Twelve Ideas to Get Your Students to LOVE Reading!

One of the most important things we can do as teachers is help our students develop a love of reading!

 

One way to get them to love reading is to get them hooked on books!

 I am committed to reading daily to my students. Sometimes I read to them to emphasize a particular literature skill, or to teach a specific non-fiction topic, but for the most part, I read to them to help them develop a love for books! Here's a post I wrote a few years ago about the importance of reading aloud. (Plus, there's a freebie!) The Importance of Read Alouds!

 Want to make story time even more fun?

Take them all outside on a nice day!

 

Even better:

 

Take them outside for reading! There's nothing more fun than being outside on a nice day! Here's another post about learning outside: Five Ways to Get Them Learning OUTSIDE!

Students are social beings!

 

 

Let them read with their friends! Just be careful... make sure they are reading books at their independent level (or easier) and are working with friends close to the same level. It needs to be a positive experience!

 

Here's one of my favorite ways to build enthusiasm for reading:

 

I confess, I've always been a big fan of integrating the arts and I even have an acting background. Both posts below show many reasons to use Reader's Theater, and suggests several resources, including a freebie!

Using Reader's Theater to Help Students Learn Kindness

Dramatics in the Classroom

 

 Once in a while there's a reason to plop a kiddo down in the teacher's chair and have them read to the class.

 

Just like when they're reading with friends, be very careful. This needs to be a positive experience for all involved. One thing I do sometimes is let children choose a passage from a book they like, practice it, then read it to their classmates. (This also works in a reading group!) It's a win-win! The child gets to share a book, and their friends get a taste of a book they might want to read! Here are some other ideas for building fluency and accuracy: Seven Ideas for Reading Accurately And yes, there's a freebie in there!

 

Don't they love those tablets and laptops? (and their parent's phone for homework)

 

 

There are  plenty of places to find reading materials to be read on these devices. May I suggest these Boom Learning resources? Teachers can check to see how students are doing, links can be sent home, and the children love these!

This idea is a bit obvious for teachers:

 

 

Where to get all these books? Well, first of all, the school librarian (media specialist) is your best friend! 

There are also those wonderful book orders. The books are quite reasonably priced, and the more books children purchase, the more free books you can get! I'll always let the kids look over the order sheets and circle the ones they might want. Then, I'll have them show the face they'll use when they're begging their grown-ups for books! (Melts my heart every time!)

Besides books at their level, they need books they enjoy!

Again, time to visit that librarian! They know what kids like!

But you know your kids best! Some very popular topics in my classroom: sports, animals, humor, mystery, friendships, school life, and any upcoming holiday! Let them talk to each other about the books they're reading. They can "sell" a book better than I can!

 Did you ever notice when children are playing a game, they get caught up in a game and forget they are practicing a skill?

 

 

Here are some reading games that will help them forget they're practicing important skills: Reading Games and Activities.

As I've mentioned, integrating the arts is a valuable tool in the classroom! Music is magical in many ways!

This post has several reasons to use music in the classroom, and some fun resources! Sing With Your Students

 

Don't hesitate to sing with them, it will increase their learning in many ways. Plus, it's fun!

This is probably the most important! (in addition to reading to them, of course!)

Let them see you reading!   

Let them see that you love books!

Let them see you talking about the books you're reading!

Let them see your passion for books!

 How do you get your students to LOVE reading?

 

Using Reader's Theater to Help Students Learn Kindness

Did you ever wonder how to teach children kindness? We can use a whole lot of words, but they really need to experience it for themselves, don't they?

 

•  *Reader's theater helps build reading fluency.

• *Reader's theater helps children develop social skills.

• *Reader's theater develops reading comprehension skills.

• *Reader's theater helps children develop empathy.

• *Reader's theater helps children understand new and different situations.

• *Reader's theater helps children experience things they might not experience otherwise.

Here's a resource that celebrates kindness through reader's theater! It has a fun little twist to the story: the children read about a conflict, then ask the audience to help them come up with a solution to end the play!

Starring Kindness Sample: Reader's Theater with a Twist: has a 4-page script that describes a conflict about a blue crayon between some children. There are 4 characters involved. After 4 pages of dialog, the children are to discuss how to solve the problem and create an ending that uses kindness! 

Trust me, the children love this!

You can get this resource for free by signing up for my helpful emails HERE!

 

Want more? This resource has 5 different scripts:
Starring Kindness: Reader's Theater with a Twist:

 

We can all use a little kindness in our lives, can't we? 

 

In case you're looking for more reader's theater, here's a life cycle-themed script: What Came First, the Chicken or the Egg?

 

How do you help your students learn kindness? 

How Can We Help Them Learn Kindness?

There is a whole lot of hate in our world. 

It's very concerning when we work with little ones and we want them to be successful. 

Although I'm not going to delve into politics, I'm sure you're aware that political changes here in the USA are pretty uncomfortable for many right now, and people are angry. Yes, BOTH sides of the political system are angry, and it's not helping our children. 

How can we help them learn about kindness? 

Well, here are three ideas!

There are tons of great books with the theme of kindness! I've linked some of my favorites below.

                            

I have a special softness for Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch and The Invisible Boy. 

Be sure to read the books and let the children have plenty of conversations. 

Bring up the topic of kindness and let the children talk about how the characters showed kindness in the stories. 

We know as educators that children are more likely to do what they see than what they're told to do. That means we need to let them see us showing respect and kindness to them, and the people they see us interact with. Let them see you performing little acts of kindness for children as well as adults!

Let them see you writing fun little notes for them and their classmates.

Let them see you leave a treat for the teacher next door.

Let them see you bring flowers to the nurse for Nurse's Day.

Let them see you go out of your way to tidy up to make things easier for the custodians.

Bring the whole class to the Library to sing Happy Birthday on the librarian's birthday.

I'm sure you can think of more examples of showing kindness, and I'm sure your students can think of plenty more!

When problems occur in the classroom, which we know happen often, be sure to address the group with the question, "How can we solve this problem with kindness?"

To help you out, I've got a Reader's Theater freebie that does exactly that! It's a little play for 4 people with a problem children can relate to. Here's the twist: after a discussion on how to solve the problem with kindness, the performers get to make up the ending!

One last thought: my singing group sang this song years ago, and it helps me deal with many difficult situations. Although this isn't my singing group, the song is just as beautiful.

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Seven Ideas for Reading Accurately

I've finished my DIBELS, and my kids are all over the ballpark as far as their needs go. 

I have noticed that several students had high "Words Correct Per Minute", but their accuracy was low. These kids read loads of words but were adding, changing, and omitting lots of words. These same kids also had trouble with punctuation, and retelling the story. They need work on accuracy!

Here are some ideas for working on accuracy.

1.  Tell them that's what they need to work on. Yes, seriously, give them the feedback they need. That's the number one trick to improvement, knowing what you need to work at! If necessary, revisit the "finger-pointing" stage to help them focus on the words that are really there. (But don't stay at the "finger-pointing" stage, of course!)

2.  Partner reading - One partner reads, and the other partner checks to make sure they're reading accurately. This works best if the children are evenly matched at their own reading level.

3. Read with an adult - Grab a spare adult somewhere to read with students! It might be a teacher assistant, a parent volunteer, or maybe even the librarian, Phys. Ed. teacher or music teacher! Anyone that has a few minutes can sit down with a child and listen to them read. (Make sure they are ready to give feedback!)

4. Have them read "out soft" - often!  The more they read so someone can hear, the more accurate they will become. That "sense of an audience" really makes a difference. When my students come to reading group, I have them bring a book they are working on, and they are expected to sit down and start reading it "out soft". That means: loud enough so that I can hear them across the reading table, but not loud enough to be heard from across the room. They find it a little awkward at first, but it doesn't take long for them to feel comfortable reading their book just loud enough to be heard. This trick also gives me a chance to listen to individuals, give a little extra time to some kids, and has the children warmed up and ready for reading group. I notice huge improvements in accuracy and fluency when I start doing this!

5. Readers Theater - As mentioned above, that "sense of an audience" is a big motivator! Plus, Readers Theater can be fun, which is another plus! There are plenty of sources of scripts out there. Just google it! Just beware of the danger of readers theater: after reading it a few times, they memorize the script. Then it isn't real reading anymore! Find some ideas here: Using Reader's Theater to Help Students Learn Kindness.

6.  Reading song lyrics - Music is very closely related to the memory. If they already know the song, they'll be able to read the lyrics. Give out song sheets and have them "finger read". As above, just make sure they are truly reading, not reciting something that they have memorized. (There's nothing wrong with memorization, but that's not the skill we're trying to improve!)

7.  Practice sight words and phrases - In order to read accurately, they've got to know the words! Experts recommend that children learn sight words in context. See the freebie below for several phrases using the Dolch pre-primer list. There are plenty more of these for other levels, too!

What are your ideas for building accuracy?