Shared Reading (for K-1 specifically)

[Celia]

I'm starting this topic partly to share an experience that I'm proud of and partly to ask for suggestions.

On Thursdays at work the kids usually have time to free read whatever they'd like from the bookshelves. This week, my boss wanted them to do group reading instead.

Sometimes I feel that people (occasionally myself included) underestimate the reading (or general academic) abilities of kids under the age of seven. My boss's suggestion probably would have been to just read aloud to the group, but I wanted to see what they could do with texts I know are just right for the students I'm working with.

I chose two books each for the kindergarteners and the first graders and let them vote as a group on which one they wanted to work with during the activity. Kindergarten chose Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? which I've seen a lot of them enjoy when I've had it out the past few weeks (their other option was Have You Seen My Duckling?). The first grade group chose The Complete Adventures of Big Dog and Little Dog (their other option was The Little Butterfly That Could). My coworker worked with the kindergarten group and I worked with the first grade group to sit in a circle and read the books page by page, passing the book person to person as we read.

With the first grade group I was working with, the kids did a great job of taking turns and helping and encouraging each other without being bossy. From what I overheard from the kindergarten group, and from what my coworker told me later, that group did wonderfully with the familiar and repetitive text of Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?.

The next day during snack when I let them read my books while they're waiting for others to finish, two of the kindergarteners were reading Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? together in a similar manner to the previous day. My coworker (the same one from Thursday) got really excited about it and whispered to me, "Look! They're group reading!"

I may be giving myself too much credit, but I like to think I've done a lot to help this group develop a stronger interest in reading and maybe even better beginning literacy skills, even just by sharing my favorite books and my passion for books with them.

I never know what we're going to do day to day in terms of our literacy activities, but I have a feeling group reading might come up again in the next few weeks. It can be hard to pick blindly from the vast bookshelf at work when I don't know it as well. I'm glad I happened to have two books on hand that worked well for the age groups to group read. I was wondering if anyone has experience with this or any suggestions for other books that might work well for this activity. Both books have well-spaced type, fewer words per page (but still full sentences), and interesting pictures. I was thinking I may bring in more Eric Carle or Bill Martin books, and maybe also Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type (though I'd have to preview the text content in that one to see if it has the elements I'm looking for. I'd love any other suggestions, especially moving away from only animal fantasy books (and maybe especially nonfiction too).

[Jaemi]

Hi! I love giving book suggestions especially when it comes to my age range that I still read. I have a vast collection of books that I my self am interested in, and I chose one from my want to read that may be appropriate. I don’t know you could check it out.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

[QNPoohBear]

That's great Celia! I can tell you really care about these kids and increasing literacy and it does seem to be working. Niece #1 loved Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type so much when she was in pre-K, she read it to her American Girl doll when I took them to the public library LOL! She loved Jan Brett in Kindergarten. Cozy Classics Cozy Classics: Moby Dick were designed to develop language in babies. We read a bunch of those when she was younger too. I added in the names of characters and some situations when I felt the picture called for it. She also loved Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit® Counting Primer and used it to play school with her toys in Pre-K and Kindergarten.

[Celia]

Jaemi wrote: "Hi! I love giving book suggestions especially when it comes to my age range that I still read. I have a vast collection of books that I my self am interested in, and I chose one from my want to rea..."

I think Shel Silverstein is a little advanced for the groups I'm looking for, but thanks for the suggestion

[Celia]

QNPoohBear wrote: "That's great Celia! I can tell you really care about these kids and increasing literacy and it does seem to be working. Niece #1 loved Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type so much when s..."

Thanks, I always seem to forget about Jan Brett for some reason, probably because my library doesn't have any of the classics like The Mitten.

[Cheryl, Host of Miscellaneous and Newbery Clubs]

I am always delighted to hear about your adventures with the children. I have no particular suggestions right now, but I applaud you.

[Celia]

Cheryl wrote: "I am always delighted to hear about your adventures with the children. I have no particular suggestions right now, but I applaud you."

Haha thanks. On Monday we did A Rainbow All Around Me with the kindergarten group and The Little Butterfly That Could with first grade.

I think the kindergarten group went well and I've seen more kids reading A Rainbow All Around Me this week on their own or in small groups or pairs. The format of one color word, a few adjectives or feelings that that color invokes, and a bit of rhyming text does well for them.

First grade had a bit more trouble with The Little Butterfly That Could, partly because of the larger words and partly because of the text bubble format. I don't think I'm going to be bringing in beginner graphic novels for the group any time soon (last spring I saw some kindergarteners who were working with Dogman in my practicums so I know some kids do read them at that age. Personally I think I would have loved if graphic novels were more mainstream when I was that age, as I "outgrew" most picture books by late first grade).

On Thursday we gave the kids the option of shared reading or splitting into small groups and having staff read to/with them. They split themselves off between boys and girls. It's as I've noticed before with these books, the girls are a lot more interested in the people centered books, especially those with kids who look like them, and the boys are more interested in animal books. The girls chose a bunch of shorter books to read, all along those lines. The boys chose Wild Cats: Past & Present because one of them wanted to look for "tiger books" and the rest of them were interested in that as well. (I've noticed that a lot of the boys will pick up whatever interest one of the other boys has and carry that as a group for a while). When I asked that one kid if he liked books about tigers, he said "yeah, tigers and cheetahs and any meat-eaters." I told him I have just the book for him and will bring in Tiger Pups next week.

One of the boys is generally very easily distracted and didn't want to read the wild cats book (he is low English proficiency and I think it's more difficult to stay focused with sustained reading in English). I asked him if he wanted to read something else with me since we had three staff members for the group and he chose 3D Sharks with glasses and CD-ROM (shockingly the disk was still intact in the book - the kids were curious about it so I told them I'd check if we have a DVD player to see if we can watch it at some point - partly because I didn't want them deciding to put it in the disk reader in the Xbox in the next room, which was their idea).

But anyway with the shark book I started off reading the whole thing to the kid but then he would ask me about each picture so we ended up looking through the pictures and talking about them instead (the book was very text-heavy and like I said this kid has a short attention span with limited English proficiency). Every time we got to a picture of a shark with blood on or around it, he would ask me, "is he dead?" I explained how sharks in pictures often have blood on their mouths because they hunt. But the kid kept asking me, "is he dead? is he dead?" at almost every picture after I read the name of the shark and maybe one of the facts. He also thought the gills were some kind of cuts or wounds, multiple times. It was hilarious (although obviously I didn't laugh at or in front of him).

[Celia]

On another note this is the second Spanish-speaking, low-English proficiency boy I've worked with of a similar age who is really interested in text-heavy nonfiction that is well beyond the level of most native English speaking first graders (the aforementioned child was in kindergarten, so even more so - the other one was in first grade). I'm curious whether this is a pattern among that demographic, and why that might be, as I'm not seeing it as much with native English speakers.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

Celia wrote: "On another note this is the second Spanish-speaking, low-English proficiency boy I've worked with of a similar age who is really interested in text-heavy nonfiction that is well beyond the level of..."

If the Spanish speaking low English proficiency children are interested in text heavy non-fiction, you should perhaps be checking to see if your library has any dual language Spanish/English texts that might work. I will look if I have any titles on my shelves, but in the USA, dual language Spanish/English books are actually pretty common.

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

I have not read these dual language books, but they are on my to-read list and thus I am interested in them thematically.

The Storyteller's Candle/La velita de los cuentos

Listen to the Desert/Oye al Desierto

My Papa Diego and Me/Mi papa Diego y yo: Memories of My Father and His Art/Recuerdos de mi padre y su arte

Pajaro Verde / The Green Bird

[Manybooks, Fiction Club host]

The following dual language picture books I have read and really enjoyed

My Diary from Here to There/Mi diario de aquí hasta allá

This richly and evocatively illustrated dual-language picture book (with Maya Christina Gonzalez' brilliantly colouful, lushly descriptive accompanying illustrations truly being redolent of the colours, the very feeling of Mexico, of Latino/Latina culture in general) tells the story of author Amanda Irma Pérez' own journey from Mexico to the United States in the 1950s (except that when she and her family immigrated to the United States, Amanda was five years old, while in My Diary from Here to There, she is described as being rather older, more like nine or ten years of age).

The presented journal pages of My Diary from Here to There poignantly and truthfully show Amanda's fears, her initial reluctance towards the mere concept of immigrating (how her younger brothers are simply excited about moving to America and all of its "temptations" while she realises that immigrating means leaving family, friends, the familiar, for a different culture, a different language). And yes, I often feel as though I am reading my own diary, my own personal story here, because when we immigrated to Canada from Germany in 1976, it definitely did seem like my siblings and even my parents were nothing but excited and happy to be moving to Canada, while I was sad about leaving my friends, family members and worried about fitting in, about learning a new language, experiencing a hitherto unfamiliar culture.

Amanda's story, her and her family's journey of immigration is thus truly and basically both timeless and universal (as the same questions, the same worries that Amanda confides to her diary pages are indeed in the hearts of many present-day immigrants, migrants and refugees and also were in the hearts of immigrants, migrants and refugees in both the recent and distant past). Recommended for anyone, however, My Diary From Here to There is particularly recommended for children facing the prospect of immigration, of moving (especially if they have questions, if they are worried about immigrating, about culture shock, having to learn a new language etc.).

And yes, I have also very much enjoyed and appreciated the fact that My Diary from Here to There is dual-language. I was pleasantly surprised at how much of the Spanish text I have been able to read and understand (and I was quite amazed how much of my university Spanish I actually remembered, but also how much of the Spanish I was able to deduce by simply comparing the English and the Spanish texts). This makes My Diary from Here to There not only a valuable and useful book for Spanish language instruction at the school level, I also believe it could be a great teaching tool for beginning Spanish courses at the college and university level. For when I took beginning Spanish courses at university, most of the assigned reading texts were dry, literary and often much too complicated for learners/readers with but a basic grasp of grammar and limited vocabulary. Making use of dual-language children's books would, in my opinion, make reading comprehension both easier and less frustrating, especially for language novices or those afraid or in awe of learning foreign languages (and anything that might make foreign language instruction more interesting and less frustrating for learners is in my opinion a very, very good thing indeed).

Gathering the Sun: An Alphabet in Spanish and English: Bilingual Spanish-English

A wonderful collection of simple, yet always tenderly evocative poems, one for every letter of the Spanish alphabet, Alma Flor Ada's amazing dual-language, lushly and brilliantly illustrated alphabet book not only captures the sun, the meadows, the fields of Mexico and the Southern United States, it is also an important and heartfelt homage to migrant farm workers, to people like César Chavez (to whom Gathering the Sun is dedicated), to those individuals who work hard (who must work hard) in the fields so that we can buy and enjoy fresh produce at reasonable and affordable prices. The poetical text selections of Gathering the Sun are straightforward, effortless and delightfully uncluttered, but also always rich, full of flavour and a myriad of nuances, textually capturing the sights, sounds, the tastes of water, tomatoes, beets, showing what farming, what the life of a farm worker is, or can be. Neither too elementary nor too complex, Gathering the Sun is a true reading pleasure and treasure that can be (and should be) appreciated by both children and adults, and would indeed be a wonderful and versatile teaching and learning tool in beginning level (and even basic intermediate) Spanish language classes. Highly recommended in almost every way imaginable and if I could give Gathering the Sun more than five stars, I most definitely would!

[QNPoohBear]

My city library has a large section of dual language English/Spanish books. I can see what they have for animal books next time I'm there. It might not be soon though.

My oldest niece was into graphic novels by first grade. She loved
Zita the Spacegirl
The Tea Dragon Society was another early favorite.