SOME INTERESTING READING STATS
Studies show that average, higher-achieving students read approximately three times as much each week as their lower-achieving classmates. These differences do not include out-of school voluntary reading. One factor is higher achieving students are asked to spend 70% of their instructional time reading passages and discussing or responding to what they have read. Lower achieving students spend roughly half as much time on these activities (37%) with word identification drills, letter-sound activities, and spelling and penmanship activities occupying large blocks of lesson time. Lower-achieving students are also more often reported to be reading aloud. Round-robin reading reduces the number of words in the text actually read by each child. This table illustrates the difference.
Reading is like any activity: the more we do, the better we get! So the question for us is how to get all kids really reading more in a day?
The answer to that is to have students read
throughout the day. In our class, we start most of our mornings with silent
reading. We also have other silent reading times built into our day. The new
IRPs from the Ministry of Education, which guide our practice, state “Fluency
develops gradually over time and through extensive reading practice.”
My goal for every one of my students is to turn
him/her on to reading! Please help us achieve this goal by encouraging your
child to read at home, every night, for at least 30 minutes. As well, please
provide opportunities to get his or her hands on quality literature by going to
the public library or to the book store!
If you need some suggestions for some good books,
please come and talk to me. I have a treasure trove of titles that are
guaranteed to turn on even the most reluctant reader! You might find you enjoy
reading some of these books, too! One of the great joys of teaching this age
group is definitely the reading, the writing about, and the discussions on the
books!