 Shared reading just happens in big books  ANY big book can be used for a shared reading lesson  Repeated reading of a big book is a sufficient shared reading lesson, it doesn’t need to be systematic  If all kids sound like they’re reading chorally, they’re all engaged and learning  If there aren’t any big books in my classroom, I’ll just use poems or songs everyday  my phonics program’s materials are sufficient for shared reading

 Where the students join the teacher to read aloud in unison from an enlarged text  The teacher guides the reading by using a pointer  Can be used with the whole class or a small group  Based on research by Don Holdaway (1979) and builds from a child’s experience with bedtime stories

 Provide children with an enjoyable reading experience  Introduce them to a variety of authors and illustrators  To teach children systematically and explicitly to be readers and writers themselves  To support young readers as they begin to attend to the details of print while still focusing on meaning and enjoyment

 Builds on previous experiences with books  Provides language models  Expands vocabulary  Lays a foundation for guided and independent reading  Supports children who are on the verge of reading so that they can enjoy participating in whole class stories  Provides an opportunity for the teacher to demonstrate phrased fluent reading and to draw attention to critical concepts about print  Helps children become familiar with texts that they can use independently as resources for reading and writing

 Shared reading resources should be carefully selected to teach specific skills and strategies in reading and writing  Each book should be used in many different ways over a long period of time  What you teach will depend on the needs of your class  Look carefully at your assessments and conference notes to determine what needs to be focused on in shared reading lessons

 Big books  Well known poems  Well known songs  Non-fiction pieces  Interactive writing  Narrative stories  Chart paper  Books  Overheads  Posters  Teacher made books  Student copies

 Rhyme  Repetition  Rich language  A simple, satisfying story line  Clear spacing between words  Action  A dramatic ending  A strong, rhythmic quality to the language

 Revisiting a text for an entire week will allow students to see how the three sources of information are used when reading  Developing familiarity with a text will allow students to focus on the skill or strategy being taught  Shared reading should be used to support the overall teaching of reading  The five key areas of reading instruction are: Comprehension Phonemic awareness Phonics Fluency Vocabulary  let’s consider adding decoding and concepts of print

Monday: focus on comprehension Tuesday: focus on decoding/phonics/concepts of print Wednesday: focus on vocabulary/sight words Thursday: focus on phonemic awareness/phonics Friday: focus on fluency

 Arrange your week in an order that makes sense for your grade level  Consider how and when you teach reading in other formats  How often and in what format do you work on those 5 key areas of reading instruction?  Consider using Isabel Beck’s book, Bringing Words to Life, to teach vocabulary at another time

1. Teacher and students reread a familiar text 2. Teacher and students read a new text 3. Teacher explicitly models a specific skill or strategy in the new text 4. The teacher invites the students to try the skills or strategy modeled in the new text- guided practice 5. Teacher reviews skills/strategy covered 6. Teacher and students reread the new text or portion of the text