Rationale: One of the keys to independent reading and fluency is silent reading. It is important for children to choose their own book to read, as well as learn to read the book to themselves. By doing this, children will not only read more voluntarily, but they will also gain comprehension skills. If children are allowed to choose their own material to read then they will see reading as fun, instead of something they are forced to do. This will influence children to take the initiative to sit down and read a book silently to themselves more often.
Materials: A variety of children’s books, a pleasure book for the teacher, a big book such as Cinderella, a stopwatch, pencils, primary paper and an assessment checklist.
Procedures:
1)
Introducing the lesson: Hello everybody, today we are going to do
something a little different than we have done in the past, but it will
also be very fun. We are going to learn how to read silently to ourselves.
By practicing this often, you will all become better readers! When
you read to yourself, you can focus more on understanding what you read,
rather than worry about what you sound like to other people, which can
sometimes keep you from enjoying and remembering what you read.”
2) The
teacher and students will be taking a walking trip to the school’s library
where there are hundreds of children’s books on various reading and interest
levels. As you can see, there are many interesting books right here
that all of you would really enjoy reading. Before we start, I am
going to let each of you choose, for yourself, the book you would like
to read silently today. As you’re choosing your book, remember to
choose ones that seem interesting to you because of the title and subject
of the book, not just because of the pictures. Remember to use the
two finger rule...if you read the first page and miss more than two words
then the book is too hard for your reading level. Once each child
has done this, they will bring their book to the teacher so the teacher
can check to make sure the book they chose isn’t too hard or too easy for
their level of reading. Many times the books will be color coded
by dots so the children know what color dot to look for when choosing their
book.
3) Now
that all the children are done choosing and have had their books checked,
the children will gather at a table in the library to listen to the teacher.
The teacher will explain that she will model silent reading from a big
book so every child can see exactly what she is doing when she reads silently
to herself. For a while now we have been working on reading aloud
and whisper reading. Well today, instead of reading so that everyone
can hear, we are going to work on silent reading. Does anyone know
what I mean when I say ‘silent reading’? Well, it’s almost like reading
in a whisper, but instead of whispering when you read, you will just move
your mouth with no sounds coming out. I have chosen this big book
to read a few pages out of so you can see just what I mean when I say read
silently. The teacher will
first model whisper reading, then will model silent reading on the same
page. Now that you have all seen me read silently, I want you to
look at the page I just read and whisper read it all together. When
you are done, I want you to practice reading that same page, but this time,
read it silently by yourself and only move your lips. Now that you
have done that, the final thing I want you to do to practice silent reading
is re-read that same page once again but this time read it in your head
without whispering or moving your lips.” The teacher will observe the students
and use an assessment checklist with sections for loud reading, whisper
reading, silent reading, and moving lips.
4)
“Great job everybody!! I think you are all ready to practice reading silently
on your own with your chosen book!! The
teacher will now send the children to find a quiet area in the library
where they are spread out from each other. The teacher will set her
stopwatch for 10 minutes. The children will read silently for 10
minutes while the teacher silently reads a book of her own at her own table
for the same amount of time.
5)
Now that the ten minutes is up, the teacher will tell the children to close
their books and return to the table where the teacher is so they can walk
back to their classroom and write about what they read and what they thought
about their silent reading time. The teacher will give the students
another 10 minutes to write their message at their own individual desks.
As you are writing your messages, I want you to include things like, what
you thought about silent reading, if you liked going to the library for
a different atmosphere, if you thought you were good at silent reading,
if you thought the teacher did a good job explaining what silent reading
was, if you enjoyed being able to pick out your own book and if you think
silent reading helped you to understand the story better. When
they are done, the children can volunteer to share their message if they
wish, but they don’t have to if they don’t feel comfortable doing it.
The teacher will collect the papers with all the messages and assess them
when this activity is completed.
6) Now
that the activity is over and the teacher has collected the papers, the
teacher will lead the class in a discussion about what the children liked
or disliked about silent reading. The teacher will explain to the students
why it is important to learn how to read silently and she will ask which
students agree with her and which don’t. Then she will ask the students
to openly discuss why they feel silent reading is either a useful or un-useful
tool.
Reference:
The Reading Genie website:
Shh...It's Reading Time!!!
by Jennifer O'Meara
http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/elucid/omearagf.html
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