Funded Dec 3, 2019Some of the new lessons/assignments introduced by these new books you gave us include: the Readerly Life Cycle. This means students are taking notes in their notebook which get progressively more complex throughout the "life" of their book, to "level" up their notes they get more creative and ask deeper questions, they also track certain ideas throughout the book. By the end of the cycle, they create a synthesis page. This is shown on the wall outside our classroom in one of the photos uploaded. The results of having new, culturally relevant fiction books for this new process havw been SO AMAZING. Students who started the year off uninterested in books and struggling to finish something are now IN BOOKS and reading regularly! One student's face lit up in the biggest smile every time he saw a box in the classroom, "new books?!" he would ask joyously. It has been delightful.
In our classroom, reading looks like a mixture of independent and book club reading every day for 15-30 minutes. Because we have a block class structure we are lucky enough to prioritize reading. Depending on the unit, the reading ranges from independent reading books for students that they jot about in their notebooks to eventually create a synthesis page on to book club historical fiction books in which their notes are more focused on the skills for that content.
Students can be held accountable for growing their reading volume and reading skills when we give them books they actually enjoy reading. Thank you for helping in making that happen. Most important: kids are excited about reading.”
With gratitude,
Ms. Job