RE 5533 discussion

What do you do most effectively that gets your students interested in reading and choosing to read when they don't have to)?

I often just allow the students to engage in disuccsion with their peers in hopes of recommending titles to one another. I have also browsed the library with them and read part of the book aloud to capture their interests. I have also brought in a lot of graphic novels in the past. I have found it to be a huge motivator.

Like Lindsay said, I have a lot of book talks going on throughout the day. This gets them excited about reading. I also do partner reading throughout the week where there are two (maybe three) students who read the same book together. When they read it together they can stop whenever something catches their attention.

Lindsay wrote: "I often just allow the students to engage in disuccsion with their peers in hopes of recommending titles to one another. I have also browsed the library with them and read part of the book aloud to..."

All supported by research, too. The "reading part" is what Linda Gambrell calls "book blessings." Great practice.

Breanna wrote: "Like Lindsay said, I have a lot of book talks going on throughout the day. This gets them excited about reading. I also do partner reading throughout the week where there are two (maybe three) s..."

Do partners read aloud or silently? And what grade?

I did this in second grade and previously in third grade. (I don't know if it will work in Kindergarten since next year is my first year in the grade.) The students read aloud together and they can stop periodically to discuss. It is great because they are not assigned parts to stop at and discuss. They can stop when they feel it is important. It used to be my students favorite time of the day and MOST of the talk was on topic!

I often allow students to discuss books that they are reading or have read hoping that it will strike an interest with another student. Last year I started a recommendation board where students could recommend books to others and tell why they liked it. This did not take away from class time but it was something that the students knew about so they could check out the board from time to time.

Motivating students to read when they don't have to is something I really need to work with in my class. Over the last school year, I've been contemplating adding Stop Drop and Read to my class. I try to keep a bookshelf of books for my students full of things I think they'll want to read. I make an effort to try and pull books off the shelf and recommend them to students when I make a connection to an interest they've told me about. I think sometimes in high school we get caught up in getting them to read because they have to and we lose sight of trying to get them to read because they want to.

I have different areas in my classroom where students can read. We have our classroom library that is home to all of our picture books and read alouds. We also have a "nonfiction nook" where all of our nonfiction books are categorized by topic. And we also have our independent reading basket area where students can find books they have read in guided reading groups and can read independently (the baskets are differentiated by color depending on their group). The students are able to "go after" anything they are looking for pretty easily. We also have comfy chairs and pillows in the room for them to lounge on while reading and soft lamps to provide a comfortable atmosphere.

One of the things that I find works well is letting the kids choose a spot in the room to read instead of just reading at their seats. I also have a designated library area and I have a little bench over there. I let the students read with partners, and my class this year REALLY liked pretending to be the teacher and having the other students sit in front of them. They worked out a system among themselves so that each child got a turn to read. One thing that motivated my students was having an audience. We do a lot of Readers Theater and students are always eager to take home parts to perfect. Another motivation tool is using the Kindles.

I do a lot of "book talks" with my students. I pull out books from my library and have them on a display that they get to read from. I find that once I have read aloud a book to my students they are more likely to go and find that book, whether it's in our classroom library, our school library, or my own personal library that I let them borrow. I have also found that my students choose book that they know. I have plenty of Arthur, Frog and Toad, Clifford and Froggy books. They seem to move to those books.

David wrote: "Breanna wrote: "Like Lindsay said, I have a lot of book talks going on throughout the day. This gets them excited about reading. I also do partner reading throughout the week where there are two..."

When I do partner reads, they read a book together and talk about it. My students love reading books then talking about it. They also get to draw their favorite part of the book and share it!

Breanna wrote: "I did this in second grade and previously in third grade. (I don't know if it will work in Kindergarten since next year is my first year in the grade.) The students read aloud together and they ca..."

Breanna, I think it would work in first grade. You have to do a LOT of modeling, and as soon as they know your expectations, MOST of them will run with it. You might have to assign partners to help some students but most will be able to do it on their own!

Kassy wrote: "I have different areas in my classroom where students can read. We have our classroom library that is home to all of our picture books and read alouds. We also have a "nonfiction nook" where all ..."

Kassy, I really like your "nonfiction nook" do you find that boys tend to go more to that area than the girls do? My boys LOVE their nonfiction books, not as much as my girls. What have you noticed?

My boy students have always seemed to be more drawn to nonfiction books in the classroom and in the media center. When picking out extra books for my nonfiction nook I always try to find some that appeal to the girls -- books about animals (especially animal babies...puppies, kittens, etc).

I always allow my students to make a choice when they are reading during class. We also do a book sort and students get excited to read new books they didn't realize we had. They get to partner read and choose their own place to read.

Kassy wrote: "My boy students have always seemed to be more drawn to nonfiction books in the classroom and in the media center. When picking out extra books for my nonfiction nook I always try to find some that..."

That's a great idea Kassy!! I need to get more fiction books about puppies etc..then maybe my girls will read them more!

One thing I do is let the students have free choice a lot so they can read books that interest them. Also by doing that students see their friends reading certain books then they want to read them. My students love to take AR test on the computer after they finish reading a book so that is a good way to keep the motivated and reading. They also love to partner read with one another or help younger grade levels with reading groups because they get to be a "teacher".

Ashley wrote: "One thing I do is let the students have free choice a lot so they can read books that interest them. Also by doing that students see their friends reading certain books then they want to read them..."

My students love taking AR tests after they finishing reading also. They make it out be like a competition to see who can get the most points and that seems to motivate them.

Brittany wrote: "Ashley wrote: "One thing I do is let the students have free choice a lot so they can read books that interest them. Also by doing that students see their friends reading certain books then they wa..."

My school is starting Reading Counts this year, it is like AR I hope that it gives my students some motivation to want to read more!

I have used one trick that helps get the kids reading. I have them talk to a partner for 5 minutes about their personal likes and dislikes. Then, the partner chooses a book for them to read and they have already agreed, no matter the book, they will read it. The success works both ways. If they don't like the book, they know to choose their own and if they love it, they continue to partner choose reading books.

Morgan wrote: "One of the things that I find works well is letting the kids choose a spot in the room to read instead of just reading at their seats. I also have a designated library area and I have a little ben..."
Morgan, I agree with you. If they know they can move around the room and find cozy spots to read, it really helps the process. This works in 3rd grade as I know it does for the lower grades.

Breanna wrote: "I did this in second grade and previously in third grade. (I don't know if it will work in Kindergarten since next year is my first year in the grade.) The students read aloud together and they ca..."

I haven't tried this one for 3rd grade, but am certainly interested. Thanks for the idea.

Another way I help get the students to read, is by keeping my books leveled in the classroom. My students know the level they read on, so they may choose books from their level, from the level below or the level above. This helps keep the books readable by the students and eliminates frustration. They also keep reading logs with incentives for reaching goals of reading a certain number of books.

Ashley wrote: "One thing I do is let the students have free choice a lot so they can read books that interest them. Also by doing that students see their friends reading certain books then they want to read them..."
I too allow my students to choose their own books,however; I make sure that these books are just right for them. I also allow them to sit in special places in the room to accommodate different types of learners. Our school has schoolwide goals for number of hours read. The students read that read the most hours this year earned a trip to Barnes and Noble to be bought a new book and Village Tavern for lunch. Since so many students saw this happen this year, I am hoping that next year more students will participate. We also do Weekend Readers. Students that read and write a summary for a certain number of weekends out of the quarter earn an ice cream party and receive a free book at the party. Our school is excellent in giving students incentives for reading!

Debby wrote: "I have used one trick that helps get the kids reading. I have them talk to a partner for 5 minutes about their personal likes and dislikes. Then, the partner chooses a book for them to read and the..."
I like the idea of having students talk to each other about the book they are reading. They could even create their "own" Goodreads website to encourage readers to read more. When they are held accountable by their friends, they are more likely to read more and comprehend more of what they read.

Breanna wrote: "Like Lindsay said, I have a lot of book talks going on throughout the day. This gets them excited about reading. I also do partner reading throughout the week where there are two (maybe three) s..."
I love the idea of having them talk when something catches their attention. That is smart! I would love to hear the conversation going on in those groups!

At the first of the year, I ask the parents to let me know what kind of books their child enjoys reading. Most respond (but not all) and give me a series or genre their child likes. For the ones that do not respond, I ask the child. I try to pull these books from my classroom library or the school library and display them or put them in our book box. My yellow book box holds books that are relevant to what we are studying or popular books.

Each of my students has a "book bag" full of books on their instructional level to enjoy at self selected reading time and at home.

We use AR at my school. For some students it motivates them and others it doesn't. It is NOT a grade requirement for my class.

I also have Zoobooks in my classroom and National Geographic for Kids, they love reading these magazines. This past year was the first year I allowed my second graders to check out magazines from the library (only one). They were overjoyed to be able to do it. It was very motivational for some.

I teach fourth grade which is a grade that research shows students begin to get quite unmotivated in. For whatever reason the jump from third to fourth is a big one. I know, I've taught both grade levels. I think the biggest thing that I do is that I am SUPER excited about reading. I model book talks for the students a lot (and I have them do them too). At the beginning of the year, the first book talk we all do is on our favorite thing to read. It is a great getting to know you activity and it lets them practice sharing and recommending a book. Also I have a bulletin board where students can make book recommendations and we do book commercials which are similar to book talks.

One of the first units I do with my kids is on the mystery genre. I got a great lesson from Beth Newingham on the mystery genre that really gets kids into reading. They become "Reading Detectives" and I enroll them in Reading-Detective Training Academy. We learn all about the mystery genre and we read short fun little mysteries. Then the kids do a literature circle with a mystery book and then they write their own mystery story and we publish the book using a website called Easy Student Publishing. When the kids "graduate" from Reading-Detective-Training Academy they get a badge and a case file with a mystery to solve (which is their literature circle book). They wear their badges when they meet with their literature circles and all of that. I make a big deal of everything and act the part and the kids LOVE it!!! The day they get their badges they wear them all day long (even to lunch). Several of my kids will even keep their badges all year!

Also, another way that I get kids excited about books is any time we are learning a particular unit, I always pull books that relate and have a special area devoted to books on what we are learning about so that students can do more reading on that topic. For instance we were starting our Native Americans unit and to build up to the Trail of Tears and reading the novel Soft Rain my kids did research on Andrew Jackson and wrote bio-poems about him since not only is he one of the three president NC claims but he was also instrumental in paving the way for the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and other Anti-Native American stances. So, in this research smallpox came up (a disease that decimated Native American populations) and the students didn't understand what it was or what the big deal was. They were thinking it was like Chicken Pox. So, I took a time out and I pulled a Non-Fiction book I have call Pox Plagues and Pestilence and read the section on Small Pox to the students. Needless to say they were fascinated and had questions about all sorts of diseases and the vaccinations they get for these diseases (the section talked about early immunizations since one of the first ones was for Small Pox). So I then pulled all of my disease books from the library both fiction and non-fiction (including Fever 1793 about the Yellow Fever Epidemic that hit Philadelphia in the early days of our Nation and Deadly a book about Typhoid Mary) and I did book talks on all of these which I then added to the books I had already pulled on Andrew Jackson and Native Americans. I couldn't keep the disease books in my classroom library. Students even went down to the library and checked out every book on infectious diseases and even requested them from other schools too. They were curious and I helped to feed that curiosity and showed them that books can meet their needs to learn new things.

Another thing we do is we talk about what we read. When students read books for class they are in small groups. Sometimes they choose these groups themselves and sometimes I choose them for them. Usually they have some sort of choice involved though. I do that because choice is a huge motivator for my kids.

I also have my kids do response journals. They write to me about what they are reading and I write back to them. The kids love this and they always want to see what I have to say about what they are reading. Since the conversations we have in these response journals depends on what books the kids are reading the specifics of what we talk about varries widely. I had one girl who read several horse books and so I shared with her that when I was her age I also loved to read books about horses and I told her about some of my favorite books on horses. Not only did she feel that she knew something about me personally that not all of the other students knew she also felt like her love of horse books was validated. She even read one of the books I told her about! Also, a lot of times these response journals turn into verbal conversations with me and the students and sometimes those conversations grow into small group or even on occasion whole group discussions about books.

Another thing that seems to motivate my kids is that I have a HUGE classroom library. I mean literally it is probably close to 1,000 books. I try very hard to not only beef up genres that I don't have a lot on, I also try to include books that I hear the kids talking about or writing about or reading. I taught the principal's son and she told me that one of his favorite things about my room was my library!

I also do read-alouds for fun for my students. I will let the class choose a book for me to read and then I will read it during our "down-times". So, like just before lunch or right before dismissal. All they have to do is listen and enjoy the book. All the "thinking" part of the reading is separate. It is just plain and simple for pleasure and getting the chance to listen to a good book.

I also let them know that I am equally ok with them reading an ebook as I am a print book as I am them listening to an audio book (although I do encourage them to follow along with the actual book as they listen to the audio book). Also, I keep saying books but I mean articles and magazines and poems, etc. too!

I guess the short and sweet of all of this is, I make reading a big deal. I make sharing and talking about what we are reading a big deal. I make choice about what we read a big deal. I find ways to connect reading to everything we do. When kids tell me they don't like to read I tell them they just haven't found the right book yet and I promise them I won't stop trying to help them find whatever it is that sparks them.

Oh another thing that I do is that at Christmas we do a book exchange. Kids bring in a book (new or gently used) that is appropriate for fourth graders (any genre). They then sit in a circle and I read a short story called "The Wright Family". Any time they hear the word "right" (or wright) they pass their book to the right and any time they hear the word "left" they pass their book to the left. It is fun and the kids get a new book. Also, I allow them one swap so if on the off chance a boy winds up with an overtly girlie book or vice/versa, they get one trade. I always get a few extra of Scholatic's dollar books that I will use to trade with a student or to have just in case a student doesn't bring a book in. The kids love it because it is fun and they get a new book!

Debby wrote: "Another way I help get the students to read, is by keeping my books leveled in the classroom. My students know the level they read on, so they may choose books from their level, from the level belo..."

I used to level my classroom library but then I felt like I was saying "stay away" from these books - even though it might be "too easy" but it is still a good book or it's too hard but can be accessed with an audio book version, etc. I felt like I limited my kid's choice and I kept some of my students away from great stories, stories that might potentially have been that child's spark into reading. Also, so many non-fiction books which are picture heavy actually have readability levels that are rather high and those picture heavy books are the books my boys (especially my struggling reader boys) gravitate towards. For that reason, I took the levels away and just organized by genre or author (if I have a bunch by the same author) or by topic (for my non-fiction books). Now, I do talk to kids about finding their "just right" books and we do the five finger rule and I always encourage the students to find a book that "fits" them. We talk all the time about you can't enjoy it if it is too hard to read and you won't grow if it is too easy. But I don't see the harm in occasionally choosing a book off of their level. My student's are allowed to abandon books if they just don't click or if they find it is way too hard for them. I do tell them to give it a few chapters or pages just to see if they grow to like the story if it is an issue of a book not clicking. I tell them that after a few paragraphs if you haven't understood what you have read you need to find a new book. This seems to work pretty well for my kids and I feel like it makes it so that not only do they retain control over what they read and I am not the one dictating which shelves or boxes they can choose from (which is huge for my kids) but it broadens their horizons and opens the door to more books. For instance, one of my struggling reader girls saw another girl reading the book Found by Margret Peterson Haddix. It is a big chapter book that was definitely off her level. However, we had the audio book version in the library so I helped her check that out and she read the book as she listened to the audio book and she loved it! She got so excited about the book and wanted to keep going in the series (which is like 6 or 7 books, maybe 8). I mean we all have to do what works for us and our students. I just found that this is what has worked best for my kids.

Debby wrote: "I have used one trick that helps get the kids reading. I have them talk to a partner for 5 minutes about their personal likes and dislikes. Then, the partner chooses a book for them to read and the..."

That's a really interesting idea. I think I might try this in my classroom!