Building reading fluency happens over time. The Gift of Reading Partner Play is perfect for working on fluency while enjoying the holidays too. In this sweet play for two voices, your students will get plenty of reading time while working on close reading strategies. In this post, I’ll share how you can use it with your students.
Introducing the gift of reading partner play
To begin, I introduce the important vocabulary to the students with kid friendly definitions, examples and non-examples, the word in context, and similar words. Students jot notes on the back of each word card or on the graphic organizer.
Then, we work on the schema builder in pairs. It’s lots of fun to do Pairs Check with the activity after the kids have had a chance to write their own ideas down. Once these two activities are completed, then it’s time to dig in and read. You can use the scripts in small groups or assign for partners while you’re working with another group.
Learning the meaning of the gift of reading
As students read together, I ask them to stop and jot when they get to new words, big ideas, ah-ha moments, connections, etc. There is room in the margins for students to take notes. I also provide guiding questions for the students to discuss during their reading. They are to color code the information found in the play that helps them answer the questions.
The play is about 5 pages long, and I advise that students read it at least two times to work on fluency. The set also includes comprehension question task cards for group discussion (You might use a set for each group to discuss/respond in pairs during reading too). Either the graphic organizer or task cards are available.
The Gift of Reading and the Reading-Writing connection
Reading and writing go together like peanut butter and jelly. We need to show our students that. From the play, you can brainstorm ideas that may work with the writing prompt or connect it to other literature too.
As you read, you may notice a similarity to The Polar Express. In the story, James is a struggling reader and hates to read (sound familiar??). He and his mom read The Polar Express together, enjoy it, and on Christmas day, he gets a surprise gift. (I know the story is not a likely Newberry Award winner, but remember the point is fluency building, right. 🙂
Get a copy of the gift of reading for your class
If this sounds like fun, you can get a copy using THIS LINK to my TPT shop or use the listing below. I know your kids will love it. I am also including a second title in case you’re interested.
other posts you might like:
- WHY TWAS THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS BY JAN BRETT MAKES A GREAT MENTOR TEXT
- 5 WAYS TO INCORPORATE DECEMBER TEACHING RESOURCES INTO A FESTIVE YET INCLUSIVE MONTH
- 10+ EASY TO USE REINDEER THEMED ACTIVITIES FOR THE MIDDLE GRADES
If you have questions about The Gift of Reading or Partner Plays in general, let me know.
26 Responses
Thanks so much for the partner reading script! I can't wait to use it in my guided reading groups in December. I love the comprehension/extension questions that go along with it!
Courtney
I am going to pushing my students to do even better than they are now. We are going to become stronger readers.
Work on writing! Always on my to do list! Wendy 1stgradefireworks
I actually plan to hit fluency even harder, especially working on slowing down and taking the time to decode larger words (I teach Title I). Then, I'll be working on comprehension skills as well. This resource looks PERFECT for what I'd like to do and I can't wait to try it out! Thanks SO much!!
Great freebie! Many thanks for all your hard work.
Thanks for the opportunity and for joining this blog hop! I'd like to "cook up" the best readers and friendly class I can. 🙂
I love to give a classic story as a book gift 🙂
Karen
I love to give my nephews and nieces books that I enjoyed reading. I also love to give them books that have been autographed.
I like to give educational or inspirational books as gifts.
For the right person, you can't go wrong with The Best Christmas Pageant Ever!
I usually order books from Scholastic for my gifts. I look for the sale books that have a great lesson in them.
I like the $1 Scholastic books! They make great student gifts!
Thanks for the opportunity. I enjoy giving books that I read as a child and anything that might be of interest to the person.
I buy the $1 books from Scholastic for my kiddos. But for reading to the kids I have many favorites, The Little Lamb by Max Lucado, old classic The Night Before Christmas, old classic Polar Express, there are so many….
I like to give The Mitten or The Snowy Day, but I also love to give my favorites, Make Way for Ducklings, The Giving Tree, and Polar Express.
My gift tastes are changing as I am teaching new grade levels this year! One book I like to give would be any of the Junie B. Jones books. She gets into enough trouble to hold the attention of my boys as well as my girls! I love to give Kevin Henkes books too.
You're so talented with your blogging and TpT, Carla! I am always learning so much from you and I'm so thankful to be a part of our Reading Crew! Great job on your freebie – perhaps one day I'll start to think about creating brand new content! 🙂
I always buy the $1 gifts from scholastic! I love your blog! This is my first time here! Thanks for the freebie!
I just love your partner scripts! I'm looking forward to using this one with my students. 🙂 SO thankful you joined us for the hop!
$1 books from scholastic!
What a wonderful idea; my kids LOVE scripts!! Thanks! My favorite books to give (3rd-5th graders) are any books by Andrew Clements; kids can totally relate to his characters & they always have a plot twist!
Your partner reading activity is also a great drama activity! Thank you so much =)
I will be giving the Rosie Effect as gifts this holiday season =)
I love the idea of partner scripts. This gives each child plenty of reading practice! I was just thinking today about getting books for my students, so hope to use my scholastic book order.
Sebrina
Burke's Special Kids
I actually like to give my students gift certificates to Scholastic that I purchase through the Classroom Rewards insert! It is always a hit =).
Gift certificates to Scholastic!!