Reading Tips For Teachers

(Courtesy Utah Reads Program)

Primary Grades, Ages 5-9

• Read aloud to your students every day. Choose books that are above their reading level, but at their appropriate interest level. For example, primary-grade students enjoy stories about animals. Primary grade students also enjoy chapter books such as Charlotte's Web.
• Ask your librarian to help you choose books to read aloud to your students.
• Reacognize that your students should be doing lots of reading each day. They should read from two to four short stories a day.
• Encourage your school library to stay open and available to your students all day.
• Send book bags ( a book in a zip-lock bag) home with your students every day. Have a sheet in the book bag that parents can sign to show that your students have read the book to their parents.
• Primary grade students need many different kinds of print material in their classrooms. Materials should include picture books, chapter books, leveled books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, pamphlets, tickets, TV schedules, etc.
• Share your own reading with your students. Bring in what you are reading and tell them about it. Talk about the characters. Talk about the plot. Talk about your own experiences and how they relate to the book. Talk about books by the same author.
• Ask your students to tell about the book they are reading. Encourage them to share it with the class.
• Encourage your students to learn about different authors. Read aloud several books from the same author.
• Encourage your students to use the five finger test to determine if a book is too hard or just right to read. Ask them to read a page or so (about 100 words). Each time they come to a word they don't know, raise one finger. If at the end of the paragraph or page they have used more than five fingers, then the book is too hard for them to read on their own.