Kids are constantly being told to read more, but what can we do to help them be more enthusiastic about it? We want kids to be able to pick up a book on their own and have it be enjoyable instead of feeling like a chore. These young learners need to have access to a wide variety of books; books that entice them and attract them to reading. Self-selected reading provides daily opportunities to practice new skills and understandings across tasks, texts, and environments. This creates an environment favorable to reading and making kids eager to participate.
“Self-selected reading provides daily opportunities to practice new skills and understandings across tasks, texts, and environments.”
Self-selected reading includes: teacher read aloud, mini-lessons, students choose and read independently, student-teacher conferences about reading and sharing. The books available, whether at home or in the classroom, are the tools to make self-selected reading happen. They should support varying interests, reading levels and formats. These can include printed books, e-books, and text-to-speech. Each of these categories can house multiple types of books.
Print books can include wordless books, picture books, graphic novels, tactile books, object books, comic books and pop-up books. Whatever form the book comes it should be accessible to the reader. That may mean easy to turn pages, pictures above the words or braille. Comic books can be created to document learning experiences and help students process them. This engages the students through thinking, creating and writing. Involving them in the book making process, enriching reading, writing and thinking. Online books or e-books offer another way to involve the reader. Pictures and sounds help create the story and immerse the kids. They can either read the book themselves or have it read to them.
“Kids Read Now, a self-selected reading program, provides the tools to create active and engaged readers.”
Self-selected reading also engages the students in reflecting on what they have read. It helps them make connections to themselves and actively ask questions to process what they are reading. This turns reading into a social activity as well as a solo endeavor. Kids Read Now! is dedicated to making reading accessible to as many students as possible and self-selected reading is one way to do that. These practices encourage students to pick up a book on their own outside of the classroom. It provides the skills necessary to actively process what has been read and learn from the material. During the summer months, kids can be hard pressed to pick up a book. Kids Read Now and other self-selected reading programs provide the tools to create active and engaged readers. The summer slide may become a thing of the past.