Jaime S. Ch. 4 Reflection

In Chapter 4, Taberski writes about the importance of conferencing with students. I’m glad she mentioned having conferences with Kindergarteners. As I’ve stated in my Running Records, there are only a few students in my class that can read. It would be hard to hold a conference with Kindergarteners because many of them are still pre-emergent readers. Rather than having a conference with the kindergarteners, it is important for them to know how to handle a book. I’ve worked with ESLL students before and they came to class not knowing how to turn a page properly or that text is read from left to right. I had to start with the basics with the students. I showed them how to turn the page properly and how we can point at the words we’re reading. I do the same thing with the Kindergarteners before I do a shared reading. I show them the book and ask them to tell me about the book. It’s funny because they say it in unison, “That is the front cover, That is the back cover…” I think they learned it from the librarian at Kapalama.

This Chapter also talks about the different genres students should read. Sydnie’s teacher also emphasizes the importance of reading different genres. Every quarter she brings home a genre wheel. The wheel is divided into non-fiction, fiction, fairy tale, and…. something else- I can’t remember (bad mom!) and she chooses the books that fit in that genre and writes the name and title of the book and then we read together.