Reading in the Wild Summer Book Study Chapter 2

I am loving this book by Donalyn Miller.  The more I read, the more I love it.  Chapter 2 is focused on getting students to select reading material.  One of the main focuses of this chapter is on teacher read alouds.  

I LOVE reading aloud to my students and I'm always amazed at how much they pay attention while I read.  Students love it too.  It seems a few years ago there was quite the controversy as to whether time should be "wasted" in the classroom on read alouds.  I think many teachers knew the value of it and found ways to make it happen.  

I was never asked to drop read aloud, but was asked to make in "meaningful" by incorporating think alouds and comprehension discussions during the read aloud.  I think, however, that sometimes we just need to read for fun.  Students aren't going to learn the pleasure of reading themselves if they never have the opportunity to just read for pleasure.  For this reason, the sole purpose of my read aloud time is enjoyment. We do some light discussion generally, but it's not required and not the sole purpose of our reading.

Here's a list of the books I read to my class last year: (Links will take you to the books on Amazon.)

The Hundred Dresses

I start most years out with this one to establish a tone of community with my class. 

The Witches

Whole class, everyone had a copy.  I used this one a little differently than other read alouds, it's my model for responding in our reading journals and intro lessons to comprehension strategies.

Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures

I was able to attend a presentation by Kate DiCamillo in September 2014 where she talked about her new book.  So fun to hear all the background behind the story.  My students laughed through this book. 

Wonder

New to me this year, and wonderful!

Out of My Mind

New to me this year, recommended by a teammate, fabulous!

Because of Mr. Terupt

Again, new to me, recommended by Jen of Runde's Room, my students loved it.  There's a sequel that I opted not to read to my students nor have in my classroom library because of the nature of some of the situations.  The sequel might be best for Jr. High aged students. 

Next year I'm planning to start out with:

 The Hundred Dresses 

and then 

Maniac Magee, 

which will be the whole class shared reading like I did with The Witches.

Then we'll do a brand new book, The Fourteenth Goldfish, which comes out in August.

I was so blessed to receive an advanced copy of this book to read.  I stayed up all night last Tuesday to read it. I highly suggest it to any 3-6 student or class.  I'm joining the Global Read Aloud, which you can learn more about here.

What are your favorite read aloud books?