Being-Ladylike: Reading in the Wild: Sharing Books and Reading Together

Thursday, July 17, 2014

Reading in the Wild: Sharing Books and Reading Together

This week's chapter is hosted by the lovely ladies at Teaching to Inspire in 5th, Miss V's Busy Bees, and Teaching in the Fast Lane. Make sure you click on over to their blog posts and several others at the bottom of this post or link up with all of us using the linky. In case you missed any of the previous chapters...here are some quick links for you:

Week 1 - Dedicate Time to Reading

Week 2 - Planning Reading Workshop

Week 3 - Teaching Students to Love Reading

Week 4 - Curating a Classroom Library

I have to admit, at the start of this chapter I decided this was my least favorite. But then, I reached the list of books Donalyn suggest reading at the beginning of the year for read-alouds. It was the perfect way to get me motivated to transition into the new school year and begin thinking about where I want to go with my students. So for this week's, I wanted to share the books (with links, so you can access them as well) I plan to add to my year's read-alouds list.

"The most effective reading teachers are teachers who read." (pg. 106)

Fostering School and Home Reading Communities

While Donalyn listed quite a few ways to do this, there were a couple that I could easily see implementing since I don't know how easy it would be to get my admin and entire school on board for this school year. But I can sure try for next year! You'll have to read this chapter to see what I'm leaving out. :-)

Here's what I AM going to include this year (pgs. 92-93):

Reading recommendations and home reading tips whenever I communicate with parents in newsletters or on my class blog
Add a weekly student book recommendation to my e-mail signature
"I am currently reading..." sign outside of my classroom door
Pass out books during parent conferences and PTA/PTO meetings
Teach parents simple ways to incorporate more reading into family routines

The first year I successfully used ideas from The Book Whisperer was a fantastic one. I had parents who told me they saw a change in their students (see the picture below from a district parent survey) and then, the kicker, their 6th grade teachers also told me during some vertical articulation work that they truly appreciated the way my students came to them loving reading. They found they were able to jump right in with them! It was music to my ears! I got away from it a little bit the year after that as it was the year I was working towards my National Board Certification and that was my HUGE focus. And if you have been reading my blog the last couple months, you also know this school year that just ended was my roughest one yet and so I had to focus on management and catching up instead of building my reading community...that makes me really sad, but I've now got a renewed sense of what I want to do this year!

Books that Build Communities

Like I mentioned above, this part was my favorite section of this chapter. Several of the recommended books are those I already use in my classroom, so I didn't include them below...so I definitely order you to read this chapter to see the rest. ;-) I mean that in the nicest and most helpful way of course. Which books do you already read for your read-alouds? Do you see any below that you want to try out?