At my school, we are very fortunate to have a literacy library, as well as our regular school library. With that said, I make it my mission to find books of interest, at the appropriate levels, for all of my students. At the beginning of the year we discuss the different genres of books, and do a reading inventory of the kinds of book that they like /want to read. For me, this is a great way for me to see who they are as readers.
There are always a few students who don't like to read, or don't have a favorite genre. Those are the ones that I sit down with and personally talk about their reading inventory. After talking with them, sometimes in depth, we are usually able to come up a few choices. If I cannot find the book in my school library or literacy library, I wll try my local library or try to find the book online!
Connecting with a book or genre is so important. I remember a teacher noticing that I loved Nancy Drew books and then introducing another series. It was totally different but she recognized I liked the familiarity of a series and thought I'd like it. I noticed this when I taught third grade and some of my struggling readers became friends with Jack and Annie in Magic Treehouse books. They could read them and talk about them which helped them join the community of readers.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of doing a reading inventory early on with a new class to find out what they enjoy reading so far. This is something I would like to do starting a new loop next year. It sounds like a great way to help students find books they will enjoy to read and also a way to help them find new series or authors they may have not known about.
ReplyDeleteMaking sure the students are reading books that are not only accessible but also engaging is crucial at this age, Becky. That's great that you spend the time to provide them with just what they need. So many times kids are off the mark when they choose their own independent reading.
ReplyDelete