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Feb 20, 2014

Motivating Leveled Readers

This is just a quick post today about the power of the leveled readers that we choose.  Two years ago I was lucky enough to buy some  A LOT of books for our leveled book room (well....it is in the cafeteria.  We have to use whatever space we have--right!!?!)  I did the best I could at choosing books and looking back on it now, I am sure I could have chosen some different ones. BUT...as I continue to try out all these books I realize which ones have the real POWER to them.  I am finding out which ones are real motivators.

Here is what I found out this week....

Graphic novels are really fun and exciting to my firsties.  The ones I bought start at level G and H.  That means I just got to them for the first time this year with my on level group.  I think it helped that they have been studying Mo Willems in writing.  All the speech bubbles and sound words were very familiar to them!



Although it was really great to read these graphic novels with my firsties, the best small group moment for me this week was during my intervention group.  We read a book called "Volcano Bubbles."  It is a nonfiction book that explains how to make a volcano.  They thought the colorful bubbles were really cool.  Then....(my favorite part)....we read a fiction companion book called "The Volcano Sand Hill."  As we read through the book they became more and more excited (and LOUD) while making connections between the two books.  I couldn't stop smiling!  They were engaged, excited, and actually reading the book pretty fluently!!



I hope my book choices for next week prove to be as POWERFUL and engaging!

Do you have any leveled readers that your students love?

6 comments:

  1. My 2nd grade kids are reading an LLI book this week called Eugenie Clark: Shark Lady. The level says it should be too hard for them, but they are SO into it that I can't get them to stop talking about it. Non-fiction is so big with this group.

    At my old school, that series of graphic novels were so popular, and so were the Katie Woo books. I just found a Batman Science book at the RR conference and I am hoping to get a set for my group to read- they would LOVE it!

    These books look so great. I'd love to see how your leveled library is organized!
    Jenny

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  2. I didn't know they made graphic novels for first grade. I am off to check them out, thank you for sharing. Maria

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  3. Those look super cool! Do you use a basal at all? It seems like you have a lot of flexibility in your material choices.

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  5. I haven't started using them yet, but we just got the Leveled Literacy Intervention books that Jenny @ Luckeyfrog mentioned. At the workshop I went to on it, they said the kids loved the books and even the kids who weren't in the intervention groups wanted to read them, (of course the instructor worked for the company, but I will let you know if it is true.).
    Kelly
    I'm Not Your Grandpa, I'm Your Teacher

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  6. My kiddos love graphic novels, too! Arnie the Donut Bowling Ball Bandit is very popular right now! Search Toon books on Amazon and you will find some great beginning graphic novels. Benny and Penny books are my firsties favorites in this series!
    Stay warm!
    Jenny

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