to my TpT store.

Now when a student has read a book, they record it on their challenge sheet, we put a sticker on the challenge chart, AND they get a genre tag to wear on a necklace around their neck every day.  How did is it going now???  FABULOUSLY!!!  :)  :)  :)

My students love the Genre Tags and compete with each other to see who can earn more or certain kinds.  They are loving independent reading time, reading longer than required at home every night, and are so excited every time they are given a new tag. (There is a different tag for each of the 40 books.)

So this week we will celebrate the first student to meet the Reading Genre Challenge!  What an accomplishment for this young lady!!

Want a chance to win your own set of my Reading Challenge Genre Tags?  Enter the Rafflecopter below by Friday.  The winner will be announced on next weekend's Peek at my Week so be sure to check back to see if you are a winner!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Before I go, I want to announce the winner of my Native American Museum product --  Christin W of Shifting Teacher K-2!!  Congratulations Christin!  Check your email!

(BTW -- Thank you to all of you who pinned my new product....But please be sure to check that you are not a "no reply blogger" because your email was not attached to your comment.  Many of you were....)

So now it's your turn to link up and give us a Peek at your mini-Week.

But before I go, I want to wish you all a very blessed Thanksgiving!  I am very fortunate to be surrounded by so much and I am very thankful for all of it!  Thank you for being a part of that.  :)