Scholastic Book Clubs
Class Code
K686W
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This information is being provided to you as a means of sharing some background behind my classroom practices. My students will participate in a reading workshop and be expected to read a variety of genres as noted in Common Core State Standards.
Key Components of a Reading Workshop
Source - The Book Wisperer by Donalyn Miller
Time: Students need substantial time to read and look through books.
Choice: Students need the opportunity to choose reading materials for themselves .
Response: Students should respond in natural ways to the books they are reading through conference, written entries, classroom discussions, and projects.
Community: Students are part of a classroom reading community in which all members can make meaningful contributions to the learning of the group.
Structure: The workshop rests on a structure of routines and procedures that support students and teachers.
Reading Research
- Stephen Krashen, a Reading Researcher completed a study over input 40 years investigating the effects of independent reading. It revealed the following: No single literary activity has a more positive effect on students' comprehension, vocabulary, knowledge, spelling, writing ability, and overall academic achievement than free voluntary reading, and students that read the most are the best at every aspect of being a learner –reading, writing, researching, and content-specific knowledge.
- The Commission on Reading published a touchstone report in 1985- Becoming a Nation of Readers. It recommends students engage in a minimum of two hours of silent sustained reading per week. (In our team we require 30 min. every night and expect students to read whenever they finish their work. Additional time is also available during reading class and homeroom.)
- Findings from 2007 Associated Press Poll, reported in the Washington Post, indicates that the average adult American read only 4 books that entire year. Of the adults who read, the average was seven books but 25% who responded did not read any books.
- Just because a gifted reader can read more advanced text does not mean that they are emotionally ready for adult themes or issues. This is not my decision to make: it is the parents.
- Gifted readers should read fiction close to their age level and non-fiction at their advanced level (Halsted 2002).
- *You can not inspire others to do what you are not inspired to do yourself. This is why, as teachers and parents, we must read!
My goal as your child's reading teacher...
To create a lifelong, voracious reader