The Reading Strategies Book

One of the things I absolutely love to do is read professional texts. I am not necessarily a lover of nonfiction text. Tim is always encouraging me to read more nonfiction. But, if it deals with education or our kids I am all about researching and learning more!

I thought I would start a series that sort of highlights the books I have read and shares some things I have used from them. This is, of course, the first in this series. Several people recommended Jennifer Serravallo's The Reading Strategies Book to me. I had already been teaching lots of small group and had a very loved copy of Jan Richardson's The Next Step in Guided Reading so I wasn't sure what all I would get out of her book. 

Honestly, a lot wasn't new. But I still love the book and it has become as warn as my Next Step book. A big part of that is due to how it is organized and that it has great examples. 

Here are my big take aways from the book and why I think you might like it: 
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• ​There are strategies for EVERYTHING reading related. Pre-reading behaviors, decoding, comprehension, fluency, nonfiction, fiction, speaking & listening. If it's related to reading there are strategies for it in this book. 
• It's organized so that you can find the strategies quickly. To be honest, most of the strategies are ones I already use(d). But, it's so nice to have a quick reference to check and remind myself of them. 
• She has a great idea about giving individual goals and strategies to each student and I LOVE this idea.
• This may sound lame to some, but you don't really need to read this book. It's not a typical textbook that you read from  beginning to end. You can sort of flip through it and skim for what you need now. It makes it a great  book to get anytime in the school year. You will not put it off to the side and read it over winter/summer break. 

One of my favorite take aways from this book is the personal strategy card. Jen suggests making personal goals for each student and then giving them each strategies to reach those goals. 

I use this every day in my small reading groups. We use goals like: 

• I can sound out words that are hard for me.
• I can understand what I read.
• I can read fluently. (yes, I teach them what fluently means before I write that down). 

This has been a big game changer in my small groups. They love getting personalized strategies and because they are tailored just for them the students pay attention to them more. They are not able to write off the strategy as much (how many of us sit and listen and say things like "they aren't talking about me"? I know my students do this when I'm lecturing...). 

Each time I write in a strategy I do a personalized mini lesson with that student! 

If you are interested in trying out your own strategy card you can see it in Jen Serravallo's book or I have made my copy available by clicking here (or on the picture above). 

I like to put ours on heavy card stock and keep them in our reading folders. I also give them one to take home/in their desks.