//Wide Reading//
- By: Myrandah Staub
- Jun 17, 2016
- 3 min read
I Opened a Book By Julia Donaldson
I opened a book and in I strode. Now nobody can find me. I’ve left my chair, my house, my road, My town and my world behind me.
I’m wearing the cloak, I’ve slipped on the ring, I’ve swallowed the magic potion. I’ve fought with a dragon, dined with a king And dived in a bottomless ocean.
I opened a book and made some friends. I shared their tears and laughter And followed their road with its bumps and bends To the happily ever after.
I finished my book and out I came. The cloak can no longer hide me. My chair and my house are just the same, But I have a book inside me.
Know Your Students
Every year we as educators will have a new set of students come into our classrooms. Each student's background and experiences will differ from one another. There will be students whose family's have been reading to them since birth. Those students will have an understanding and appreciation of books that has been developed over the first few years of their lives. While on the other hand we will have students who have never opened a book before. Students who have never been read to. These students who haven't been given the same opportunities as those who were read to on a regular basis may not have a well-developed vocabulary or established age appropriate word knowledge before starting kindergarten.
Wide reading is a way children can build their vocabulary and word knowledge through the exposure of different types of prints. Wide reading encourages "incidental vocabulary learning". By supporting wide reading in our classrooms we are working to enrich our students minds, by supplying them with a variety of books, magazines, articles, etc.
VOCABULARY DEVELOPMENT: Throughout different texts there are many opportunities for children to encounter tier 2 and tier 3 words. By having exposure to these words children are enriching their vocabulary incidentally.
WORD KNOWLEDGE: As kids are being introduced to new words through reading, it is beneficial to continue helping them to make extended connections to those words. In my previous post on Breaking Down Words I discuss that "the more experiences that we have with a particular word, the more likely we are to remember it, because we are able to make quick connections that jog our memories."
In a nutshell, the more children are exposed to various texts, the greater the chances are that their vocabulary will increase. The more their vocabulary increases and they are repeatedly exposed to those words throughout different texts, the more their word knowledge will expand.
Incorporating Wide Reading Into Your Curriculum
In the video below the principle of South Park High School discusses how their school incorporates wide reading into their curriculum.
TERMS RELATED TO WORD KNOWLEDGE :
If you look on this website under Part II, letter D, it is explained how orthography is applied to the knowledge of language structure.
In this article they better explain how syntax is the combining of morphemes to create sentences.
This website discusses the use of semantic maps (which is another word for graphic organizer) to help students with comprehension and to better understanding word meaning when reading.
This article touches on the idea of visually symbolic features. For example, when children look at the word monkey, they may remember the word and its meaning by making the connection that the "y" in the word monkey looks like a monkey tail.
If you are interested in learning more about wide reading, the link below was very useful in helping me to better understand the concept.
Dear Parents and Teachers,
How do you encourage wide reading in your classrooms or homes? All ideas are welcome.
Kindest,
Myrandah
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