In this chapter, "Emphasize Shared Reading", Routman explains how shared reading is visible and explicit for students but provides scaffolding so that students will be successful. Shared reading also helps students and teachers bond throughout the process.
Shared reading can be used for fluency, author's craft, making connections, and inferring. I try to do a lot of these types of strategies with my students when we read story aloud. Sometimes if the story is repetitive, the students help me read the story throughout and they enjoy doing it. Other times when I'm reading and noticed sight words on a page, I stop and let the students read the sight words. Then I continue with the words that do not recognize. For example, last week, I read "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and the students really enjoyed reading along with me and describing what the caterpillar ate and how many he ate. Each day we read the book and by the end of the week, they knew the whole book from the beginning to the end.
Shared reading is a powerful teaching tool for students of all ages. A good way to have materials available are using big books or making copies of the book. Shared Reading aloud provides a context for students to talk with one another about a text. Overall, shared reading improves reading achievement.
Shared reading is a wonderful strategy and it's one we find in many kindergarten classrooms. As students move up and up further in grade levels the "art" of shared reading get pared down to quick "read overs" of text from the Promethean board. I love how you are using big books in your classroom. If you need any additional big books, pop in to see what I have available.
ReplyDeleteTeresa,
ReplyDeleteThe Very Hungry Caterpillar is one of my very favorite books to use for a read aloud in kindergarten. I love the way we can teach through an enjoyable shared experience. I am also glad that this chapter and Routman's strategies for shared reading were helpful for you.