Growing independent readers

Now that we are half way threw the year I'm giving them a little more independence with their literacy stations. As daily five they have to hit every station through out the week(word work, writing, listening, read to self and buddy reading). Up to this point I've assigned where they go each day. Gradually I'm going to be giving them free choice. They will be assigned a reading group still with me two days and Mrs. Pattison the other two. When they aren't in guided reading they will chose a station. They will have a calendar where they check off which station they go to each day. I check in with them on Fridays to see their calendars and work completed. Of course as its being rolled out this way I'll still be checking daily to hold them accountable until they show responsibility and we'll start conferencing only on Fridays to save instructional time during the week. They will also be given choices in centers. Instead of giving one writing assignment or word work activity, they will get a few choices in their center folder. Below you will see the tic tac toe word work menu. They have been using comprehension sticks in buddy reading to ask questions to their partners while reading. In independent reading they are given an interactive comprehension sheet for their readers response notebook to complete. I've started a new listen to reading site called mobymax.com. At the end of each reading they are given a comprehension quiz where they are given a score that gets sent to me. Feel free to check out the site along with big universe. Which we are beginning to use as well. Your child's big universe log in would be wp(followed by their lunch number), password:lunch # and group name:wcpss. For moby Max their login is just their name and password is books. Have fun exploring these sites with your child. As I set up the big universe account more your child's library will grow with books I chose for them at their level! It's time consuming but will be well worth while. It could eventually substitute take home reader books so they never have to reread the same book, since there are endless books on the site!