Why should children engage in independent reading? It gives them a chance to expand their knowledge while providing practice in decoding and comprehension strategies. It helps develop positive attitudes toward reading while also expanding students' vocabularies and developing automaticity.

 Giving your students a time and place to read in your classroom is very important. Give them a variety of books to choose from for independent reading with a well stocked classroom library. Some teachers may not give enough attention to taking their students to the library, when really, this is time well spent. Get involved in commercial book clubs, such as the Scholastic Book Clubs, Inc.; it will make it very easy for you and your students to order books and gain more books for the classroom.

 When should you schedule independent reading time in your classroom? You can either give a designated time for everyone to read or make independent reading a part of the students' rotations or personal everyday activities. I have come to notice that teachers who have "centers" in their classroom with independent reading/read with a buddy as one of the rotations are a great attribute. Teachers should also encourage out-of-school reading. I have also seen teachers that give out "take home folders" along with a plastic bag for books they are supposed to read at home every week with their parents. They fill out a reading log to keep progress. Giving your students worksheets also help with reading comprehension, whether it's simple questions about what they read or knowing the difference between beginning, middle, and end.

 Not only is independent reading an important attribute in the classroom, but having reading groups is also a good factor. Group discussions are a great way to let the students share and respond to each other about the material they have read. It promotes wide reading and encourages interpretative response to literature. The students reflect on what they read, write about it, and share it with their classmates. Teachers are more of a monitor rather than a participant in this activity. The teacher could also hold a group discussion with a certain group of students every week by having them all read the same book and then everyone come together as a group to talk about it (including the teacher), while at the same time having students take turns reading in the group with the teacher.

The Book Club program provides opportunities for students to be involved in not only reading, but writing, discussion, and community share. The reading component is meant to last around 10-20 minutes and encourages students to respond to what they've read with evaluations, personal responses, and comparisons to other texts, etc. Writing is meant to last around 10-15 minutes and is designed to enhance their understanding of and response to what they read. Book clubs are meant to last around 5-20 minutes and are the student-led discussion groups that is intended for students to really learn to talk about books. Community share is meant to last around 5-20 minutes and is a time for teachers to meet with students as a whole class. The teacher engages students in activities that will help prepare them for reading, such as building background knowledge or discussing the structure.

Therefore, I mentioned many different ways to accompany independent reading and reader response, as they are both important components of a well-balanced literacy curriculum. Reading is meant to be fun for students, not scary!