How will your students spend their last day in the reading lab this year? While this might not be their most productive day ever (we all know how the last few days of school can be!), there’s still an opportunity to make it count. A great goal for this day is to set students up for summer success. Consider the following ideas.

Instead of working in Read Naturally Live or Word Warm-ups Live on their last day in the lab, have your students log into One Minute Reader Live, which has content for levels E (early first grade) through 5. Ideally, they’ll continue to work in One Minute Reader Live over the summer. The last day in the lab is a great time for them to practice logging into this program with their user ID and password. It’s also a great time for them to enjoy the engaging content in One Minute Reader Live and get excited to continue working in this program over the summer months.

If you haven’t yet set your students up for summer reading with One Minute Reader Live, we’ve made it easy for you. Kids will work independently in this program, but it’s ideal if their parents are aware of how it works. Here’s a letter you can send to parents that explains the program to them. If you need a permission slip for students to work in this program, here’s one in English and in Spanish.

Additionally, be sure to send each student home with their user ID, password, and the Read Live url. You can use this form (here is the Spanish version), which is an interactive PDF allowing you to type in a student’s credentials for them.

Why will your students want to keep working in One Minute Reader Live over the summer? It’s inherently motivating, the content is fantastic, the process is familiar to them, and they’ll improve their reading skills. To boost motivation even more, consider implementing an incentive program. Here is a blog post with ideas for setting up a simple yet effective incentive program for One Minute Reader Live over the summer. On the last day of the lab, you can introduce this incentive program and explain to students what the rewards will be if they meet the goals. You could have individual goals, class goals, or both. Next fall, wouldn’t it be wonderful to greet a class full of kids who crushed their summer reading goals?

However you spend your last day in the lab, we hope it’s a great one. Your students have worked hard this year to make progress in reading. They should be proud of all they accomplished—and so should you!