40 Book Challenge FREEBIES

Hi everyone!  I'm Melissa O'Bryan from Wild About Fifth Grade and I'm so excited to share a recent FREEBIE with you!

Have you read the Book Whisperer and/or Reading in the Wild? This past year Donalyn Miller, the author of both, inspired me to incorporate a 40 Book Challenge into my reader's workshop.  I challenged each of my readers to READ, READ, READ as much as possible, to take every free minute, and to reach the feat of reading 40 books over the school year!  Many think there is no way they'll be able to accomplish the challenge, and some don't, but ALL were surprised at the end of the year with how many books they did read.  Myself included - there's something beautiful about visually keeping track of your progress and then celebrating what you've accomplished!

We started the challenge on the first day of school and we talked about it every day.  I kept track of the books I read on our classroom door. 

How cool was my door?? I loved seeing the books I read increase throughout the year, and I loved talking about those book with my own readers and even readers in the hallway who noticed a cover while passing by. I hated having to take it down at the end of the year, but I also can't wait to start again this year.  P.S. I've started my 40 Book Challenge this summer for this upcoming year so I can keep up with my readers.  :)  I'll post a few covers on the first day of school to kick off our 2014-2015 40 Book Challenge!

If you'd like to make a similar display on your door or a classroom bulletin board, click HERE for an editable FREE 40 Book Challenge poster of your own.

While I kept track of my 40 Book Challenge progress on our classroom door, my readers kept track of the books they read in their reading binders.  I created these record keeping pages for my students to log their progress.  And because I'm so excited for YOU to incorporate a 40 Book Challenge into your classroom, I'm giving away these record keeping sheets for FREE! Click HERE for the FREE 40 Book Challenge record keeping pages.  

Included in the FREEBIE are two options of student recording sheets.  One page (to be copied front/back) with 40 slots for each student to record the title and author of each book they complete, the genre and whether the book was easy (E), just right (JR) or challenging. There is a second option with the 40 left off in case you want to differentiate the challenge to fewer or more books for your students.  Secondly, there are two options of a genre requirement sheet.  The first has the breakdown of genres (how many of each genre) that my students are challenged to read for their 40 book challenge.  The second again is blank so you can create your own genre expectations if necessary.  

The record keeping sheets helped my students stay on track with their 40 Book Challenge progress, and I was able to spot check their progress during daily conferences and strategy groups.  Also, we also kept a total running record of our books read and had a little friendly competition with some neighboring 5th grade classrooms.  Gotta love a good competition!

I would love to hear about how you are incorporating Donalyn Miller's 40 Book Challenge into your classroom! 

Enjoy your last few weeks or days of summer!