Friday, June 20, 2014

Reading in the Wild - Chapter 1

I absolutely loved Donalyn Miller's book The Book Whisperer: Awakening the Inner Reader in Every Child, so I was very excited to see that she released a new book - Reading in the Wild: The Book Whisperer's Keys to Cultivating Lifelong Reading Habits AND that Catherine over at The Brown Bag Teacher has organized a summer book study of it.


Chapter 1 - Wild Readers Dedicate Time to Read

Already, this book has lots of ideas that I can integrate into my classroom. In fact, I suspect that I will re-read each chapter just to make sure I'm recording all of the ideas so I remember them in August. (And I may go back and re-read The Book Whisperer, too!) But one thing that I really want to emphasize this year is building a community of readers. I like the idea of students sharing the books they're reading and making recommendations to each other. Personally, I use GoodReads to track that information for myself (I've blogged about that before here). I've also had my students blog about their reading (see here). But what I'd really like is something more like GoodReads - a social networking site - but appropriate for fourth graders. 

I recently stumbled across the site Reading Rewards through a Twitter Chat, and this might be the answer I'm looking for. 



This site allows you to set up your class into a reading community where they can create libraries of the books they've read, write book reviews, get and make recommendations, and make a wishlist of books they want to read. There is also a reading log component and a reward system that allows you and parents to create rewards based on achieving individualized reading goals. I haven't had a chance to try this out with students yet, but based on my exploration of the site, it looks very promising.

Do you have any experience with the Reading Rewards website? Have you come across any other sites you'd recommend for building a community of readers? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

7 comments:

  1. I LOVE Goodreads!! One of my favorite ways to review books and get recommendations from my peeps. :)

    I hadn't heard of Reading Rewards before you posted, but it looks awesome! I think it would be a great way to connect teachers, students and parents with reading. At our school we use the 7 Habits, and I think this would be a great goal-setting tool as well!!

    Thanks for linking up!

    Abby
    Third Grade Bookworm

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  2. I hadn't heard of reading rewards but I'm really excited about it. I am currently reading Danny Brassel's 75 reading strategies and have The Book Whisperer on my shelf for my next read! I will have to get the next one when I finish these.
    I love reading and always have. I have a hard time understanding why someone wouldn't love reading so I am always looking for help.
    Thank you so much for sharing!

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  3. I think introducing students to an online community of readers would be so motivating for students. I remember I came across a site called Biblionasium last year and to me it seemed similar to Goodreads, just for kids, but I never got around to introducing it to students. You've reminded me to investigate both Biblionasium and Reading Rewards to see which would be best for creating a community where students could talk about what they are reading. Thank you for your post!

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  4. I have never heard of Reading Rewards but I am loving this idea. I can't wait for you to post more about it.

    Misty
    Think, Wonder, & Teach

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  5. I've used Biblionasium for the last few years and it's great. They have even added some additional capabilities recently. It's worth checking out!

    Heather

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