Reading Boost for At-Risk Students

Idea Champion: Kellie Theisen, 2nd Grade Teacher, CPS⚡️

Problem⚡️

Struggling readers, who outside of the schools walls have few people to sit and read with them, are often also not in language-rich environments. To help them grow in reading they need to see words in print and be able to hear those words (correctly). Not everyone will love reading, but for struggling readers it is a chore.

Proposed Solution⚡️

Lets create the opportunity for every student to be read to every day. Using technology this can happen for ALL students. I want to provide struggling readers a resource to hear someone reading to them on a nightly basis. Each night they could leave with an MP3 player, headphones, and books from school! This provides students an alternative to using a smartphone of parents/aunts/uncles and does not require internet service.

BONUS: older students can be the storytellers, or narrators - the possibilities are endless

  • Reading Boost Bags are a HIT! Students are coming to school each week, eager to get a "new" bag of books for the week. Students are requesting specific bags! "Please, can I have bag 5 again?"
  • A parent, who I have seen a few times since conferences (introducing of the bag's purpose), gets emotional each time we chat. Her son is now interested, yes interested in reading! She commented how she and her husband watch in amazement as he reads every single night - either with the book and MP3 player, or reading the book to himself.
  • One of the greatest things I want to mention is that I have purchased all of the same books for the classroom library - when students see the books they are listening to at home... I can't even explain the impact that has on them. It is a definite confidence builder, these students are in different guided reading groups and I am a witness to seeing them respond in a more self-assured way - they are conversing with peers about the main idea of a story and they know IT IS OKAY to not have the same idea!! These students are becoming part of their learning.
Check this picture out! 
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