Starting your day with 20 minutes of reading time can set the tone for the day and also improve your students reading ability. When children settle in with the quiet activity of reading, they are able to enjoy reading for reading. Depending on the age of your students, it will take a few minutes to really settle in and engage in the text. In one year's time, a child who reads 20 minutes a day is exposed to 1.8 million words. And just think, if you encourage your students to read an additional 20 minutes at home you can double that number!
Many teachers who incorporate silent reading in their classrooms find the rewards are many for their students. For the most part, reading is an individual act and it is natural to read silently. Those teachers who provide an opportunity for silent reading may just be on the right track to
promote life long reading and enjoyment.
Let your students choose what they want to read during this independent reading time. Encouraging good book choices can easily be accomplished by maintaining an awesome classroom library. It is also a great practice to encourage students to find their own books from town and school libraries, book clubs and borrowing books from friends. However, should one of your students make an inappropriate choice, then by all means, tell him so. "That is not appropriate for school." just as you would with inappropriate talk or actions. You are there to guide and facilitate. Let your students know that a good book is one that makes you smarter or a nicer person.
Teach your students that books have different levels and all readers have easy, just right and challenging books to explore. The goal would be to read most books at a just right level; however sometimes we relax with an easy book and sometimes we explore a challenging one. Some studies show that when children are allowed to make their own book choices, they achieve higher scores on standardized tests and improve scholastic achievement. This could be so because students who are free to choose what they want to read, read more. They find reading an enjoyable activity and everyone knows we engage in activities that we enjoy. There are many authors who have written a series of books and often times if a child reads and loves one from the series, he/she wants to read more of the series. I know some boys who want to read all of the Harry Potter books, all the Percy Jackson books, and all of the Unfortunate Events books.
And girls who want to read every single title of The Goddess Girls, The BoxCar series, or Judy Blume. and the list goes on... there's Clementine, Ramona, Fancy Nancy and the Babysitter's Club.
Here is your step-by-step guide to Implement S.S.R. and Improve Reading Achievement in Your Classroom.
- Decide on the time. Schedule a 20-minute block of time. This time block needs to be quiet with no interruptions. Starting out you might add 5 extra minutes to settle in; and 5 minutes to put books away after reading ... total of 30 minutes. Children build stamina over time.
- Time starts when room is quiet and students are ENGAGED in reading the text.
- Like everything else you do, you must teach S.S.R. etiquette. Books are chosen outside the time frame of the actual reading time. Teach and explain how to choose a book and when and where to get a book. Younger students may choose from book bins and read on carpet. When young readers read picture books, they sometimes need more than one book to sustain the 20 minutes. See "How Readers Choose Books" below. Share and discuss the points with your class.
- Rules for S.S.R. - Stay in one place. Reading [eyes on words]. Thinking.
- A well-stocked classroom library is always an advantage to reading. When will your students be able to choose books for S.S.R.? Setting aside a bit of time for book shopping can help tremendously. Students who know they will be reading at school do not take a long time to remember they need to have a book ready to read. They will always be able to answer the question "What book are you reading now?"
- When all readers are settled in, start the timer. Simply a visual look at your clock.
- It's always best when you also engage in reading as you will be the role model for reading behavior.
- Teachers and students alike grow to love this time at school and look forward to it.
- Not necessary to write or talk about the reading. If a natural book conversation happens, well yes, however; this reading practice does not require comprehension questions, providing evidence or proof of reading. It is about trusting this process and truly becoming a community of readers and writers.
- If you are lucky enough to have a literature circle time, you will find that these books spill over to the literature circle quite nicely.
How Readers Choose Books:
- Interesting Cover
- Read Summary on Back Cover
- Familiar Author
- Title
- Interesting Topic
- Want to Know More
- Thickness
- Series
- Genre
- Good Pictures
- Read a few pages
- Read the reviews
- Recommended by friends, teachers, librarians
- Just Right Book
- Made Into a Movie
Opportunities to read and write and providing some time for the reader to select a good book, read, think, and write about the reading in a journal. Class conversations and book talk presents endless opportunities to teach reading strategies, grammar and good writing.
Always remember,
