Self-Selected Reading

I truly believe that all my students can develop the love of reading - with the right encouragement.  A couple weeks ago I finished reading the book The Book Whisperer.  I loved the book. It made me want to bring time back into my classroom to have self-selected reading time. I have done this in the past but have taken it away due to lack of time. I hated doing this but needed time somewhere.

I decided to try self-selected reading time during summer school.  They once again have become my guinea pigs for things I want to implement during the school year.  I have a daily math review we start with each day.  Then we immediately go into 20 minutes self-selected reading time.  Doing this first thing in the morning prevents me from pushing it off until I am out of time.

Results - We had to build up to reading for this length.  However it has gone better than I anticipated.   I brought a small selection of my classroom library - about 100 books for 17 students.   I made sure to pick high interest books.  I also have multiple copies of some books.  My favorite part is watching 3 boys - my lowest readers - pick out the same copies of a book and establish a book club.  They take turns reading each page.  Today they finished their first chapter book!  They proudly call their time together their book club.  I have students that didn't read at home during the school year take books home, read them, and talk excitedly about them the next day.  The only problem is that I have one girl that I always have to tell to put the book away throughout the day. I still have time to get through my lessons.  I just have a peaceful start to my day.  I can listen to my students read and help them find just right books.  During the school year I plan on having more formal conferences during this time.