Book Box Basics

How independent reading systems support Social Emotional Learning for students

I know when you think of SEL (social emotional learning) most often it revolves around lessons on emotions and others and how we’re feeling. As a reminder, there are 5 competencies for SEL (as indicated by CASEL:

• SELF AWARENESS
• SELF MANAGEMENT
• SOCIAL AWARENESS
• RELATIONSHIP SKILLS
• RESPONSIBLE DECISION MAKING

I’m going to highlight SELF MANAGEMENT in this post as it pertains to setting students up for success in learning by managing the expectations of what to do during independent reading time.

SCAFFOLD CLEAR PROCEDURES

Make sure that you map out the order of steps you want students to take when it comes to their independent reading time. You may want to backwards design the steps from what the end goal is and work your way to what the very first step would be to start. If you’re teaching kindergarteners, then it is all new and you’ll want to be specific and short with the steps and modeling directions. If you’re teaching anything above first grade ASSUME nothing! and I mean nothing. It doesn’t matter that they’ve already ‘done school’. If you want students to follow the steps you’ve designed, you teach them as if they don’t know it. The older students may adapt quicker, however they need consistent reminding each year and everyday after the new year starts.

MODEL THE READING EXPECTATIONS

I have followed the process for explicit modeling from Responsive Classroom and Daily 5. When I model I do it without saying anything other than what I’ll be doing. For example, when I introduce how to move to your reading spot I will say: “I will show you what it looks like to reading independently in our class. Watch to see.” Then I do it without talking. For me, I walk quietly to my spot with my book box and set it down next to me. I take 1 book out and read with my eyes on the book and whisper reading. I put the book back in the box before taking the next one out. IT IS NEVER TOO SLOW! Believe me, you will reap the rewards of going slow at the beginning in order to stay steady the rest of the year. Teachers that hurry these steps end up having to reteach more often and lose valuable learning time because of it. Set the foundation right from the beginning. Meaning, model the expectations everyday in the first weeks or when starting a new routine.

HAVE VISUALS

I introduce the visuals following the explicit model. Create anchor charts for the expectations and procedures for independent reading. I like making a T chart that shows what students are doing on one side and what teachers are doing on the other. For kindergarten and first grade, I have the pictures already up for what I modeled. this way when I call on students to tell me what they noticed about my reading, I can just uncover to display and write what’s happening. These anchor charts stay up or are referred to everyday throughout the year. The review gets quicker as the year goes on, but the beauty in this is you can always go back to revisit in depth when students begin to slide away from the desired expectations.

ENGAGING MATERIALS

Students that are engaged in independent reading make better progress, have confidence as a reader (regardless of ability), and can manage themselves during this time so that you the teacher can take small reading groups without disruptions. I have had classroom of 25-30 kindergarten and first graders independently reading and engaged appropriately for 30 minutes daily. We didn’t start at 30 minutes, but over 8-10 weeks of time, that’s where we progressed as a class. you class can, too.

Set up a meaningful book box

The first step is to create engaging book boxes. I’ve had many different types, and the ones I like best are the plastic ones. I like to get all one calm color. Here’s how I set the boxes up:

• I have real pictures of the students with their names printed on the spine of the book box.
• I let them chose a favorite book because we’ve learned that you can read the pictures, words, or retell the story.
• There’s a folder with a sound chart inside to say the sounds before they start reading any books.
• 3 ways to read a book book mark
• Reading buddy puppets (*These are given to students after they have followed the expectations for 10 days in a row. I keep a checklist)
• Student book choice every week (once you’ve taught how to choose a book)
• Continue to add tools to their folders with familiar class poems or charts
• They can add small group reading book once finished

Check out my Beginning of the Year Independent Reading Book Box Resources

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