Read to Someone

Partner reading can be a very useful reading tool if used the right way. I will admit that up to this year, I have always been a little hesitant to have kids partner read because 9 times out of 10, one partner is goofing off while the other is reading. Or, they both end up playing around.

Much like all of the other components of Daily 5, with proper training, partner reading can be fun and enjoyable.  The children are taught that there are several ways that they can read together. The first video that you will see shows a pair of children demonstrating "I Read, You Read". With this method, one child leads the reading while the second child echos. Then they both check for understanding (this particular pair forgot to check for understanding). This method is great for building fluency, especially if the lead student is a fluent reader.

The second video shows another method of paired reading called "2 different books". This strategy is great for kids on different levels because they each read from their own book. The first student reads a page of his/her book while the second listens and then checks for understanding. Then the second student reads from his/her book while the first listens and checks for understanding. The two girls in the second video illustrate this method perfectly!

Practice Makes Perfect!

Like anything worth learning and doing, it takes practice to get better. This is especially true with reading.

I can teach strategies, pull guided reading groups to reinforce and observe how children use these strategies, and meet with kids one-on-one to give them reading goals.

But, if kids don't spend a significant amount of time practicing on their own, it is quite difficult for them to make significant gains.

I have learned many things with experience. One important thing that I have learned is that you can't expect beginning of the year second graders to walk in on day one and read quietly for 20-30 minutes. They need time and direction on how to build their reading stamina.

We began Read to Self on the second day of school with a 3 minute block of time. We are now up to 15 minutes. We have discussed what behaviors are necessary to maximize our Read to Self time. The students came up with the following:

• Find a quiet place to read and stay there
• Read the whole time (no pretend reading)
• Don't talk or make noises that will distract others
• Get started quickly

As soon as I observe a behavior that goes against those listed above, I stop the children and bring them back to the meeting area. We then discuss what we need to do to fix the problem for the next time. This process can be slow and tedious, but the children learn that reading time is valuable and we must take it seriously. This video clip is a quick peek inside our Read to Self time. I love how engaged all of the kids are with their reading!

Believe it or not, it takes them only about 20 seconds to choose their own spot and begin. What amazing kiddos!

Books, Books, Books!!

I love Scholastic. I honestly think I'm addicted to buying books for my classroom. It is so much fun to introduce a new book to a class full of eager readers. They love reading new books and I can't blame them... there is nothing quite like the feel and smell of a new book in your hands.

Which brings me to the point of this blog. I don't consider myself to be a Scholastic pusher, but I can't help myself the first month of every year. Scholastic is offering 10 TIMES the bonus points plus 4000 extra on top of that! That is HUGE in terms of just how many free books we can get into the hands of the kiddos!!! I am begging and pleading all of you (my parents....not sure who all is reading my blog!) PLEASE help us get to $200 total so that we can get the full amount of bonus points this month.

Here is the link to parent ordering www.scholastic.com/bookclubs

I am also putting the link permanently of the top right of the blog. Our class activation code is GKMR6

I apologize that I am only providing Lucky this time. In order to get the benefit of the bonus points the orders have to be from one catalog. I will send the other forms in future months.

THANK YOU!!!! I appreciate your support of our classroom!!

Here is a quick video of the kids juggling on Friday! Sorry that it's a little dark, with the overhead lights on it's washed out..I will figure out the lighting soon!