What kind of books should we read? Just Right Books

What is the ultimate goal of book reading? I want all my children to LOVE reading.

I want my students to drive to Barnes and Noble or any bookstore and buy a book that they want to read. I want my students to know how to walk into a library, and know what book they want to check out to read. Instead of asking for level M or Magenta books. I want my students to go into any store and know how to pick a Just Right Book.

Just Right Books

I encourage you to think of the criteria that makes sense for your class and students (NOT ALL OF THIS CRITERIA):

1. The book looks interesting.
2. You can figure out most of the words in the book.
3. Your teacher has read this book aloud to you.
4. You have read other books by this author.
5. There is someone to give you help if you need it.
6. You know something about this subject.
7. Is this book new to you?
8. Do you understand most of the book?
9. Are there a few words per page that you don’t recognize or know the meaning to instantly?
10. Can someone help you with the book if you hit a tough spot?
11. Your child is interested in the book.
12. Your child can tell you what is happening in the story.
13. Your child has to occasionally reread parts of the text to understand it.
14. There may be a few words on the page that your child needs help reading.
15. Most reading is smooth-only occasionally choppy.
16. Schema helps students read books too. If you’ve heard about it, experienced it, or seen it then it’s in your schema. What do your students know about the topic of the book? A just right book depends on schema. If your students choose a book that you’ve never heard of the topic before, then that book will probably be too hard and it will be a book that your students will need to read with someone.

Waitin on A Woman … Having Patience with Our Students

As teachers we have to have patience all day long. Sometimes it is with our students. Sometimes it is with our fellow teachers. Sometimes it is with a parent or supervisor. This video is a wonderful message that other people are patient with us too. I grew up watching Andy on T.V. I hope when you need a smile to your day, this message of patience, makes your day.

Waitin on a Woman You Tube link

How to Predict

Many students know the definition of predicting, but do our students know why we do it? Do our students know when we do it? Or how to do it? I have found that most students need explicit explaining. I believe we need to use more words. I model three times or the power of three. I show my students how to predict three times using the technique of thinking aloud and linking to the chart paper for extra support. I also make sure that I am connecting predictions with adjusting predictions. I say, “If I wanted you to know the answer or the right prediction, I would have you read the whole book, then we would make predictions!” As I mentioned in an early post, my personal favorite picture book for predictions is Suddenly! by Colin McNaughton.

“Why can’t I skip my 20 minutes of reading tonight?”

Let’s figure it out —MATHEMATICALLY!

Student A reads 20 minutes five nights of every week;
Student B reads only 4 minutes a night…or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week.
Student A reads 20 min. x 5 times a week = 100 mins./week
Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes

Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month.
Student A reads 400 minutes a month.
Student B reads 80 minutes a month.

Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year
Student A reads 3600 min. in a school year.
Student B reads 720 min. in a school year.

Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year.
Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits,
Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days
Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days.
One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably and so, undoubtedly, will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder:
Which student would you expect to read better?
Which student would you expect to know more?
Which student would you expect to write better?
Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?
Which student would you expect to be more successful in school….and in life?

WHY READ 30 MINUTES A DAY?

*If daily reading begins in infancy, by the time the child is five years old, he or she has been fed roughly 900 hours of brain food!

*Reduce that experience to just 30 minutes a week, and the child’s hungry mind lose 770 hours of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and stories.

*A kindergarten student who has not been read aloud to could enter school with less than 60 hours of literacy nutrition. No teacher, no matter how talented, can make up for those lost hours of mental nourishment.

*Therefore…30 minutes daily = 900 hours
30 minutes weekly = 130 hours
Less than 30 minutes weekly = 60 hours
Guess you now understand why reading daily is so very important. Why not have family night reading? It is great to just shut off the television for 20-30 minutes and read… and share.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, America Reads Challenge (1999) “Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader.” Washington D.C.

Suddenly! by Colin McNaughton

Colin McNaughton’s work is listed here on this site. Colin McNaughton’s work My favorite Colin book is called, Suddenly!  It is wonderful! It is also wonderful for teaching predictions. When I teach students about predictions, I teach students to confirm their predictions and to adjust their predictions now that they have more information. Suddenly! is the perfect text for this. I quit mentioning this text for awhile, because I could not find it. I notice it is available again on amazon.com. Once I bought 200 copies of Suddenly! from Scholastic Book Clubs since I talked about this book at my inservces. I sold them to teachers at my cost (no profit at all). I just wanted to make sure they could get the book.

Did You Know? 2.0

Did you know? was written by
http://thefischbowl.blogspot.com/2006/08/did-you-know.html
I think this is an interesting concept since many of our students are highly interested in technology and many of us are (kinda) not as interested. I am interested and learning to be better at incorporating many different technologies. Many students do not consider technology as an addition to their learning, but as an integral part of their learning. How does it affect your instruction and your teaching on a day by day lessons in classrooms.

click here for Did you know? you tube link

Reader’s Theatre on You Tube

I found several links to reader’s theatre on you tube. Recently, I received an email asking if I knew of any resources for reader’s theatre. These are kids and teachers involved in reader’s theatre on You Tube.

Where the Wild Things Are
where the wild things reader’s theatre link

Houghton Mifflin Materials
link to Houghton Mifflin reader’s theatre

Adorable! The Doorbell Rang reader’s theatre by teachers for students (Math)
The Doorbell Rang by teachers link

Shopping with the Meanies
The Meanies link

Mrs. Wishy Washy
Mrs. Wishy Washy link

Ten in the Bed (with 6)
ten in the bed song link

Teach the child, not just the students or the group

Stacey and Ruth wrote about this post. I read it also. Who do we teach? Do we teach writers or writing? Do we teach readers or reading? As I sent my children and nieces and nephews to school, I wondered what their teachers would be like. I hoped their teachers would value them as much as we do. I hoped their teachers would encourage their dreams and writing and reading. I know that every teacher wakes up in the morning with the best of intentions to teach the best they know how. link to a precious child’s point of view

Do You Believe In Me? Dalton Sherman

Many places across the internet and blogging world are linking to Dalton’s speech.
Dalton asks, “Do you believe in me? I believe in me.”

Wow! His message is so powerful. I do believe in hope and in this message!

If you have not seen it yet, I hope that you watch this 9 minutes here: Do You Believe In Me? Dalton Sherman Link to You Tube

Reading Rockets Site

Many teachers ask where I find movies and resources. This is one site I use frequently. Choice Literacy happened to mention it this week too. I thought that I would link it today so I have an easy place to click on too. reading rockets link here

There are so many podcasts and videos available. So many times teachers have asked me what is ‘out there?’ I have found videos and podcasts on these topics: print awareness, the sounds of speech, phonemic awareness, phonics, informal assessment, fluency, vocabulary, spelling, writing, and text comprehension to only list a few.