This is Week 2 of the The Reading Strategies Book study! If you haven’t read my previous post about the intro, go ahead and read it! If you have, great! Go ahead and read about Goal #1 & #2!

Goal 1: Supporting Pre-emergent &  Emergent Readers

I loved reading the introduction of this first goal! There are a few key thoughts that spoke to me before diving into the awesome strategies. This particular quote just kept repeating in my head throughout the entire chapter.

“No matter how children approach a book we can do a lot to support and nurture them as readers and thinkers during this important stage of reading development.” -page 21

Even though the students may not be able to “read” the words just yet, there are strategies that can be taught in order for them to continue to grow as readers and thinkers. It prepares them for the next stage of reading development. I believe this is so incredibly powerful when teaching pre-emergent and emergent readers.

Tip for teaching these strategies:

Serravallo also states on page 22, to be mindful of the language you use when teaching strategies and providing prompts. Be purposeful in your book choices (stories vs. nonfiction) when uses these strategies.

3 Favorite Strategies in Goal #1: 

Strategy 1.1- Be an Explorer Who Finds Treasures in Books

This goal is great to building stamina especially at the kinder level and beginning of first grade. It has the kiddos “take a trip inside a book” to find details/𝓓𝒆𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓵𝓼facts they wouldn’t have known. Having the students, “search for treasures” is an awesome way to begin those “pre-reading” skills they will need in the long run. I love this and I could see a teacher using this within the different stations in Daily 5 as well.

Strategy 1.9- Back Up, Revise

This particular goal is awesome for teaching pre-readers to monitor and infer! The students are telling the story and focusing on each detail they observe in the story on each page.  However, if they find that they tell the story incorrectly, this strategy teaches them to monitor and if they make a mistake to SELF-CORRECT! Yay! How powerful is that?!?

Strategy 1.18- Using a Teaching Voice

I love this strategy because it teaches nonfiction fluency! This strategy teaches kiddos to sound like they are teaching when they are “reading” across the pages. Love, love, love it! It also shows the kiddos the differences in genres. What a great way to model the difference in fluency within genres. ❤️

Bonus:

So although these are my top 3, Goal 1.8 Express the Emotions, was also great goal to build fluency. I found a video of Serravallo demonstrating a version of this strategy! Click on the link below:

Small group clip: Strategy-Character Feelings
These are my faves! I had a difficult time choosing my top 3. Now moving on to Goal #2. I will separate the goals in different posts. Happy reading! 😊

 What is my favorite quote from the “Getting Started” section?

I hate to sound redundant, however, my favorite quote was on page 19,

 “We must meet children where they are, we must understand them well to teach them, and we must offer them the right amounts of supports and challenges to grow.” 

This spoke to me in a number of ways. First and foremost, it emphasizes building relationships with your students. When you build those relationships, you understand them better as a person and as a learner. It allows you to know what support they need and also how to challenge them in ways that will aid them in their growth.

How do I fit in time for conferencing and/or goal-setting?

We all know that conferencing and goal-setting can be tricky at times. One way that I conference with students is doing their read- to-self time and also in the last five minutes of small group time. I try to set up a schedule for conferences so that I am meeting with each group once a week in order to discuss reading strategies for the students to work on. This year my school implemented CAFE/CRAFT. CAFE stands for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding Vocabulary. Craft is an extension of Cafe. CRAFT stands for Comprehension, Responding to text, Accuracy, Fluency and Text Features. These two programs are effective ways to set goals for students. I began by writing on a sticky note the student’s reading goal for the week and they would keep it in their daily stations folder. The student would rewrite their goal on his/ her own sticky note and place it under the correct strand on the board. I love that Serrvallo also includes a strategies sheet for the students to place in their journals to remind them how to reach their goal.  (pg. 8)

Lookie here at this free download I found on TPT to place in reading journals! Just click on the link below to download via  TPT! 😊

Student Goal Handout! 

Some of my favorite quotes from this section: 

• “In order to manage the various goals in your classroom, you may consider creating a visual reminder for each individual reader so they can remind themselves what they are working on.” (pg.8)

• “To me, strategies are deliberate, effortful, intentional and purposeful actions a reader takes to accomplish a specific task or skill. ” (pg. 8)

This introductory section of the book was very informative. It allowed me to see how the book is set up and how to navigate through the different “recipes” throughout the book. I enjoyed reading this section and the background knowledge that it gave me in order to continue to read on to Goals 1 & 2. Happy Reading!

I’ve been perusing this book and reading it here and there. I wanted to dive deep, but needed a push. Summer is so nice, however, I’m a momma of 4 and I want to spend time with my lovies too! I want them to have a fun and exciting summer. So I end up being busy. 😊 So to give me a boost, today I saw this amazing book study. So I joined! This book study, although I read the book, may have taken a little longer than expected to get up all the goals. You may see other posts throughout my blog, but know that the other goals are coming! Just keep scrolling.