Reading / Daily Five / SSR

My kids are readers. They have liked books since they were toddlers. We give them chances to read every single day, and they see both me and my husband reading often. (I don't know if I can go through a day without reading some of a book.)

As a normal daily routine, we have SSR (or Sustained Silent Reading, a la Jim Trelease). The kids and I each choose a book or three and sit near each other but preferably not on the same piece of furniture. Believe it or not, we have arguments over who sits where and who is to blame for another person not being able to "hear" himself read. However, Nick is getting tons better at reading without speaking out loudly, so maybe those arguments are nearly over. Xander is also maturing day by day as well as improving his reading-to-himself skills.

For school, I structured this time even more. We have a bean bag in the corner of the living room, up against two windows. Great reading light!

Every other day, each boy gets a turn reading on the bean bag. I made up a rhyme to announce the start of SSR to the boy whose turn it is to sit there: "If you were a dog, your tail would wag/ Because it's time to read on the bean bag!" I hand him our coonskin cap which can also work very well for a tail. He heads over to the corner to cozy up with his book box.

(I fill each of their book boxes with books, mostly readers, that are just below, just on, and just above their reading levels. They end up putting their own choices in there, too.)

The other boy takes his book box wherever he wants, like the couch or the floor, and reads, too. I usually read one of my books at this time.

After about fifteen minutes, one or two of us, at least, reads to another person. I want to hear Xander read aloud every once in a while, so he may read to Nick or me. Or I may use this time to read aloud to Xander or Nick a book that I got specially for one of them from the library. Sometimes Nick wants to "read" to me, and I encourage this.

(Exciting side note: I coached Nick through reading the word "Mat" today in a Bob book! I'm not sure if he exactly understands the process, but he did tell me all the right sounds and I helped him blend them together. I told him he was reading!)

After another ten to fifteen minutes, I might have one or both of the boys do an Eat Your Words or other writing activity.

After this, I give Xander a chance to practice his instrument, and then I read aloud to him from an official school book (from our curriculum).

In doing all this, I have been hugely influenced by the blog First Grade Wow. Check it out; she freely gives awesome ideas and printables.