Love Literacy
Sparking Creativity & Sharing Ideas to enhance instruction
Read Read Read
“The more you read, the better you get, the more better you get, the more you like it; and the more you like it, the more you do it.” - Jim Trelease
I so love this quote because we need time to practice reading before we are confident and eager to keep going. Nancie Atwell, author of The Reading Zone, tells us that in order for students to become great readers, they need a lot of time to just read! So...giving students time to read and engage in books they are interested in is our first step to creating a culture of reading in our classrooms, hallways, and beyond!
INDEPENDENT READING TIME
Reading comprehension instruction is an important part of growing our students into thinking readers, however research shows that allowing students to get lost in their reading plays a very important role, too! Start by providing a minimum of 15 minutes each day to independent reading time. During this time, the goal is to simply read and get lost in your book. To make independent reading time AWESOME for kids, you will need to teach expectations and set up the structure you desire, but it will be well worth the time!
CHOICE IS KEY
To keep our independent reading time free of distraction and noise, we have to engage children in the reading process. Research says the best way to do this is to let them choose some of their own books to read! One way to manage this is to provide students with Book Choice Tubs. The tubs could include a student selected collection of texts within levels that he/she can read independently. You offer guidance with choosing titles that go into the tubs from interest surveys, limit the movement in your classroom during reading time, and allow students to be in control of what they read during this time. It's a win win for everyone!
READ ALOUD
Take time to read aloud EVERY day! No matter what grade level you teach, reading aloud should be an important part of your day! Reading aloud builds foundational skills, introduces kids to new vocabulary, provides a model of fluent and expressive reading, and helps children see what reading for fun is all about! A cool twist I've noticed teachers doing is to book talk a few read aloud choices you love for your students and let them vote on your next selection! Fun! Kids love to have choice in as many things as we can manage and it helps to keep them engaged, too!
Readers Are Leaders
Share your reading passion with your students!
Email: jschultz@jpsonline.org
Website: loveliteracyjps.weebly.com
Location: Jenison Public Schools, Georgetown Township, MI, United States
Phone: 616 457 8890
Twitter: @janetschultz4