When school closures rolled across the country last April, teachers quickly adapted to provide digital resources for their students. We were all in survival mode, and a lot of these activities amounted to digital busy work. It was the best we could do. But now we’re faced with the daunting reality of intermittent school closures, or models that combine face-to-face teaching with digital teaching.
One of the greatest challenges, I think, to digital teaching is the loss of a daily, reading practice. At school you can monitor and assist student’s daily reading. You can develop reliable routines that help students build reading stamina. But when kids are learning from home, you have less control over their routines. What’s a reading teacher to do? Help kids develop a daily, at-home reading practice.
Help Kids Read At Home–Step 1: Ensure Access to Books
The most obvious way to help kids read from home is to make sure they have access to books. I’ve seen some teachers transform their vehicle into a traveling library. You can also look into libraries that provide digital books, and see if your school has a subscription. Some ideas:
I’ve made a list of books available through these services. You can download it for free on TpT:
Step 2: Help Families Make a Reading Plan
Since you won’t have much control over routines, empower families to develop a reading routine that works for them:
- Provide resources that help families plan out a structured reading routine (see below).
- Check in with students and families to see how the routine is going. Your reading conferences could focus on problem shooting at-home reading routines.
- Encourage students to create a “reading nook” in their home so they can look forward to reading each day.
- Remind caregivers that a daily reading routine means they would have time to themselves each day!
Step 3: Provide a Flexible Structure for Daily Reading
Help students focus their reading by providing them with daily reading prompts, graphic organizers, or response activities. Encourage them to actually complete these activities by giving them feedback.
Resources for At-Home and In-the-Classroom Reading Workshop
Here are some activities, some of them free, to help your students read every day, whether they’re at home or in the classroom:
Independent Reading Routines
This resource includes 7 lessons for developing reading routines plus activities to help students choose good fit books, abandon books with care, and respond to a daily reading prompt. It also includes a rubric for teachers to evaluate responses to the reading prompt. It also includes digital versions of the activities to support distance learning. Take a look:
Students track their stamina as they learn to read for a longer and longer period of time each day.
Students learn to choose book with intention.
Students focus their reading by responding to a daily reading prompt. The prompt asks students to apply what they’ve learned during the mini lesson.
Use a rubric to quickly evaluate student’s response to the daily prompt.
Reading In Quarantine–Free
This resource includes some help sheets for students and caregivers. It provides information about developing a reading routine, choosing books with care, and finding digital books. It includes a spreadsheet that lists digital books and audiobooks that can be found online.
At Home Reading Workshop
This resource includes a structured, 4-week reading plan that emphasizes student independence, discussion, and focused reading. It includes:
- Resources for Developing a Reading Routine
- How To Choose the Right Book
- Creating a Reading Plan
- 4 Graphic Organizers You Can Draw
- Prompt Sheet for Reading Chats (for Caregivers)
- 4 Weeks of Structured Reading, for each week:
- Week-At-A-Glance: A brief (5 minutes or less) review of an important reading concept, a reading prompt for students to respond to, and 2-3 discussion questions for the family to talk about later.
- Crash Course for Caregivers: Background info about key reading concepts.
- Reading Prompts: A daily reading prompt for students to respond to.
This resource is best for teachers who want to empower caregiver to guide their child’s reading at home. It would be a good one to bookmark if you plan to be in the classroom, but want a contingency plan for sudden closures.
How do you plan to help your kiddos read from home? I’d love to hear!
Also, here’s a free Read-At-Home BINGO board.
