Written by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim

SHORT TEXTS AT YOUR FINGERTIPS: LAUNCHING INTO SUMMER READING

For the past ten weeks, we have offered a series called Short Texts at Your Fingertips. One or two times each week, we provided teaching ideas around a different type of short text that is easily found in the home, so that no family feels under-resourced. The ideas we have shared were easily integrated into any curriculum and pedagogy, from Workshop to basal. If you are a caregiver, teacher, or curriculum director, these brief but mighty texts and lessons are our way of saying thanks. And our way of giving children authentic and enjoyable reading and writing engagements each day. For some, summer is already in full swing. For others, summer is just a few short weeks or days away. Regardless of when your school year ends, it’s important that students of all ages keep reading and writing across the summer months. In this blog post we talk about the WHY and HOW to create voluminous readers this summer! Stay tuned for next week’s blog post where we wrap up this series talking about the WHY and HOW to create voluminous writers this summer!

SUMMER READING

Readers bring so much to the reading experience. We love chapter books and novels, but we also know that for some kids short, interesting texts will keep them reading. We think about reading as eyes on print - eyes on print - EYES ON TEXT. It doesn’t matter if you are reading a long text or a short one, reading often with many pages turning is what creates voluminous reading. We want kids to be in the driver’s seat so that they can create reading habits that last into adulthood. Choice helps kids to feel empowered. We often tell students that becoming a stronger reader requires building muscles. When we are building our basketball or soccer muscles, our karate muscles, our art muscles (or even cooking muscles), we have to practice in order to get better and stronger. The same is true for reading -- we get better at reading and build our reading habits when we read widely [lots of text types] and deeply (reading lots about a topic, idea, or author).

TRY THIS!

Step 1

Ask students what they want to read about. Do they want to read:

Fiction or nonfiction?
Short texts or novels/chapter books?
Books and texts by the same author or different authors?
With someone or on their own?

If you want to find out about students’ interests and curiosities, consider using one of these surveys:

Step 2

Ask students to set up a summer reading goal. Ask:

How many days each week will you read?
How many minutes will you shoot for each time you read?

If it’s helpful, ask students to set up a summer reading calendar outlining the days and times they plan to read.

Step 3

Ask students to identify different spots for their summer reading. Create a short list of places that might be a perfect reading nook such as:

Comfy chair
Snuggled up on a couch
On the porch or in the backyard
At the park on a bench
Under a favorite tree
In the car
On the beach or at the pool
On the airplane or train
In bed on a rainy morning

Step 4

Ask students to gather a stack of summer reading books and texts. Consider creating a stack and taking a picture of the spines to celebrate summer reading goal setting! Here’s an example:

Screen Shot 2020-06-02 at 7.35.14 PM.png

Step 5

Visit the local library regularly (either online resources or if possible, in person). And, make sure all readers have their own library card!

Step 6

If it’s short texts that you are interested in, check out our blog series which is filled with lots of resources that can be found right at your fingertips!

And don’t forget to think about how you will make these short texts easy to access and use. Maybe you have a basket or tub filled with inviting short texts or longer texts with the short pieces bookmarked and ready to go at a moment’s notice. Or, if you have some printed short texts, fill a binder, manilla folder, or two-pocket folder so that you can store them easily and read them over and over again.

FOR MORE RESOURCES, CHECK THESE OUT!

Scholastic Summer Read-A-Palooza
If you want summer reading calendars with daily reading suggestions, check this out
Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Suggestions
Check out the Collaborative Summer Library Program which is filled with lots of resources
Summer reading book recommendations from the Association for Library Service to Children
School Library Journal’s Summer Reading Series: Best Reads All Summer Long
And..here’s a little something for the adults! Take a look at The New York Times Summer Reading List

COMING SOON!

Short Texts: Mighty Mentors That Move Readers and Writers Forward by Julie Wright & Elizabeth Keim (2022)

It’s not unusual for teachers to survey students about their reading interests and habits at the beginning of the year. Anytime we ask kiddos their thoughts and ideas about important topics, their answers become a go-to data source for creating a focus for instruction—both in the short term and often across several weeks.

Take a look at this Reading Interest Survey and think about these questions:

What questions stand out to you? How do you anticipate you’d use the data you collect from those questions?
What questions would you revise or eliminate?

TRY THIS

Give students a copy of the Reading Interest Survey template.
Ahead of time, fill out a survey about yourself. To lift the learning across the classroom, share a few ideas from your survey with the whole class. This gives students an opportunity to get to know you AND serves as a model for how the survey answers can be shared.
Give students 10-15 minutes to jot down their answers.
Break students into pairs or small groups of 3 or 4 and give them an opportunity to share their survey answers with others.
As students share, listen in [or kidwatch] so that you get to know students as they are getting to know their peers.
Collect student surveys.

LOOKING ACROSS THE DATA

As you look across student survey results, here are some ways you might consider using the data to guide your planning. You could:

Think about who likes to read with a partner and/or who likes to talk to others about what they read. This information could help you create Reading Thinking Partners.
Take stock in what genres/types of reading materials students like best. This is a great opportunity to begin curating texts that students might want to read.
Give students an opportunity to book talk [shout out or talk about] their favorite book with others by inviting them to share with the whole class or in small groups.
Look for patterns and create a list of short text types that students like to read. Check out Chapter 2 if you want to think about launching small groups focused on students’ interests.
Pay close attention to what students write [or don’t write] for question #11.
Save a copy of students’ surveys. Across the year, re-visit this initial survey and ask students to reflect on their responses. Nudge: Put a note on your calendar to re-survey students a few months into the school year. Students’ interests, passion, and inquiries change across time.

Screen Shot 2019-09-17 at 9.00.31 AM.png

Short Texts at Your Fingertips: Launching into Summer Reading