How do we help our students become better readers?
What we hear
we can say...
we can say...
What we say
we can write...
we can write...
What we write
we can read...
Nightly Reading
Monday through Thursday, your child should read from a "Just Right" book of their choice for a period of twenty minutes. Your child can read silently or read aloud to you or another family member or friend. After reading a parent should initial the reading log to verify that homework was completed for the night. It is important to continue reading on the weekend as well even though it isn't part of the homework.
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 min. /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?
Interactive Read Alouds
The teacher reads a book to the children and stops at various points to have a conversation about the story. Different types of texts are read with rich language for the children to hear and imitate. The texts selected are at a higher level than the children would be able to read on their own, thus building and enriching each child's listening vocabulary.
Independent Reading
Read Naturally
Read Naturally is a reading program that provides a method to improve fluency.This program combines three strategies for improving fluency: teacher modeling, repeated reading, and progress monitoring. The Read Naturally Software program is used to allow students to read along while listening to high interest non-fiction stories. Students practice reading the story until they can read it at a predetermined goal rate. Graphs are provided that show the number of words read correctly before practicing and then again after practicing to provide proof of students progress. It provides struggling readers with a structured and highly motivating opportunity to engage in reading on a regular basis.Accelerated Reading
Accelerated Reader is a program that helps motivate students to increase their reading level. The students choose books to read from a list, then read the books at their own pace. When the students are ready, they can take a computer-generated quiz in class, and will then earn points as they pass each test.
