A Focus on Reading

Lately I have been making a big push for reading in our classroom.  Three things came to my attention that led me to start focusing on reading more than before.  One: I read a High/Scope article about integrating reading into the whole school day.  In the article they mentioned that they did not support the circle time group reading structure.  This is due to the fact that in a large group children find it much more difficult to really engage with the reading.  Thinking about my own classroom this made perfect sense.  During most circle time readings I could only get a handful of kids engaged and the ones wiggling and chatting always managed to draw a few more into their "inappropriate" activity. Even with the best of books when the majority were paying attention I could still never get all the kids.  High/Scope instead suggested making reading a more intimate activity, one that the kids could chose to engage in with you.

Two: I had a student tell me that he hated reading and refused to ever read anything.  This student, of course, was one of the ones whose literacy level I was concerned about. How could I get him to read in order to raise his literacy level?

Three: There is one student whose literacy level I am particularly concerned about, she may be held back this mainly due to her insufficient literacy.  When I was considering this student I realized it is very unlikely that she is ever read to in English at home.  In her household I believe she has the best mastery of English. When I took the time to consider the rest of the class I realized that most of the students whose literacy I was worried about had non-native English speaking parents -- which makes sense; if your parent can't read to you in the language you are developing your literacy skills are going to suffer.

So my push began.  In our classroom we have an activity suggestion box.  I took the suggestions from the box and used them as reading suggestions: hip hop, sharks, puppets, snakes, etc.  Then I thought about my students and what other subjects they were interested in: High School Musical, wrestling, Sonic the Hedgehog.  So I used my library card and logged onto the Public Library online network.  I searched for children's literature in the subjects which interested my kids.  If you have a large library network that allows inter-library lending you have access to a huge wealth of books.  I conducted my search and used the internet to learn more about the books that came up, then I ordered holds on all the books I liked.  A week later I went to my local library and picked up all the books.  I also always make sure to get at least a few books that relate to our weekly theme.  I put all the books out on our two easily accessible book display shelves.

This effort has yielded a big success.  The wrestling and Sonic books have been especially popular.  I have found that reading is like a virus.  A few boys become very interested in some new books and then other kids notice that now reading is "cool" and they come over and look for a book.  Our reading area has become a popular and busy place. Kids have even started picking up books that have been out for months, such as the Guinness Book of World Records, and reading them with an excitement I hadn't before seen.  One of my co-workers started suggesting that the kids go to the reading area between snack and circle time to quietly read a book.  This has been triply successful because they are reading, having fun, and they have something to do while they wait for the other kids to finish snack.  The time between snack and circle used to be a difficult transition period but now, thanks to reading, it is very successful.

I want to make a "shout-out" to the book that has surprisingly been the most successful, I Will Never Not Ever Eat a Tomato by Lauren Child.  

I actually checked this book out to read for a club I run, Food and Fun, but the book started gaining attention before I even had a chance to read it.  Lauren Child knows how to reach children on a level I can't even fully comprehend.  I'm not sure what it is, the style of writing, the way she plays with the words and pictures, the real and yet childlike aspects of the illustrations.  Whatever the draw may be, it works.  I've watched as my kids of all ages picked up the book and sat down to read it.  Some have read it more than once.  The biggest evidence of the book's success is that my student who previously told me he hates reading begged me to sit down with him so he could read it to me!  And, when I did read it during circle time I had almost every student listening and paying attention. Good job Lauren, I'll be doing a search for more of your books soon. 

Finally, with my one student whose literacy level appears significantly below grade level, we started our own private reading club.  After a few weeks of our classroom's new love for reading I approached Kate with my idea.  I told her I wanted to form our own reading club, just the two of us.  She listened, so I continued, "You choose a chapter book, any chapter book you want, and I will read it to you.  Anytime we have some free time you can come to me and ask me to read.  Then, once we finish a book, I will buy you any book you want (within reason)."  "Really?" she responded, "Any book? For me to keep?  Not for the class?"  

She picked a Goosebumps book and so far our club has been very successful.  She asks me to read to her at least twice a day.  She asks questions about the book as we go along, so I know she is really engaged.  And she even grabs the book for herself and asks me where we are if I am unavailable to read to her!  Our mini-club also attracts other students, almost every time we sit down to read one or two other students ask if they can join us.

Lesson: Kids will read, they will engage, and they will enjoy it, if you just take the right steps to make reading accessible to them.

Update:  I just learned today that Kate is so engaged with the book we are reading that in the spirit of the main character she has started collecting worms!