A daily reading log for home reading and classroom silent reading. Two versions are included: a 5-day (Monday to Friday) school-week log and a 7-day (Monday to Sunday) full-week log, ten weeks each. Each day has a minutes tracker and a short summary that shows a child understood what they read. For Year 1 to Year 6.
Why minutes, not pages
Counting pages quietly punishes the child reading a harder book slowly, and rewards the one skimming something easy. So children reach for the easy book just to get the numbers up, or feel they haven’t done enough. Minutes take that away: a challenging book counts the same as a quick one. The goal is a reading habit, and all reading is good reading.
Why a short summary
A log that’s just a signature proves a book was near a child, not that they understood it. Each day the reader picks one part of what they read and fills in six keyword boxes: who, what, when, where, why and how. Older readers turn those keywords into one clear sentence. It’s long enough to show real understanding, short enough that it never turns reading time into a chore, and it builds a little writing practice every day.
What’s included:
- A 77-page printable PDF
- Two versions: a 5-day (Monday to Friday) school-week log and a 7-day (Monday to Sunday) full-week log, 10 weeks each
- Each day: date, minutes read, book title, six keyword boxes and a summary sentence line
- A weekly wrap-up: days read, minutes read and an adult signature line
- A worked example (modelled on Charlotte’s Web) with an example summary sentence, so readers see exactly what a strong response looks like
- A colour-in “Days I Read” tracker in each version to make the habit visible
Built-in differentiation:
- Years 1–2: simply fill in the keyword boxes, with no full sentence needed yet.
- Years 3 and up: fill in the boxes, then turn those keywords into one clear summary sentence.
Use it in class or send it home
Use it for daily silent reading in your classroom, or send it home as a home reading log. The adult signature line works either way, for a teacher, parent or carer.
About Sarah
Made by Sarah Hodgson, teacher librarian, with 12+ years in primary classrooms (Prep to Year 6) as a classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator and teacher librarian.
Print-and-go, so reading time stays about reading, not admin.
