When you think of reading for yourself, where are you sitting? What is the background noise like? Who is around?
We must ask ourselves these questions when it comes to our young Wild Readers in the making. How will you make your classroom a place for a Wild Reader? In this blog post, I will be discussing ways you can ensure that your classroom is the perfect setting for each child to delve into a book and never look back.
Let us start with the basics, the seating. As a Wild Reader myself, I must feel comfort both physically and emotionally before diving into a book. Fluffy pillows, bean bag chairs, a large couch, etc. This is just the beginning for the perfect comfort seating in order for your children to feel maximum comfort physically while reading.
Lighting, this may be the most important of them all. The right lighting is crucial, for the safety of your scholar’s eyes and for the optimal reading light. Having a lamp in the reading corner next to every bean bag chair, or individual reading lights on the wall above the couch can provide each student with the necessary lighting to get the most out of their book.
Next, we must discuss the distractions of noise. Having pre-loaded iPods or CD players with songs could make our break your Wild Readers. You could easily, as a teacher, ask all parents to provide their students with headphones that they could plug into these pre-loaded devices.
We must not forget the BIGGEST part of all of this, they must have a selection of books that they actually WANT to read. May that be books with pictures, animation, etc. If they are not interested in the book, chances are it will not captivate their attention long enough for them to finish this said book. Have a large selection, if your budget allows. Provide a fun, creative, engaging description of the books for our scholars.
Next, an activity for the students to engage them in their reading. How is that possible, you may ask. BOOKMARKS. Not just any bookmark, a bookmark they love and cant wait to place in their book in the middle of their reading. Provide different papers, with various themes. Have them cut out their bookmark and you will laminate that for them. Have different strings, beads, and small characters for them to attach to the bookmark after lamination. Not only does this allow them creativity, but it allows them to feel that they did this and they cannot wait to open that book and read so that they can save their next spot with their custom bookmark!
Thank you for reading my blog, I sincerely hope that one day the whole entire world will be a Wild Reader. This truly can make this world a better, brighter place. So, please, encourage and provide what your students need to be so involved in a book that they can hardly set it down. Now that would be the greatest gift of all.