By the end of December, I began to hear many of my students grumbling that they couldn’t find anything to read. My students were still engaged during independent reading time, but I noticed that many of them were rereading books that they had read earlier in the year. Other baskets in my library were literally getting dusty. I spent a lot of my December vacation browsing other teachers’ blogs, reading dozens of new children’s books, and planning for a week of independent reading rehab. Read on for my concise plan to add some polish and shine to independent reading.
In September, I spent several weeks firmly establishing our Readers Workshop. I try to create a “readers' culture”: a classroom environment that celebrates books and readers' struggles and successes. (See my post about the read-alouds I use to launch Readers Workshop.) By October, my students were devouring books, building their reading stamina, and proudly showing off their completed reading logs. My students were leading the “readerly lives” necessary to make progress — the launch was a success!
Several weeks ago I thought back over the components of my early autumn success. Back in September, I gave daily book talks, I left plenty of time each day for my students to discuss their independent reading with the class, and we celebrated every reading milestone. Now, as my students advanced in their reading and thinking skills, I realized that I had pulled back on the celebratory aspects of Readers Workshop. I was also spending less time matching books to my students in favor of letting them choose books independently while I conferred with readers or led strategy groups. It was time to bring some of the showmanship back.
Many of my role-model teachers begin the school year by organizing all of their classroom books collaboratively with their students. While I’ve always looked at these teachers in awe as they dump boxes of miscellaneous books out to sort, this just doesn’t work for me. I carefully cull through my collection and set out neatly labeled baskets of books for the beginning of the school year. (See my post on my classroom library organization system.)
By now, my students know how our classroom library is organized, and they have taken on the responsibility of maintaining our library. They are well prepared, I decided, to reorganize our library. I began by letting my students know that we were going to put away baskets of books that the majority of the students were no longer interested in or had outgrown to make room on our shelves for new books. I pointed out that we have a wide range of reading levels and interests in our class, so students should be sensitive to the fact that a book that may seem “too easy” to one student might be “just right” for another.
I gave my students these “Ciao for Now” and “Please Don’t Leave!” forms to record their personal suggestions. That evening, I compiled their suggestions, choosing a dozen series and authors that my students had almost uniformly outgrown. The next morning, I hung these “Last Chance” labels on those baskets and let my students know that they had two days to read any of those books before they were put away. Interestingly, many of my students borrowed from those baskets — the fire-sale mentality worked.
In September, I only put out about half of my classroom library books, the books that meet my students’ levels and interests at the beginning of 3rd grade. Normally, I swap books in and out of my library fluidly throughout the year, but this year I wanted to make a bigger production of adding the new books to the library.
I mixed a dozen new series, authors, and assorted topics of books in large cardboard boxes and set them out for the students. I explained that these were books that I hadn't felt were appropriate for them at the beginning of the year, but that they have now grown into. I then asked them to work in teams to sort the books and place them into baskets.
The excitement was incredible. Students shouted out, “Whoa, check out this dragon series!” and “Books about WWII! So cool!” My students were begging me to borrow the new books. “Not until they are all sorted,” I replied. Phase 1 complete!
Now that my students were buzzing about the books in the library, it was time for Phase 2 of my plan. I reminded my students about how I frequently give book talks to introduce a new book or series to the class. “As mature, mid-year 3rd graders, you are now going to get the privilege of signing up to give book talks about books you read and want to recommend to the class.”
I set out a sign-up calendar and passed out these guidelines for giving a book talk. I also explained that I would give book talks for the next two days to give students a chance to read some of the new books and to prepare their talks. After a book talk, I always set out an index card for students to sign up to read the featured book to prevent fights in the library. I also showed the students how to record the books they wanted to read in the future on this “I Can’t Wait to Read . . . ” form.
My independent reading rehab plan is going really well. My students are buzzing about books again, several students have already given enthusiastic book talks that have led to long lists of students who want to read those books, and my students are discovering books that were in our classroom library all along, but that they had previously overlooked.
I obviously want to make sure that this momentum keeps up through the rest of the school year and doesn’t get tossed aside like my gym-routine New Year's resolution. These are a couple of the ideas I have for the coming months:
How do you keep independent reading fresh in your classroom? I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions so I can add to my bag of tricks. Happy New Year and happy reading!
By the end of December, I began to hear many of my students grumbling that they couldn’t find anything to read. My students were still engaged during independent reading time, but I noticed that many of them were rereading books that they had read earlier in the year. Other baskets in my library were literally getting dusty. I spent a lot of my December vacation browsing other teachers’ blogs, reading dozens of new children’s books, and planning for a week of independent reading rehab. Read on for my concise plan to add some polish and shine to independent reading.
In September, I spent several weeks firmly establishing our Readers Workshop. I try to create a “readers' culture”: a classroom environment that celebrates books and readers' struggles and successes. (See my post about the read-alouds I use to launch Readers Workshop.) By October, my students were devouring books, building their reading stamina, and proudly showing off their completed reading logs. My students were leading the “readerly lives” necessary to make progress — the launch was a success!
Several weeks ago I thought back over the components of my early autumn success. Back in September, I gave daily book talks, I left plenty of time each day for my students to discuss their independent reading with the class, and we celebrated every reading milestone. Now, as my students advanced in their reading and thinking skills, I realized that I had pulled back on the celebratory aspects of Readers Workshop. I was also spending less time matching books to my students in favor of letting them choose books independently while I conferred with readers or led strategy groups. It was time to bring some of the showmanship back.
Many of my role-model teachers begin the school year by organizing all of their classroom books collaboratively with their students. While I’ve always looked at these teachers in awe as they dump boxes of miscellaneous books out to sort, this just doesn’t work for me. I carefully cull through my collection and set out neatly labeled baskets of books for the beginning of the school year. (See my post on my classroom library organization system.)
By now, my students know how our classroom library is organized, and they have taken on the responsibility of maintaining our library. They are well prepared, I decided, to reorganize our library. I began by letting my students know that we were going to put away baskets of books that the majority of the students were no longer interested in or had outgrown to make room on our shelves for new books. I pointed out that we have a wide range of reading levels and interests in our class, so students should be sensitive to the fact that a book that may seem “too easy” to one student might be “just right” for another.
I gave my students these “Ciao for Now” and “Please Don’t Leave!” forms to record their personal suggestions. That evening, I compiled their suggestions, choosing a dozen series and authors that my students had almost uniformly outgrown. The next morning, I hung these “Last Chance” labels on those baskets and let my students know that they had two days to read any of those books before they were put away. Interestingly, many of my students borrowed from those baskets — the fire-sale mentality worked.
In September, I only put out about half of my classroom library books, the books that meet my students’ levels and interests at the beginning of 3rd grade. Normally, I swap books in and out of my library fluidly throughout the year, but this year I wanted to make a bigger production of adding the new books to the library.
I mixed a dozen new series, authors, and assorted topics of books in large cardboard boxes and set them out for the students. I explained that these were books that I hadn't felt were appropriate for them at the beginning of the year, but that they have now grown into. I then asked them to work in teams to sort the books and place them into baskets.
The excitement was incredible. Students shouted out, “Whoa, check out this dragon series!” and “Books about WWII! So cool!” My students were begging me to borrow the new books. “Not until they are all sorted,” I replied. Phase 1 complete!
Now that my students were buzzing about the books in the library, it was time for Phase 2 of my plan. I reminded my students about how I frequently give book talks to introduce a new book or series to the class. “As mature, mid-year 3rd graders, you are now going to get the privilege of signing up to give book talks about books you read and want to recommend to the class.”
I set out a sign-up calendar and passed out these guidelines for giving a book talk. I also explained that I would give book talks for the next two days to give students a chance to read some of the new books and to prepare their talks. After a book talk, I always set out an index card for students to sign up to read the featured book to prevent fights in the library. I also showed the students how to record the books they wanted to read in the future on this “I Can’t Wait to Read . . . ” form.
My independent reading rehab plan is going really well. My students are buzzing about books again, several students have already given enthusiastic book talks that have led to long lists of students who want to read those books, and my students are discovering books that were in our classroom library all along, but that they had previously overlooked.
I obviously want to make sure that this momentum keeps up through the rest of the school year and doesn’t get tossed aside like my gym-routine New Year's resolution. These are a couple of the ideas I have for the coming months:
How do you keep independent reading fresh in your classroom? I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions so I can add to my bag of tricks. Happy New Year and happy reading!
Daily number talks are 10 minutes well spent towards building computational skills, reinforcing number sense, and working on the habits of mind that help students succeed not only in math, but in all academic areas.
Documentaries, aka "nonfiction movies," are a great way for kids to share their research, observations, and points of view about their world. Here are two documentaries my students made and lots of tips to make documentaries with your students.
Making and keeping friends is an essential life skill that students deserve to be taught. Here are a bunch of the picture books I use to launch class discussions about friendship.
My students explore school-bound journeys, both through our local neighborhood and in far off lands with this simple back-to-school mini-unit.
Looking to infuse more nonfiction into my reader's workshop, I decided to give biographies a try. In part 1 of this post, here's a list of my favorite biographies for teaching.
The demo lesson, the teaching equivalent of an audition, can be scary! My colleagues and I compiled lots of tips to share with you based on our collective experiences teaching demo lessons.
Learn how to create and maintain an inviting classroom library that encourages each student to read.
