I absolutely love shared reading. We start everyday with it in our morning meeting. We start with the teacher reading a chapter of Junie B. Jones. Before I read the chapter, I ask them questions to recall what has already happened in the story, and then I ask them what they predict with happen today. Then we move on to our poem! I have one poem a week, usually related to what we are learning that particular week. Each day, one boy and one girl use pointers to lead the class in the reading of the poem. They absolutely love this and beg to be the pointer tomorrow! The daily repetition is beneficial in building their fluency and vocabulary. Then, I have written them a letter that they read to me. I usually hide their spelling words in the letter and they have to come find them. The letter also tells them about things we are going to learn that day or asks questions about what they learned in the previous day. Lastly, we read a big book. Usually I read it solo on Monday and then as the week goes on, I read less until it's entirely the children reading the book to me. This is my absolutely favorite part of the day! I love being together on the carpet and reading things that are interesting and fun! Students do not feel pressured or scared to read, because we are doing it together and figuring things out as a team!
I agree with the statement, "shared reading is also powerful because it helps students and teachers bond.." My class and I have so much fun during shared reading time. They will bring in books from home for me to read. Not only is this providing them a read aloud they thoroughly enjoy, it also is a wonderful resource for me to learn about the interests of my children! When I know what they are interested in, I am able to create lessons and read alouds that are more meaningful.
I have learned so much about how to teach reading from our wonderful reading coach! She has been an amazing asset. She is also sweet enough to let me raid her big book selection. I could understand how big books have "fallen out of favor" with teachers because honestly, they are ridiculously expensive! But thanks to Claire's generosity, I am able to provide my students with a bigger selection of big books! Another awesome resource I have been using is getepic.com. I created an account and teachers can make free libraries of books of all different types of genres. I have been finding books and then using my promethean board to create a "big book" that allows all my students to see and read along with me! Shared reading is so important to students learning how to read, and I can't wait to get to that rug every morning to learn more about my students!
Thank you for your kind words, Ashley, but you are the one doing the real work. You are instilling in your students a love of literacy that will last throughout their lives. You are so right when you say shared reading builds fluency and confidence, and introduces students to genres, but more important is that love of reading and that feeling of family!
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