The Significance of Choice
Parent-Teacher conferences were held in our district a few weeks ago. A father of one of my students was chatting and asking questions about his child's progress when he commented,
"We can't skip reading at night. Ella loves to read stories, and if we don't have time she just isn't happy. I'm amazed at how well she is reading, but I'm really surprised by how much she knows about books and authors. I don't remember knowing about authors when I was in school --- and she's just in first grade."I give Ella credit for her success. She loves to read and can be found with books throughout the day. She loves going to the library to get new books. An artist in the making, she's as excited about the work of the illustrator as she is about the work of the author. Ella is a first grader and she's learning how to read, but she's learning something much more important. She's learning to live the life of a reader.
As a first grade teacher I've always thought it was important to send books home with kids. However, my thinking about how this should look in our classroom has evolved over time. Over the years I've transitioned from having students take home the books they read with me in guided reading to having students make their own thoughtful selections each evening. It seemed more purposeful to have children choose their own books, learn to make their own selections, and develop their love of reading.
Recently I wrote about having students select their own books to take home at night. After publishing this post I was asked, "Do you ever worry if a student never chooses a "just right" book to take home to practice? A lot of my parents really want their child bringing home a book they can read independently. Thoughts?" I think we all wrestle with this. Being intentional about the books I place in our classroom library helps support young readers. When considering books for our classroom libraries we are accommodating a variety of reading levels and individual interests.
Intentional Choices for Supporting Developing Readers
Author collections support developing readers. Authors often use similar styles, formats, and vocabulary across texts. In our classroom authors like Mo Willems, Jan Thomas, Robert Munsch, Eric Carle, and David Shannon help young readers not only fall in love with books, but help them to learn about reading.
In our classroom we pause to read aloud several times each day. Choosing books for read aloud that students will be able to revisit and reread after hearing the story is always a priority. We keep a basket of favorite books chosen by our class.
Stories that are familiar to students are easier to read independently. Fairy tales and song books are obvious choices for familiar stories. Students can often read a variety of versions successfully because of their familiarity with the plot, characters and stories.
Each basket of books in our classroom contains books at a variety of levels. We spend a lot of time early in the year learning how to choose books that are of an appropriate challenge. These baskets allow a variety of readers to sit down and find a book that is a good match.
My students always enjoy books with strong characters. Our classroom library has many character collections for students to enjoy. Some of our favorites include Froggy, Spot, Ben, Biscuit, Marley, The Bear Family, Tacky, Splat the Cat, and Bear. When students become familiar with a character it is often easier for them to read new books about this character.
We have a few baskets of little books in our classroom. While these books can be found leveled in our bookroom, these baskets are not leveled. I usually place books across several levels with similar text features in the same basket. Honestly, kids read from these baskets here and there, but rarely do they choose books from these baskets to take home.
Having a collection of small copies of books we have read together in shared reading is helpful to developing readers. I find these collections to be most useful with kindergarten students and beginning first graders. Readers who need confidence benefit from these collections.
Students have a bag they keep with their individual books. Books in this bag include Keep Books, books from guided reading, as well as books students have chosen to revisit.
Thanks Asha Ruiz (@asharuiz) for the inspiration for this post.
Oh, I need to send this to my daughter's (former) K/1 teacher! There was so much emphasis on levels that it was a competition (like Lisa Koch described). Sorting by topic really lets kids pursue their interests and keeps them reading!
ReplyDeleteCathy--Thank you, once again, for pushing my thinking and for sharing your teaching and learning with all of us. So....when are you flying to warm Alabama to sit next to me and be my tech/blog/twitter coach? I will fix you the perfect wireless spot by the pool and set you up with fancy drinks with umbrellas! :)
ReplyDeleteI love the book sorting options! Of course, with my blog Happy Birthday Author, I am a fan of the Author bins!
ReplyDeleteChoice is so important - I love these ideas to support young readers and empower them.
ReplyDelete"...she's learning how to read, but she's learning something much more important. She's learning to live the life of a reader."
ReplyDeletePowerful stuff.
I love this post and I share the same reasoning for allowing my kids to choose a book to take home. They view it as a privilege. I was recently talking to other teachers about inspiring kids to read outside of the classroom instead of focusing on skill and drill for "homework." And, we have to remember that leveled readers began as a way to get children to a new level and --out of the leveled reader-- as the goal of training wheels is to get them out of needing them. (Thank you Lester Laminack for this analogy.) We want our kids to soar with quality, powerful children's literature....soon ready to even "ride with no hands." Thanks for sharing your thinking here.
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