Independent Reading
During the first part of the year I spend a lot of time getting to know each student, their reading strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. We also spend a lot of time developing our stamina for reading independently. We start with a three to five minute round and work our way up to 25-30 minutes. In the Read to Self Round students are not only reading independently, but also practicing skills and strategies that are taught during our mini-lessons, guided reading lessons or individual conferences. It is expected during this time that students are reading the whole time, are quiet, stay in one place, and are reading a good fit book.
My goal is to get kids to develop a love for reading. As a teacher I love it when students groan when the signal chimes to end the round. They often say, "But Mrs. Harrison, I was lost in my book!"
My goal is to get kids to develop a love for reading. As a teacher I love it when students groan when the signal chimes to end the round. They often say, "But Mrs. Harrison, I was lost in my book!"
Strategies
Check for Understanding: stop and ask "do I understand what I just read?"
Cross Checking: does it look right, sound right, and make sense?
Voracious Reading: read a lot of books and many types all the time to help us with every aspect of both reading and writing.
Monitor and Fix Up: Use our fix up strategies if we don't understand (summarize, reread, read ahead etc)
Adjust our Reading Rate: 1st gear (slow for tough text) to 4th gear (quickly for text that is easy for us to read and understand)
Reread: We reread to practice our fluency or as a fix up strategy.
Make a Mental Picture: Picturing what you are reading helps us understand the story better.
Main Idea and Detail: Figuring out what is important.
Prior Knowledge: Using what we know about a topic, author, genre, words, etc. can help us understand characters and their actions, make predictions, figure out new words and inference.
Fact and Opinion- facts are real and can be proven and opinions are what people think.
Story Elements: Understanding the main elements (character, setting, problem, events, and resolution) helps the reader connect better to the story and understand the theme of the text.
Cross Checking: does it look right, sound right, and make sense?
Voracious Reading: read a lot of books and many types all the time to help us with every aspect of both reading and writing.
Monitor and Fix Up: Use our fix up strategies if we don't understand (summarize, reread, read ahead etc)
Adjust our Reading Rate: 1st gear (slow for tough text) to 4th gear (quickly for text that is easy for us to read and understand)
Reread: We reread to practice our fluency or as a fix up strategy.
Make a Mental Picture: Picturing what you are reading helps us understand the story better.
Main Idea and Detail: Figuring out what is important.
Prior Knowledge: Using what we know about a topic, author, genre, words, etc. can help us understand characters and their actions, make predictions, figure out new words and inference.
Fact and Opinion- facts are real and can be proven and opinions are what people think.
Story Elements: Understanding the main elements (character, setting, problem, events, and resolution) helps the reader connect better to the story and understand the theme of the text.
Recommended Book Lists for 3rd GradersReading Links |
Five Finger TestIs this book too hard for me?
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Read To Someone
Read to someone is often a favorite activity during our workshop. During this time students read with a partner. Partners are responsible for coaching if their friend gets stuck. I also teach students to ask each other questions and respond to their reading. For example a student could start by saying "This is what I heard you read.... Why do you think....?" This social learning and responding is an important aspect of reading and learning. It's also quite enjoyable for the students.
Listen to Reading
During workshop time students can listen to books on tape, CD, via computer or teacher. A lot of times we do this round during content area through Discovery Ed, Epic or My Big Universe. It helps students' fluency by listening to other readers.