Reading Ladders

At the end of the first quarter, students used a "Reading Ladder" to reflect on their reading and to think about themselves as a reader.  This was a big project and challenged them to stick with a task for a long amount of time.

Their first job was to write down all of the books they read and record how many words each book had.  Then they found their total number of words read and then the average number of words read in each week of the quarter.

Their next step was to write their books on sticky notes and order them from easiest to most difficult text that they read this quarter.  We discussed what makes books more difficult to read: size of the text, amount of white space, few or many characters, flashbacks to past events, pictures, vocabulary or words the author uses, if we are familiar with the topic or what they author is talking about, and how long the sentences or chapters are.  Then, we put our books from Read Aloud on a reading ladder--some were easier for us to understand (like Clementine or Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing) while others were more difficult (like The Brixton Brothers).  As we were placing the books along our ladder we discussed what made the books easier or more difficult to understand.  We talked about how readers try a variety of books and make sure that there are books on many levels of the ladder--that if they were all easy, we would not be challenged.  However, if all of the books we read were especially challenging, our brains would burn out quickly!

Then, they did the same thing with their own books- ordering them from easiest to hardest.   After they had them in order, students had to choose 4 books and explain where on the reading ladder that book was and why.  What made a book more difficult or easier for them to understand?

After that, they wrote reviews of 3 of their books that they read. And the last step was for them to make a plan for next quarter--do they want to increase the number of words they read in a quarter?  Do they want to try a new series or new genre? Are they going to try and have one more book higher up in their reading ladder?

As students reflect on their reading and what has made them a better reader this quarter, they become more aware of what challenges them and they are able to see their successes as a reader.  In addition, as they make goals they are pushing themselves to try new things as a reader.  We discussed that it is human nature to do the bare minimum--that most people will do the minimum of what is required.  However, if I encourage them to try new things and they set their own goals, they are more likely to try things out with books and reading that they never would have attempted before.