There are so many amazing books available for kids. Children should read quality books that interest them every day. The more students enjoy what they are reading, the more attention they will pay to what they are reading and the better they will comprehend it. However as teachers we are often worried about how we will know if students have comprehend the books they are reading if we haven’t read them ourselves. So we give them a specific group of books to choose from and have comprehension questions ready.
Teachers need accountability. Kids need the freedom to read what they enjoy. So in my classroom I worked to a compromise. The kids could read anything that they wanted, as long as it was fairly close to their level, and they completed some sort of accountability measure. In order to allow my students to reading books that interested them but still be held accountable, I have created resources that could be used with any book students chose. They check that students are using reading comprehension strategies and force students to think about the book – whatever book they choose.
Here are a few resources that allow students to read any book they choose but still practice reading comprehension strategies:
36 Week Reading Response Journal
Non-Fiction Book Study for Any Book
Book Review Bookmark (Free Download)
Online Book Report (Free Download)
Of course it is always helpful to have some great books hanging around for students to choose from. Check out my post on 10 Authors that Should Be in EVERY Elementary Classroom to find great book suggestions.
No comments:
Post a Comment