Monday, March 30, 2009

Books that are RIGHT for Matt

Franki writes in her post about Pam Allyn's new book, What to Read When: The Books and Stories to Read with Your Child--And All the Best Times To Read Them that...

So often, the only way that "just right" books are defined is by reading level. For so long, we have almost forgotten other reasons that a book can be "just right" and in this book, Pam Allyn reminds us that books are about more than reading development.

After reading this I began to think about how very important it is to help students learn about choice by having conversations about what they like! Yes, kids need daily practice reading books that meet their individual needs but kids also need time with books that mean something to them. They need time and practice with independent choice. I decided to have my son share a bit about the books he chose during a library trip over spring break. ( I also wanted to practice the newest version of iMovie just updated on my laptop). Having practiced being videoed at school, he picked up the books and started talking! Check him out:
Oh yeah...the music I added at the end jumps out at you a bit...sorry. I am definitely learning as I go.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love the video! Tell Matt he is a book star now and Matt Damon has real competition as a movie-cutie!
Thanks for sharing~
Andrea

Angela said...

This is wonderful!!!!!!
I often think that the largest disservice we inadvertently do to kids in our quest to make them "better readers" is to rob them of the time they need to come to know who they ARE as readers...what they like, what they don't, and where to gain access to great books and time for reading. Important post!