The Road to Becoming a Reader
| Research has proven that increasing a student's reading stamina will help them perform better on standardized tests. Here in Pettus, having exemplary test scores is an important goal of ours. However, we believe there's another goal that is equally as important--and that is for our school to develop happy, successful human beings. We have discovered something that helps us with both of these goals. We have found that it if we can build a true love of books and literature, then kids will want to read. Getting children to want to read is half the battle. Once they have that desire and are given time to practice, then they will read. Once they're reading, a whole new world opens up for them. The teachers at Pettus Elementary understand how powerful this is--and fully appreciate being part of such a foundational part of their students' lives. |
| So--how do we build reading stamina? One of they ways to build stamina is by reading longer books. Students are not automatically able to read and comprehend long books, though--it's a process. Just like a baby has to crawl before they walk ,and a toddler has to walk before they run, a reader has to have certain skills before they can read books without pictures in them. For most students, this follows a typical pattern: |