Students went book shopping at school this week!

As part of our Reading Workshop, students will "shop" for books in our leveled library in the classroom each week. Their "shopping day" is the same as their sharing day. Last week, everyone book shopped on the same day so we could all get going with Read to Self time. I taught students about choosing "good fit" books and taught them the acronym "I-PICK." This means:

I choose my books
P-Purpose--Why do I want to read this book?
I-Interest--Does this book interest me?
C-Comprehension--do I understand what I'm reading?
K-Know--Can I read most of the words?

I will do a lot of coaching around choosing books that are a good fit for each child, and this will be adjusted as time goes on. As students grow as readers, they will choose from different reading levels. I have found that allowing students to choose what they read makes a large difference in their motivation for, and love of, reading. I will choose books to read during our "book club" times (reading groups), and I will continually monitor students to make sure they are shopping for books that are appropriately challenging for them to read during their Read to Self and (eventually) Read to Someone reading times. Everyone seemed to love book shopping!