I think that in kindergarten we not only
have to think about multiple texts as using many different books but also by
having repeated exposure to the same text multiple times.
By looking at this article http://www.k12reader.com/teaching-reading-comprehension-in-kindergarten/
, I found that comprehension increases with repeated reads of a book. I believe
that this is not only true when the student reads the text but when there a
read-aloud occurring (picture books). I model
my noticings when I truly do discover something that I never point out that I
also notice more things every time I read a book again, whether it is in the
words or pictures. I talk with them how it either helps me understand the story
or simply enjoy the story even more.
There also needs to be multiple texts. During
our fiction unit we used the Tacky
books by Helen Lester ( http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/?series_id=628998
), we compared multiple books to define Tacky and his "companions" as
characters, we focused on what the author chose to keep the same in every book
and how she changed it, and we discussed why we thought she made these
decisions. It was because they understood Tacky/fiction so well, we were
then easily able to compare Tacky to our non-fiction study (books,
websites, magazines, etc). I found a blog from Tim Shanahan that stresses the
importance of not only using multiple books but multiple texts. They need
exposure to these different boundaries (Shanahan, 2010).
Hi Christina!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see that in Kindergarten you're already hitting hard on reading across multiple texts! That's great news, especially from my lens as an intermediate teacher! :)
With this particular conversation about using the Tacky books and comparing character traits as well as the non-fiction study using books, websites, and magazines, have you found that the Kindergartners are able to make connections easily or is that skill not intuitive at that age?
Thanks for the comments and question Jen! I think that some kids do naturally have that ability and others are able to because we have set it up for them to see those connections (using mainly Tacky versus a variety of fiction penguin books).
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ReplyDeleteChristina, I like the activity you use with Tacky the Penguin. Its a good way for students to see the similarities and differences between the texts that concretely have things in common like you said Tacky and his friends. I was wondering if you do a similar activity with informational text or if it varies and which text type (fictional/ informational) do you notice your students prefer more?
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