Reading to Teach Reading

To the left is a picture of the camping trip my wife and I took to the Washington coast. While beautiful in its own way, the weather leaves a little to be desired. Instead of reading on the beach in the sun, we sat around the campfire in sweatshirts and jeans reading the day away. Not all bad, but a little cool for my liking.

I made my way through The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan on the trip. I then finished Gossamer by Lois Lowry (author of the Giver) since we returned home. Both of which were really great reads, and quick in their own respective ways. One was action packed, picking up where the Lightning Thief left off, and weaving Egyptian history throughout. I felt like I learned quite a bit from reading it, a great feeling when you finish a book. The other was more delicate, and really came together in the end. The themes of dreams and resilience resonated for me, and made me want to start using it with my kids at school.

With each book I found myself thinking of questions I could ask my kids. What are some of the strengths of Carter and Sadie Kane? How do the two characters complement each other? Why does Anibus make Sadie chose to save either her father or the world? Have you ever faced a difficult, or "impossible" decision? What can you infer about the characters from their names in Gossamer? Was your prediction about John and/or the end of Gossamer the same as it was written (and were you surprised)?

As I read more children's literature I see the standards in the writing. I see main ideas or themes woven throughout, inferences I make from information in the text, and predictions I started with based on some of that aforementioned information. I don't stop and say "let me infer here" but I am more conscious of it now. The challenge is to teach kids early in the year to recognize that they are already using these skills, to varying degrees, and that our task is to slow down the process a bit to ensure that we are on target. Otherwise we cruise through on autopilot, missing important details that help us come to a greater understanding of what we read.