LIBE 477 - Inquiry Blog #1 Fostering Reading Cultures

Everyone is a reader… some just haven’t found their favourite book yet. 

-Anonymous

 

I LOVE reading. I always have. I suppose I consider myself one of the lucky few who reading came easy to and who just poured over books. As an adult, I find I struggle to find time to read and I tend to think back to when I was younger and had many books and many hours to myself.

For me, passion and interest come to mind when I think of fostering a reading culture. Students need to get excited about books, about information, and about reading! I find that when I get excited about books or ham up a book I am reading to my students, its contagious! It is one of the many things I do in my classroom to make reading fun and something the kids can look forward to.

Currently, some of the strategies, tools, and resources I use around reading in my classroom is to start with books kids are interested in, regardless of level. Reading is not just knowing the words. I always have a great big selection of various reading material in my room. We talk lots about the books we love, why we love them, what we want to share with others about our books. I try to bring in as many interest-based books as I can. I find “hooking” them with books they love, leads to a love to read, and then moves to reading outside their comfort. Independent Reading is a big cornerstone of my classroom. Its nonnegotiable if I can help it. It’s a free, read what you want, what you can, space. No judgement here! Studies in independent reading has shown that “Students acquire more vocabulary by reading new books than they would by simply memorizing lists of words. In fact, according to researchers, vocabulary acquisition is directly correlated to the amount of minutes students read each night.” ("The Many Benefits Of Independent Reading - EF Academy Blog")

Secondly, we do lots of “Reading Power” by Adrienne Gear, which helps students think about their reading and connect to books. Often students read without really comprehending, and how can you enjoy a book or enjoy reading when its beyond you? Having students work through the lessons with me allows me to see who has the skills to connect, and who needs some guidance and teaching to connect and comprehend.

If you’re interested in checking out her work, click below! Ps. She also has a writing power book!

Lastly, I do many read alouds. I am talking a new book every few weeks! Some are short, some are poems, some are fiction and some, just a good old fun fact book! This exposes students to many new types of books that they may not have ordinarily picked off a shelf. 

 

Here is a mini list of fun book-loving activities to try in your classroom:

-          Book love notes

-          Mystery book (read the backs of the books, do not show the cover, have students choose)

-          Recreate a book, rewrite a book, sketch a book!

-          Book bingos

-          Book share and tell

-          Book bags

-          Book fairs (like science fair, but book reports!)

-          Book time capsules

-          Diorama books

-          Create a published classbook! (Student Treasures Publishing does this for free!)

https://studentreasures.com/start-your-classbook/

 

Jumping from present to future, I’d like to expand my teaching with some more knowledge behind levelled reading, and how to take information from doing running records and properly apply them within my classroom. I’d also really like to find better ways to encourage at home reading. I’ve been very lucky to work with our district literacy teacher and have had the opportunity to go into classrooms as well as have her work directly with me in developing a literacy program within my classroom. I would love to do more of this. I would love being able to watch other literacy programs at work to see how I could potentially implement them into my own room.

 

As a quick aside, I’d love to be able to have a system working in the library where makerspace stations and lessons directly correlate to a book section and students have the ability to take out books related to the project they are building! My goal is to look into how I could make this happen.

 

References and Resources:

"Book Recommendation Notes". Teachers Pay Teachers, 2020, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Book-Recommendation-Notes-1988005?item_group_id=PG_1988005.

"Start Your Classbook - Create A Book - Studentreasures Publishing". Studentreasures Publishing, 2020, https://studentreasures.com/start-your-classbook/.

"The Library & Early Age Reading Habits | Princh Library Blog". Princh, 2020, https://princh.com/the-library-early-age-reading-habits/#.X4POXe17mUk.

"The Many Benefits Of Independent Reading - EF Academy Blog". EF Blog, 2020, https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/efacademyblog/benefits-of-independent-reading/.

Gear, Adrienne. "Reading Power — Reading Power". Reading Power, https://www.readingpowergear.com/reading-power.

practicalpedagogs, View. "Establishing A Reading Culture: Community". Practical Pedagogs, 2020, https://practicalpedagogs.wordpress.com/2018/08/09/establishing-a-reading-culture-community/.