Tasks Week #4

IRA PodCasts website:

http://www.reading.org/General/Publications/Podcasts.aspx

PodCast: Creating a home reading program
Motivate kids and involve parents in an effective at-home reading program to supplement classroom activities

I found this PodCast full of valuable information for teachers, students, and parents or guardians.  This is an at home reading program to increase reading time that does not fit into the regular school hours.  It is designed to increase the joy of independent reading at home.  The 4R’s are Read, Relax, Reflect and Respond. This differentiating reading program will sure help all readers with their comprehension and engagement.  The first two R’s, students read and relax at home in a quiet space with materials that interest them such as books, magazines or newspapers.  Teachers assign how much reading time for each student’s ability.  For example 4^th grade students could read for 80 minutes per week.  Lower or upper grades could read a little less or more.  Students record the days and times of their daily reading into their daily reading log such as a spiral notebook.  The last two R’s allows the student to respond and reflect at the end of the week.  The teacher provides a prompt for students to reflect upon the reading they did.  Students can choose a prompt to answer from a list comparing characters in the story to people they know, a chance to look up the author on the internet to explore the reasons why they wrote, or students may want to create and respond to their own prompts.  Students are encouraged to write a half to full page response in the classroom.  This reading program allows for student choice on what they read and what they write about.  Also equally important is that it involves parents or guardians, requiring initials on student log entries verify the reading task were completed.  Teachers also are encouraged to respond critique or reflect on the students work.  It will keep student engagement because the student sees the interest and caring from the teacher as the teacher themselves becomes a role model to the student.