Choosing a 'Just Right' Book
Choice
Allowing students choice with their selection of books motivates them to want to read. However, students need to be reading books at their 'just right' reading level. Books should be available on all students' levels and offer many topics and genres.
The Goldilocks Method
If students will be expected to choose "just right" books, then teachers need to model what a reader looks like while reading a book that is too easy, a book that is too hard, and a book that is "just right". Demonstrate each of these and ask the students to tell you what they noticed about how you read the book. Tell them to think about Goldilocks and the three bears. She wanted things that were “just right”.
The Five Finger Rule
Tell your students that if they are not sure if the book is "just right" or not then they can use the Five Finger Rule to help them decide.
- Open to a page of the book.
- Begin reading.
- Each time you come to a word you don’t know, hold up 1 finger.
- After you finish reading the page, check to see how many fingers you are holding up.
Too Easy: 0 - 1 fingers
Too Hard: 4 - 5 fingers
Just Right: 2 - 3 fingers
Use Your Schema
Schema is what you know. If you’ve heard about it, experienced it, or seen it then it’s in your schema. Explain to students that activating your schema for a book will also help you decide if it is a "just right" book. For example, if you know a lot about reptiles, then you have a lot of schema for reptiles. This means that a book on reptiles might be a "just right" book for you. However, if you choose a book that you’ve never heard of the topic before, then that book will probably be too hard and it will be a book that you will need to read with someone.
Students need to spend time practising independent reading while applying reading strategies. However, in order to effectively apply these strategies they need to be reading books that aren’t too easy or too difficult. Reading a "just right" book will give them the right amount of unknown words to practice applying decoding strategies. And by teaching students to choose a "just right" book is getting them one step closer to becoming a successful independent reader.
Independent reading is a time for students to make their own book choices, apply reading strategies, have large blocks of time to read and set independent reading goals.
Reggie Routman says,“Ironically, when teachers are pressed for time, independent reading is usually the first thing to be cut. Yet a carefully monitored independent reading program is the single most important part of your reading instructional program." There are four key elements of independent reading that will help students become successful readers:
- choice
- strategies
- time
- goals