Helping Students to Choose Books for Independent Reading

So I have my small groups, I have resources to help me get better at being a better Teacher, Now what?

What are the rest of the students doing while your pulling small groups?

Independent Reading:  Books and More Books: How can I help students find books that fit unit of study that will keep them engaged while I pull groups?

First, we talk about their reading identity for that genre and create  a chart in their journals.  Second, we discuss the class library, next the difference between real and fake reading   The last lesson I do is based on observation and taking note of disengaged students,  Each of these lessons are taught on separate days.  I usually have book baskets set up on desk that students read from until I have taught all the  mini lessons to get Readings Workshop set up are taught, especially the ones related to independent reading.  After this, I start book recommendations.  I use their identity list and my observations.

I often found I had boys that just couldn't get pass the graphic novels and sports illustrated books or girls from reading the same books over and over.  So I began a search of books to give them other  options .  At this point, we talked about finding books that fit genre of study that they could apply skills and strategies toward.

 I needed the students to find books that had strong characters that changed from beginning to middle to end. The unit on Character Development is one of our longest units,  and we explore internal and external characteristic of characters and develop theories about them, In order to get my students to be able to apply skills taught in the unit, I had to find books that would peak their interest enough that they would want to explore the character in depth.

Here is a list of the most popular books that I've read and recommended to my students that got them motivated to get out of their comfort zones and be able to analyze how characters develop through the stories they read.

I first suggested authors that I like or found interesting.  I gave book blurbs about them and set up book baskets for each.  The  authors I suggested were:  Katherine Patterson, Lois Lowery, Gary Paulsen, Jerry Spinelli, Gordon  Korman,  Beverly Cleary, and Margaret Haddix.  I also find authors for my low readers. I introduced David Adler and Jake Maddox and Mary Osborne,

 Jake Maddox was the most popular,  He writes stories based around sports. The characters are engaged in some type of  sporting event.  There are some geared toward boys and  girls.  Once I introduced them,  I noticed the kids sharing them and wanting to go exchange them quicker than they were before being introduced to him. Ellray  Jakes  was another book that my boys loved.  It is also a series book about the every day shenanigans of a little boy.

Then  I looked for books with strong characters. The character Stink was the first character I introduced  to my class,  Oh boy, did they laugh as I read aloud how  a young kid was able to get  free stuff just by writing a letter. These books are about a little boy that always has something up his sleeve.  I loved reading them, The kids loved reading them.

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I then focused on my girls and found several books that they began to  explore and want more like them,  For instance these characters,  Mallory, Ivy Bean and Kylie Jean and Claudine.   All of  these characters have a string of books where they go through every day life with twist and turns.  

  

Series are my favorite to introduce to kids because it provides many titles focused around the character that keeps students reading. I share the series that I have read.  I created  a book recommendation wall where every week students are encourage recommend books to their peers using the form provided.  I print a copy of the cover and we post the form with the book cover on the board.  You will be amazed how engaged they become.  I make sure to  model how to write a blurb that will draw readers attention using the turning point.  Of course, without giving the story away. 

 My ultimate goal  however is to ignite a passion for Reading in everyone.  So I share books I've read,  adult and children. My students can see my passion and excitement, and it grabs their attention.  My hope with this post is to share some book title that I introduced to my students that helped with my unit on Character Development, but also to share some great book title to draw in your reluctant and unmotivated readers.  So now everybody has a book or available book choices, What;s  up next?  How to plan effective instruction using  learning progressions and Reading Bands. 

 Stay tuned.

Here is an image of the form I use.  I searched the Internet and found several.  However, I liked the simplicity of this particular form.

Reading Matters

So you have your small groups, and now your ready to get reading rolling, but your noticing you have students that are not totally engaged or motivated to read. I have the perfect resources that will give you ideas on how to ramp up your reading instruction and get students actively involved.

Donalyn Miller is one of my favorite authors she has two great books I think every teacher should read:

The Book Whisperer and Reading in the Wild

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In Miller's books, she shares ideas on how to increase the volume that kids read and how to track their reading.  She shows you  how she to set up her  Reading workshop so it can be productive and inviting to students.  She provides ideas on how to introduce books to students, how to monitor student reading, how students can monitor their own reading as well as how to encourage the unenthusiastic reader to want to read. She talks of student choices and  inspires you to help students develop lifelong reading habits.


Another author that I truly enjoy reading is Jennifer Serravallo's,

In her book she provides information on how to develop strategic readers using mini lessons organized in this manner: Strategy, Teaching Tips, and Prompts. You can use the table of contents to go directly to the section/goal that you have set for your readers and, through several structured lessons, you model for students what they need to do to become strategic readers. It has lessons arranged by reading levels that make it a great tool to use for targeted or focused small group teaching.


Another book that I read every year is Reading with Meaning, depicted below.

Debbie Miller not only provides lessons and ideas on how to make the most out of Reading Workshop, she also provides Read Aloud titles to address the core reading skills that I feel readers should be able to use with any book they read: Determining importance, Inferring, Asking Questions, Synthesizing Information, and Visualizing, 

Last, but not least, Steven L. Layne's Igniting a Passion for Reading, which provides help to teachers in regards to motivating those hesitant readers or those that cringe at the mention of the word reading.  

Layne provides insight for teachers on how to tap into students interest, set goals, do book talks, and create an inviting reading environment within the classroom that will make students want to see what's in your class library.

These are just a few of the many books that I read year after year, to keep their ideas at the forefront of my planning and preparation for each school year. I am a lifelong reader of any and everything. So, up next, books that I gave book talks on to motivate my reluctant readers, and boy readers. Stay tuned!

My Small Groups Are Set, Now What?

So now I have my small groups, so what do you do next you ask? Well that depends on the groups that you have created. As a teacher of 17 years, I have come to realize that the resources I use to prepare are important. Let me say that these are things that I as a teacher have found great resources to use to prepare for my small group instruction.

Guided Reading groups:

If I am teaching guided reading groups that are based on reading levels, the first thing I do is make sure that I am familiar with what each reader is expected to be able to do in order to process the text in which they are reading. I do this by studying the Reading Bands. The reading bands tell you what kids should be able to do in the level they are in and what they need to be able to do to move to the next level. I created a flip book of these bands and highlighted criteria that is important for readers to be successful. If you notice kids are not performing according to what the band states, I personally go back and look at the previous bands and see what the student is missing.

So once all this is accomplished book choice is important.  You want to try to rotate books in my opinion, start with a book that is too easy to work on fluency and decoding strategies, and then use their instructional level to teach skills necessary for students to be able to talk about the book, make inferences beyond the book, and be able to interact with the book. As a teacher,  I learned after the first few years to focus on one of those three areas not all of them. I also realized that you want to keep these groups as small as possible (3 to 6 students). However, six is a bit much to handle when you are trying to make sure to address individuals within a given time frame. This differs from teacher to teacher, school to school and even district to district. So once I determine which area to focus on, number of students, then use the Bands to determine which skill or strategy to focus on in that group for the day.

Here is an example of how you can set up or organize for guided reading groups:

Strategy Groups:

If I am teaching strategy groups, I can mix up reading levels and group kids according to need and each kid can use their own leveled book to practice and apply strategy.  That's what I love about small group teaching. I then make sure I have the necessary materials, things that I like to have readily available: small student dry erase boards, erasers, dry erase markers, index cards, sticky notes, magnetic letters, highlighters, pencils, paper, along with various charts: ABC,  Blends, Dipthongs, poems, an easel, chart paper, and whisper phones.

I often use poems as a Read Aloud during the lesson because they are short and you can find many that address a lot of the common word patterns that students struggle with during their independent reading. I make sure to have student books that represent the skill I am trying to teach as well to do a guided practice with students. Students are then expected to do the same with words that are in their individual books that are pre-selected by the teacher and represent the errors that this particular group of students are making.

Below is an example that is similar to one of the ways that I organized my word work materials when I taught Second grade, but now that I teach Fourth grade I create my buckets daily because the materials change daily.  This is just the way I did it.  So think about ways to organize your materials for your students to not only access during small group or when working independently as well.  

So, these are things that I would do as a reading teacher once I establish my small reading groups, whether Strategy or Guided. So, what's next? Well, how about some book talks, my perspective on some of the most effective professional development reading materials that help me enhance myself as a reading teacher.

Making the Most Out of Small Group Instruction

In order to get the most of  your Small group instruction,  you have to put in the work before hand.  You must come prepared for all contingencies.  However, you first must do a lot research on your students.  You need to examine student work, student data from formal and informal assessment, look at student journals, read through your conference and ancedotal note forms and decide what students need.

All students need to be met with at least once in a week, so that means if you teach Gifted and Talented they deserve as much attention as your low babies.

Data should drive everything you do in the classroom. For instance