Reading

Just before Spring Break we handed out report cards. 

Just before report cards I had to check my students reading levels.

Just before I did that we did a "Read-a-Thon" to raise money for a school in another country

I'm very lucky in that most of my students LOVE to read.

This does mean that they are all reading at grade level though.

How can we help our kids and students read at grade level?

To start would be to not have them skip out on those 20 minutes of reading that they should be doing every day (which doesn't mean just at school).

We don't always have time to read in class but when we do I almost always have them pair up with someone afterwards where they have to get 3 things completed.

1) They have to summarize to their partner what they read today

2)  They have to read one page to their partner

3)  They have to answer a question that I write on the board.

Some examples of questions might be:

-  What was your favourite part of what you read today?

-  What did you not like about what you read today?

-  What do you think is going to happen next?

-  Do you like the main character?

you get the idea.

Once they have done that with a partner I ask students to volunteer to share with the class.

However, they are no longer sharing about their book.

They must now

1)  Summarize the page that their partner read to them

2)  Tell us their partners answer to the question.

Why do this?

Comprehension!

Are they understanding what they are reading enough to be able to share about it?

Are they understanding when being read to and listening enough to share?

Anywho, I came across this picture somewhere which is amazing!

I'm currently teaching grade 5 and 6 and I know that many of my students read a lot more than 20 minutes a day.  I love that they are being exposed to so much through what they read and are hopefully increasing their vocabulary and expanding their imaginations.  

So DO NOT skip your 20 minutes of reading!