DEAR Time

Did any of you have DEAR time when you were in school?  You know, Drop Everything And Read? I remember doing this in 5th grade.  I had a really great teacher, Mrs. O'Dell, who was really great with reading and writing.  I can remember loving DEAR time and journal time because she made it so much fun.

Anyway, I am continuously looking for ways to make our school day more fun and exciting.  It can get pretty monotonous when there are only the three of us!  I realized about a week ago that we were not really spending any time in independent, free reading.  I mean, we were reading together, but I wasn't giving the kids time to read on their own, just for fun!  Isn't that what really builds lifetime readers?

So, we implemented DEAR time for 30 minutes each day.  I was really worried that Ben would struggle with staying focused during this time, but WOW, he just sits and reads and reads from his basket of books.  Grace loves this time, because I let her choose whatever she likes to read.  She usually wants to keep reading when our time is up.  That's a really GOOD thing!

Each child has a basket with 10 books that they have chosen and they read from this basket all week.  At the end of the week, they can change out their books.  Sometimes they keep several of them or all of them.  It is totally their choice.

It was so funny because yesterday I needed to get something done during this time (I usually read at the same time), so I was upstairs.  It was completely silent, and Micah came in.  He was impressed, I think!

Anyway, DEAR time is great!  Have yourself a little DEAR time today!