Like many other teachers and parents, I have been struggling with how can I encourage my students to read more, love reading, and think deeply about their readings. In the past, I have assigned students reading logs where they have to keep track of the minutes read each week. My hope was that by recording reading minutes, reading would become a routine part of a day, students would be diving deep into books, and students would be expanding their vocabulary.
Well, with some students, I did see this. However, I started to recognize that many students were not becoming readers. They were just reading without purpose. Students were equating “good readers” with those who happened to have read the most minutes in a week. When in fact, many of those so called, “good readers”, were reading the same type of book repeatedly without having to think much. Many times I would hear from families that after 20 minutes, students would stop reading regardless of where they were in the story. Even my own son would just close his book mid-sentence simply because his “20 minutes” had passed. The burning desire to discover how a plot unfolds was missing. Students saw reading as a chore. The purpose was lost in the minutes. Though it is vital for aspiring strong readers to read consistently on a daily basis, there needs to be a greater purpose than that of just recording minutes. Last year, a colleague introduced to me Donalyn Miller’s 40 Book Challenge. The philosophy behind the 40 Book Challenge is to promote a reading community, which inspires students to discover different genres and different reading experiences. Donalyn Miller writes, “The 40 Book Challenge is meant to expand students’ reading lives, not limit or define it.” As students explore a multitude of various genres and diverse authors, they begin to question, to search for related readings, and to make inferences. No longer are they caught up in how many minutes they read, but in the content of what they read and what topic or genre they would like to explore next. The challenge promotes a higher order of thinking and thus illuminates the purpose of reading : to learn. The 40 Book Challenge holds students accountable for reading, while allowing them to experience the value of a text. The 40 Book Challenge motivates students to explore their interests and unveil perspectives, topics, and worlds unbeknown to them. The 40 Book Challenge exposes students to an array of writing styles and vocabulary. The 40 Book Challenge creates life long readers. I highly recommend checking out Donalyn Miller's blog (link below). She is a reading guru and an inspiration to me both as a teacher and as a parent. Donalyn Miller's blog We had a great first three days together! In just 3 days we organized our supplies, listened to at least 5 different books, created our class expectations, attended a Pep Rally and band/orchestra information assembly, took a reading inventory about our interest level in reading, attended our first Math class for the year,and of course, found new friends in one another! Our Book a Day books for Thursday and Friday were Shy and I Hope You Dance. Ask us about them! I am so looking forward to what my fabulous 4th graders can accomplish in a full week! Just a heads up.... we will have NWEA on Tuesday, Thursday, and the following Tuesday. IPads will be sent home after testing. So, as you may of guessed, I love books and I love reading. Below is a link to a blog that I follow, "The Nerdy Book Club." This particular post really spoke to me about the benefits of sharing a picture book a day. If you get a chance and are interested, please feel free to take a moment and read the post. Who knows, you may want to subscribe too! :) Nerdy Book Club LInk Below are images of us creating our class expectations. If you scroll through there will also be a picture of our class expectations. We brainstormed ways to be safe, kind, and respectful in Room 314. We then synthesized our ideas into a class contract. The poster will hang in our room for the remainder of the year and serve as a reminder about the type of classroom environment we want.
Wow! We had an amazing first day! I am so impressed with how kind and respectful everyone was to each other! Ask us about some of our positive reinforcements in here such as table tallies, the EAGLE board, and our paper clip chain. Today we started our picture book a day. That means that by the end of the year we will have read approx. 180 books! A great dinner topic of conversation can be: What was the book you read today? Did it have a message? What did you learn from it? Was it funny, sad, serious? Did you like it and if so why would you recommend it? So, today's book was Archie the Daredevil Penguin by Andy Rash. Ask us what it was about and why I might have chosen to read it on the first day of school! I'm looking forward to seeing my smiling "Hershey Kirschies" tomorrow! 1st Day Fun! Our smiling and silly faces! Hello! I am looking forward to a great year with my fabulous 4th graders! This is the place where I will post classroom happenings and important upcoming information. Please remember on the first day to bring:
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Welcome to Room 314!
Have fun following our fabulous 4th grade journey! Important Dates
August 22nd- First Day!
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September 2018
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