Balanced Reading Program

Balanced Reading Program

1. Read Alouds

   • Modelled Reading by teachers to build a community of readers.
     • Read Alouds  are done daily with the whole class for about 20-25 minutes to  model fluent reading by teacher to promote love of reading, talk about various genres, introduce new strategies and demonstrate them by read aloud / think aloud.
     • It involves three phases before, during and after reading and help students develop ear for vocabulary and structures of language in print. and encourages prediction, involves asking questions to students.
     • A variety of reading material can be used like pre-selected books, morning messages, magazines, e-books, word-walls which help students link prior knowledge to new learning, develops sense of story / text and has to be well planned to achieve results.
     • Rereading, inferencing, comprehension, engaging students by asking questions, discussing story elements are examples of effective instructions to help students understand text better.
     • Space- classroom, carpet area, or classroom library, weather permitting, it can take place outdoors under the tree with careful planning to avoid distractions.

2. Shared Reading

   • Interactive approach, development of new reading skills, consolidate the ones previously taught
     • Teacher and students read together to construct meaning, teacher demonstrates how reading works, how to decode unknown words  and phrases, develop fluency, implement reading strategies, and also to increase comprehension. 
     • Students practice new and previously learnt reading strategies  in a safe environment, occurs daily  and can be used for cross-curricular teaching.
     • Focus of shared reading is to teach concept of print, elements of text, cueing systems and other reading strategies of accessing prior knowledge, self -monitoring, self-correcting through experience
     • Big books / charts / maps / graphs/ repetitive pattern books / word walls / songs/ poems  or text written on overhead that all children can see is used for shared reading to foster letter-sound relationship and other cueing systems.
     • Ongoing observations is crucial for assessing the students which guide teacher's next steps.

3. Independent Reading

   • A quiet, relaxed atmosphere with students reading 'just right' books with little or no teacher support.
     • The teacher is always listeniing, observing and gathering information about students'  reading behaviour to improve theirr reading skills.
     • Students choose own books that provide few challenges to reading but are not high above their level.  Ideal group size is 5 and  they meet upto 30 minutes in a literacy block 
     • Reading Material should be changed frequently to amintian student interest and should be personally relevant.
     • Book talk, mini lesson, independent reading and reading conferencing, time for student s to share their thoughts, time to reflect and respond makes students acquire deeper understanding about their own thinking process
     • Few Guiding questions for teachers for after reading conferences are.... * What did you learn from reading the book? *What strategy heped you understand  the book? *What did you learn about yourself as a reader? *Were your predictions right? *Would you recommend the book? Why?
     • Students' reponses could vary after reading and can include- *sharing reading strategies*recommending books and talking about acquiring new insights as readers*creating venn diagram  to compare characters *creating graphic organizers to represent a story*KWL charts to show learning growth*recording responses in a journal to remember specific vocbulary or expression*story mappingThese help in consolidating the reading.

4. Guided Reading

   • A supportive atmosphere, ongoing observation and assessment is crucial to guided reading with a goal to have all children read increasingly sophisticated texts, fiction and non-fiction alike
     • Involves grouping children who have similar reading abilities OR who need to acquire similar strategies for reading success Groups are dynamic and will work in variety of configurations throughout the day.
     • Selecting text is important and so is to  to have a copy of the text for each child which could be parts selected form longer texts, non-fiction texts, poems and sessions could be upto 20-25 minutes depending upon the grade level with  10 minutes devoted to the reading component.
     • Well organized routines for the rest of the class and group skllls to work independently while the teacher is busy with a small group contirbutes to the success of guided reading sessions. Small groups can meet on one side at a table so the students can focus.
     • The text is introduced in a relaxed, familiar environment before children read. It  activates their schema and helps them understand new information including vocabulary, contextual details and text  structures.
     • Role play, story maps, discussions, running records are examples of after reading activites to reinforce and consolidate the learning.
     • These questions guide the teacher in her next steps.... Are the students flourishing in their reading program? Are they becoming readers who enjoy the act of reading? Do they choose to read independently?