Books in the First Four Days

This year I decided to try something new to start off independent reading. I've been collecting multiple copies of various books and attempting to have many from various series as well. In this first week I've read as many books as possible and then put them out for the kids during independent reading. It's been highly successful! The kids are very engaged in reading these books.

We also read two wordless picture books to model for the kids how to read books without words. The goal was to help them read books with text that is too difficult for them. Until we really get into guided reading they won't likely have books they are truly able to read yet. So we wanted to set them up for successful independent reading. Again, it's worked pretty well.

The video above shows all the books we've read together by lunchtime on the fourth day of school. We're copying the covers of the books and hanging them up to help the kids remember them. I'm really good at starting things like this, less good at following through.

(I wish I could remember where I read about having multiple copies of books the teacher reads for the kids. I have no idea.)