Why Do You Read?

There are various reasons a person reads. Share with your student(s) why you read.

Here are some ideas to share:

Reading is a great way to entertain yourself. You can travel to far off lands, travel through time, or visit an old friend.

Reading happens everyday. Have you ever had a three year old tell you that you just drove past a McDonald's? How did they know? They read the sign (those wonderful golden arches)! When you read a recipe, owner's manual, stop sign, you are reading functional text.

Reading teaches you new facts and new ideas. Reading the newspaper or a magazine, searching text on the internet to complete a project is informational reading. This is often referred to as nonfiction reading.

Reading other's writing leads to appreciation of the craft of writing. We become better writers by reading and writing more!

The Power of Reading

In school free reading studies and "out of school" self-reported free voluntary reading studies show that more reading results in better reading comprehension, writing style, vocabulary, spelling, and grammatical development. (Krashen,2004). All students at West Elementary are involved in SKARFF (Smart Kids Are Reading For Fun) time. SKARFF is 20 minutes of free voluntary reading. Students choose the material they want to read during this time. Some students read their favorite novel, some read a magazine or a newspaper, some read nonficition books but all are engaged in reading. The power of SKARFF also relies on the teacher being engaged with his/her own reading. This provides a model for students.

If you are looking for a way to help your child be successful in school and in life, set up a Free Voluntary Reading time at home. Gather the family, choose some reading material, set the timer, and have everyone read! Hang a sign on your door announcing to all visitors that you are all reading and cannot be interrupted until a certain time. Let the answering machine take the calls!

For the Love of Reading Books to Build Lifelong Readers by David Bouchard is an excellent resource. This book features: 500 annotated listings of favorite books, lists for all ages from birth through high school, lists from four experts with distinctive tastes and decades of experience, lists of seasonal books and resources, and a comprehensive author and title index. I have a copy in my personal library. You may come in and check it out at any time!

Welcome!

I am excited to begin this new adventure of blogging. I hope you find it a useful tool in keeping current with our School Improvement progress. Please let me know if you have ideas of items you would like to see posted. Have a great Christmas and I will see you in 2007!