Daily reading practice…Pathways + Free or just one?

For my children when 3rd grade and below, 20 min is too long to read in one sitting, but some kids are ready for that. So as for time use what works, Don’t feel “locked into” a specific time.

My current 2nd grader reads from Pathway reader as part of school and then after lunch a fun book for fun. He is reading Chalk Box Kid right now, it takes is a while because for him 5 min is about his limit to reading aloud to me. I do not have him read and reread the same passage from the book, we just keep moving on working our way through the book.

I do have a lot of children’s books that he will look at the pictures and read over and over for fun on his own, my older kids do that too. Richard Scary books that I read growing up he really likes to look at, fun mix of words and pictures to build confidence on his own.

My kiddos read a “chapter” from their Pathway readers each morning with me and they do 30 minutes of free reading in the afternoon.  I provide most of the free reading options to make sure that the afternoon reading books are still good quality and on their reading level.  We rarely re-read the same story or chapter twice. Children can gain fluency just by simply reading.  No need to read the same story over and over! Imagine how dull that must be for children in public schools!