I'm looking for chapter books for my classroom. This fall will be my first full year of teaching. How do you ladies (and gentlemen) feel about "fun" books as well as award winning books? By "fun" books I mean the books kids would read purely for entertainment value (Goosebumps, R.L. Stine, Babysitter's Club, Junie B. other books such as these.)
I'm wondering whether to invest in some of these as well. Thanks for your advice.
I am teaching second grade next year. Does anyone have any information on where I can find a suggested reading list for books for my classroom? Thanks.
I think anything that gets the kids to read is great. When I do read alouds and novel studies, I pick great books. I have a ton of "fun" reads on my shelves including magazines, appropriate comic books, choose your own adventure books, and others. I want kids to love reading.
I have a huge variety of books and think that the "fun" ones are just as important. I believe in anything that will get students to read and enjoy, even if the book isn't my personal choice. I do lots of book talks, hyping up books in the classroom library and try to do 3-4 of a variety. So, go for the fun books too!
I have a pretty large class library with tons of picture books and chapter books. But by mid year I noticed that my students were losing interest in reading- ex. abandoning books more often and not choosing to do reading on their free time. So I changed my library around, advertise some great award winning book, and invested in tons of R.L. Stine books, Babysitter and little sister's club, Amber Brown, Cam Jensen, Marc Brown's Arthur, sports series #1, A Series of Unfortunate Events, The Chronicles of Narnia, Boxcar Children, several children's magazines including Sports Illustrated for Kids, and even... Scooby Doo . I thought about my goals for my students. My goal is to develop the love of reading so that when they leave my classroom, reading will become apart of their lives.
When I brought these books in, the class was buzzing and excited-I had to create a waiting list for these books and the list is several pages long now. the kids are asking to take the books to recess and are reading them any free time they have.
In my class the kids usually have 2 books going at once. One is an IDR Independent Daily Reading book, at their level, and I usually steer them toward something "with substance" The other book they have is called the JFF, Just for Fun book. Once a week we have free reading with this, and they are encouraged to do their weekly at home reading with the IDR or JFF books. JFF books give them the opportunity to read an old favorite again, or to read several books in a series.
I agree with previous posters, whatever gets them to read! Usually I see what a kid is interested in, through conferences or reading journals and I can find a way to sneak in something really great.
I have a large class library for the amount of kids I have (14 this year- 1,600 chapter books). I have all different types of books. What I notice is that the kids go for the Captain Underpants and other garbage first. However, I read a lot of award winners for read aloud and our basal is full of award winners, too. I point that out everytime we read something award winning. They really enjoy those stories. Soon the kids are checking out the award winning books all of the time (and books by award winning authors). By the end of the year, the junk is rarely checked out.
I do think that the junk books are important. More than anything, I want them to read and enjoy it. If it has to be those books then so be it. It's much better than reading nothing at all and having a bad attitude towards reading.
As adults, just because we CAN read high-quality, award-winning literature, doesn't mean we WANT to or that those things will motivate us to read. Sometimes I don't want to have to "work" at reading and instead I want to read a magazine or a trashy novel. Kids are the same way. It's good for them to have the opportunity to read from a variety of materials. Of course, I always have what I feel are really great literature choices in my room for them to choose from. I talk them up and find ways to include them in class, but I try never to discourage kids who are motivated to read.
So to answer your question, I think having some of those "fun" books is great (BTW, I don't count Junie B. in that category...I love Barbara Park books and think there's a lot to learn from them).
All reading, including fun books, builds vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. So why not fun books? I hate it when parents push the classics on a child who does not like them. It does not make our job any eaiser to turn them into lifetime readers. Isn't that our goal?
Some of my favorite fun books for third and fourth graders are;
The Monster's Ring by Bruce Coville (great Halloween read)
Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher by Bruce Coville
Flipped( told from the boy's and then the girl's viewpoint)
Be a Perfect Person in Just Three Days
Top Secret ( same author of Stone Fox)
anything by Roald Dahl my favorite is George's Marvelous Medicine
Time Warp Trio series- my favorite is the one about knights
Chocolate Touch
if a student is putting a book in front of their face and enjoying it (provided it isn't obscene) LET THEM READ IT. the more words in front of their face, the better readers they will become. my 5th graders love louis sachar, matt christopher, walter dean myers, AND they love goosebumps, babysitters club, and the hannah montana chapter books.
05-30-2008, 11:41 AM
. I thought about my goals for my students. My goal is to develop the love of reading so that when they leave my classroom, reading will become apart of their lives.
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