Here's today's idea:
Any who, my class was working their way up to reading for 10 minutes straight. I think we were at about 6 minutes of reading stamina. So I told them that when we reached 10 minutes we would have a "Flashlight Friday". They responded with curious faces and questions. I responded back by telling them that when they reached it, they learn what this surprise activity was. This helped them get excited to increase their reading stamina and work even harder.
The Friday after we reached those sweet ten minutes, I handed out a finger flashlight, a great Dollar Store find, to each student. I told them to get comfy with a great book and turn on their flashlights. Then I closed the blinds and shut the lights off and we read by the light of our finger flashlights. It was so much fun. Once we did it once, my students begged to do it again. So throughout the year as long as students worked hard on their reading during the week we would celebrate with Flashlight Friday.
Have you ever tried Flashlight Friday?
Check back tomorrow for my next promoting reading tip.