Flipped Reading Block Book Study Chapters 3 and 4

Chapters 3 and 4 of The Flipped Reading Block reinforced my belief that consistent modeling of reading behaviors is essential even with the implementation of blended learning. One of my biggest takeaways from this chapter was the following quote by the author. 

What a simple, but powerful way to characterize the differences in the types of readers that we work with everyday.

If students are practicing a specific strategy or skill at home this translates to more time for reinforcement or "we do" instruction at school.  I like to think of it as providing the necessary background knowledge for a specific concept. The author discusses using the same text for a flipped lesson and then repurposing it for something else in the classroom.  The idea of giving students multiple interactions with one text is not only practical but good practice.  

As a kindergarten teacher I am thinking about a simple reading task,where you might capture an image of a book page like Pete the Cat. Then you would ask the student to draw the setting of the book or identify the characters.

 In my classroom we do turn and talks at various points in the day. However, this type of activity is deliberate and modeled from the beginning of the year. I use a Whole Brain Teaching signal where I clap twice and the say "Teach", in response the students clap twice and say "Okay". At that point they turn to their partner and start their discussion. In this video, a first grade teacher uses this strategy as well as many others. 

 One aspect of flipped learning that I love is the potential for differentiation.  At the kindergarten level, most students in the same GR group have similar types of reading behaviors. Flipping a lesson would be a great way to differentiate within that group. Running records can help to identify strategies that students can practice at home. You could snap a photo of a book page and direct them to apply the strategy that needs to be reinforced. 

Currently, I do not have a book club set up in my classroom.  However, when I taught 3rd grade, one of my small reading groups functioned as a literature circle. We met multiple times a week and focused on a specific strategy. Every member of the circle had role that defined how they would help their classmates to interact with the text. Retrospectively, how much more engaging would that group have been if I had flipped some of their lessons. I can even imagine some of those students designing their own activities to do at home.  Head on over to Maggie's Kinder Corner, Kristen's Kindergarten and Mrs. Price's Kindergators to read their thoughts about Chapters 3 and 4.