One of my favorite things is helping kids engage in reading. I love when they enter my classroom at the beginning of the year and proudly announce that they hate reading: challenge accepted.
I love teaching kids what it really means to be a reader. I start out by assuring them that we are all readers; in fact, we all have a love for reading that is hidden deep inside. Some have a more difficult time accessing that love.
I move on to my vacation metaphors, as I explain that reading is like a free vacation, anywhere in the world. The trick is figuring out just what that vacation is for each one of us. Some like the tropics, others the Rocky Mountains...and some of us, just like to keep it local, within the sprawling farms of VT.
Finally, I invite them to a Book Tasting...one of the greatest activities I have run in my LA class. The media specialist and I chose approximately 40 high interest books from a variety of genres and spread them out over 5 tables. We explained to our students that we wanted them to take "reading risks"; we wanted them to choose to "taste" genres that they were not familiar with. For 3 at 15 minutes each, they sat and read from books that they would not typically choose. During each rotation, they filled out a menu that had simple yet significant questions about the books they were choosing.
Our students were not only engaged but also very willing to spend time reading new genres. At the end of the period, many were lined up to check out books they would never have chosen previous to the activity. Mission accomplished.
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