Read All About It

                                          Read All About It!                                                                                                

In a world where kids are hooked on technology how do we get them hooked on books? Kids now days want to do their homework and quickly get on the tablet or computer to play video games. It is difficult to get them interested in reading, if they do not love it. I have always believed what J.K. Rowling once said, “If you don’t like to read, you haven’t found the right book.”

"There is more treasure in books than in all the pirate's loot on Treasure Island."

 – Walt Disney

Why do students have trouble finding the right book? Students are required to read at their lexile level in order to read and comprehend without difficulty. It could be that the class and school library may not provide a big variety of books at the student’s level. It could also be that the family cannot take the student to the city library. Whatever the reason may be, I feel it is our job, as teachers, to get students to love READING. A strategy that has worked in my classroom is doing a read-aloud every trimester or more, depending on the length of the book. I tell my students, that they are not the only ones who will be reading in the class, I will be reading too; I let them know that I will be reading one or more of my favorite stories. Being that they are just getting to know me the first month of the school, the students are very excited to hear about the stories I have picked and cannot wait for me to begin reading.

“Exposure to Challenging Texts… Because students have a higher level of listening comprehension than reading comprehension, reading aloud to students at a level slightly above their current level exposes them to texts that challenge their current reading ability.”             (www.readinghorizons.com)

At this point, I have them excited about reading because I have set the stage with my love for reading. I tell students that reading is the foundation of all learning and to top it off reading can lead them to many adventures that will enhance our knowledge. Now that I have the students interested, little do they know that when I am reading to them, not only will they be on an adventurous journey, but are also being challenged to comprehend a story that may be above their reading level. A read-aloud opens doors for you to teach reading fluency and comprehension at the same time. You will teach them to read at a good pace, teach them accuracy by looking up unknown words, and show them how to read with expression to go along the journey with the characters of the story. As you enjoy reading to your students and they are enjoying listening to you, the magic in imagination ignites, which means you are helping your students develop and improve their reading skills within the journey!

On my next blog, I will be guiding you on my read aloud process, telling you about some fun 4^th grade read-aloud books and my personal favorite, ”Wonder”, which I think ties in perfectly with 

P. B. I. S. with the Anti-Bully lessons. Stay tuned… J

Live, Love, Teach! 

                                          Hilda Sanchez