Readers are Thinkers!
This week, we have been reviewing the things good readers do. Cayleigh volunteered to lead the class in today's reading focus activity. The class was told, "Pay attention to what you see. We're going to talk about it in a minute." Cayleigh carried a tray filled with several different, random items around the circle for each student to see. Students looked intently at the items, commenting on how much they could remember. After walking around the entire circle with the tray, Cayleigh stepped outside. When she left, the class was asked questions about their observations: "What did Cayleigh's shirt say?" "What color were Cayleigh's shoe laces?" When no one could provide the correct answers, Cayleigh was asked to step back inside and the class discussed today's lesson focus:
Don't get so focused on reading the words that you miss the story that they tell.
We then discussed that "Reading is Thinking" and how good readers make notes and connect with the text so that they can be sure that they are getting the story and not just reading the words.
