Partners in Reading

Reading is in full swing in the 1-2s! Both classes have talked about what a reading classroom looks and sounds like and have done some "reading around the room" to find good spots to settle down and get into what we like to call the reading zone.  Our current goal is to build student stamina to sustain independent reading for longer and longer periods of time. One way to keep energy up and engagement levels high is to introduce "book buddies" or partner reading. 

Part of every reading block is reserved for our readers to have conversations about books and reading. They might share a favorite part of a story they read with their partner, or a "wow" fact from a nonfiction book, a really funny part, or something surprising that happened in their book. These prompts encourage back and forth dialogue between readers that lead kids into more meaningful talk about books. 

Another function of buddy reading is to reinforce skills for decoding, fluency and comprehension that they are learning in our mini lessons. Our unit right now is how readers build good habits. One of these "habits" is to take a sneak peek of a book before reading to get their brains ready for the story matter, information and related vocabulary they are about to encounter using clues they can glean from the front and back covers, the table of contents (if there is one) and a few preview pages. Buddies paired up to practice by jointly taking a sneak peek at first one partner's and then the other's books before independent reading. Another strategy buddies are practicing when they get together is using their finger to slide through sounds or syllables when they encounter an unfamiliar word. After independent reading, students talked about a word they solved using this technique with their buddy.

Check out the pictures below of our budding bookworms!