Helping Your Child Pick a Good Fit Book

Have you ever asked yourself, “How can I help my child choose books that he or she can read?”

One important piece of reading instruction Marlin teachers assist their students with is choosing a GOOD FIT book.  A GOOD FIT book is a book that students can read and are interested in reading.  To choose these books, the teachers model IPICK.

IPICK is an acronym that stands for the following: I choose a book to read, Purpose (Why do I want to read it?), Interest (Does it interest me?), Comprehend (Am I understanding what I am reading?), and Know the words (I know most of the words). 

Here are a few steps that you and your child can follow in order to choose GOOD FIT books:

1.  Have your child choose a book. This is the first I in IPICK.

2.  Ask your child, “What is your purpose for choosing this book?” You may also want to ask, “Is it for fun or to learn something?”  This is the P in IPICK.

3.  Ask your child, “Is this a book you are interested in reading?” This is the second I in IPICK.

4.  Have your child read a page of the book.  After your child reads the page, ask your child, “Who or what did you read about and what happened?”  This is the C in IPICK.  If it is a GOOD FIT book, your child should be able to answer your question.

5. Have your child read another page (or use the same page) and ask, “Did you know the words?”  This is the K in IPICK.  Your child should know all or almost all of the words in order for it to be a GOOD FIT book.

Going through the steps of choosing a good fit book should only take a couple minutes.  Once children are familiar with the IPICK process, they have an easier time choosing GOOD FIT books.  Children may need more guidance from mom or dad as they choose good fit books. This is an ongoing process and takes practice.  We will continue to learn and practice choosing GOOD FIT books at school.

Adapted from The Good Fit letter for parents written by Alicia Darby from www.thedailycafe.com

Marlin Staff Favorites

Recently, Marlin students had the opportunity to guess which Marlin staff reader was behind their favorite book.  The guesses sparked conversations among students, teachers, and school guests.  The favorite book list consisted mostly of children's books, but some adult titles were included.  Check out the list.  See if your favorite book is there, or find a new favorite to read!

Favorite book list:
The Velveteen Rabbit
A Light in the Attic
Ruby Holler
How Are You Peeling?
Skippyjon Jones
Once Upon a Summer
Memoir of a Goldfish
Rainbows, Head Lice, and Pea-Green Tile
Out of the Dust
Rabbit's Gift
Middle School, the Worst Years of My Life
The Devil's Arithmetic
Good to Great
So Cold the River
The Boxcar Children series
Spaghetti in a Hot Dog Bun
Where the Wild Things Are
A Wrinkle in Time
Something Borrowed
No, David
Roxaboxen
The Little Mermaid

Start a Reading Streak!

The Reading Promise: My Father and the Books We Shared by Alice Ozma

 

When Alice Ozma was in 4th grade, she and her father decided to see if he could read aloud to her for 100 consecutive nights. On the hundredth night, they shared pancakes to celebrate, but it soon became evident that neither wanted to let go of their storytelling ritual. So they decided to continue what they called "The Streak." Alice's father read aloud to her every night without fail until the day she left for college. In the book called The Reading Promise, Alice approaches her book as a series of vignettes about her relationship with her father and the life lessons learned from the books he read to her.

Interested in starting your own Reading Streak? Here are some books they read and loved, organized by grade level. If your child shows a keen interest in being read to, or has been read to regularly before you begin a Streak, you may want to bump him or her up a grade level or two.

Grades 1 and 2: Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi, Dot and Tot in Maryland by L. Frank Baum, The One in the Middle is the Green Kangaroo by Beverly Cleary, Winnie the Pooh and The House at Pooh Cornerby A.A. Milne, Mr. Popper's Penguinsby Richard Atwater.

Grades 3 and 4: Alice's Adventures in WonderlandandThrough the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll, Ginger Pye by Eleanor Estes, Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days by Stephen Manes, The Bears' House by Marilyn Sachs, The Encyclopedia Brown Series by Donald J. Sobol.

Grades 5 and 6: Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, Surviving theApplewhites by Stephanie S. Tolan, The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg, Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine, It's Like This, Catby Emily Cheney Neville.

Grades 7 and 8: The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling,Each Little Bird That Sings by Deborah Wiles, Esperanza Risingby Pam Munoz Ryan, The Alex Rider Series by Anthony Horowitz, Holesby Louis Sachar.

Grades 9 and 10: Up a Road Slowly and Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt, Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton, Wish You Well by David Baldacci.

Grades 11 and 12: The Pigman by Paul Zindel, The Whistling Season by Ivan Doig, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare, Great Expectations and The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens, The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

Why Your Child Should Read for 20 Minutes Every Day

As parents we have all heard this cry, "WHY CAN'T I SKIP MY 20 MINUTES OF READING TONIGHT?"
Reading is the basis for all learning SO…
LET'S FIGURE IT OUT – MATHEMATICALLY!

Student A reads 20 minutes, five nights, every week;
Student B reads only 4 minutes a night...or not at all!

Step 1: Multiply minutes a night x 5 times each week. Student A reads 20 minutes x 5 times a week = 100 minutes/week Student B reads 4 minutes x 5 times a week = 20 minutes
Step 2: Multiply minutes a week x 4 weeks each month. Student A reads 400 minutes a month. Student B reads 80 minutes a month.
Step 3: Multiply minutes a month x 9 months/school year. Student A reads 3600 minutes in a school year. Student B reads 720 minutes in a school year. Student A practices reading the equivalent of ten whole school days a year. Student B gets the equivalent of only two school days of reading practice.

By the end of 6th grade if Student A and Student B maintain these same reading habits, Student A will have read the equivalent of 60 whole school days. Student B will have read the equivalent of only 12 school days. One would expect the gap of information retained will have widened considerably, and so, undoubtedly will school performance. How do you think Student B will feel about him/herself as a student?

Some questions to ponder:

Which student would you expect to read better?
Which student would you expect to know more?
Which student would you expect to write better?
Which student would you expect to have a better vocabulary?
Which student would you expect to be more successful in school....and in life?

(Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, America Reads Challenge. (1999) "Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader." Washington, D.C.)