Text+Selection

Choosing text for shared reading
//**Initiated By: Madelina Delgado **// When we think of shared reading, we imagine a teacher sitting in front of her students reading a Big Book. However, what is a Big Book? A Big Book is a book that has enlarged text and illustrations (Jackman, 1997). It is used to give students an up-close look at the book and allows the students to see, participate, and feel that they are part of the process (Morrison, 1997). According to Holdaway, texts used during shared reading need "to have a comparable visual impact from 20 feet as a normal book would have on the knee of a child" (Holdaway ‍, 2001, p. 298). Given this, Big Books support the idea that shared reading is used to imitate the bedtime story situation (Mooney, 1994). Big Books vary, howeve‍r, and ‍encompass a number of texts. The question then lies on which texts should teachers choose when planning a shared reading lesson.

McCracken and McCracken (1995) suggest that there are six types of books that should be used for shared reading that provide learning opportunities: rhythmic books, repetitive books, cumulative books, basic sentence pattern books, two-part books, and information books. Rhythmic books have a particular flow or rhythm when they are read. Students can anticipate which word comes next as the teacher pauses throughout the text allowing for student participation (Pacific Resources for Education and Learning [PREL], 2012). //Good Night Moon// by Margaret Wise Brown and //Chicka Chicka Boom Boom// by Bill Martin, Jr. are good examples of rhythmic books. Repetitive books have text that is repeated throughout the book. Students quickly learn the repetitive pattern of the text and are able to say it along with the teacher as he/she reads. An example of a repetitive book is //Peanut Butter and Jelly: A Play Rhyme// by Nadine Bernard Westcott, in which the words "peanut butter, peanut butter, jelly, jelly" are repeated after each new sentence. Cumulative books have text that builds with each turn of the page. The text from previous pages is repeated as a new sentence or phrase is added to it with each page. //This is the House that Jack Built// by Simms Taback and //There was an Old Lady who Swallowed a Fly// by Pam Adams are examples of this kind of text. In basic sentence pattern books, a sentence pattern is repeated throughout the book to give the student text support when reading along with the teacher or by themselves as a group during choral reading (PREL, 2012). A teacher can use a student-made Big Book with repetitive text such as "I like my __." to use during shared reading. Two-part books read like a conversation. The first sentence in a page is usually a question that is then answered immediately. //Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?// by Bill Martin, Jr. and //I Went Walking// by Sue Williams are excellent examples of this particular type of text. The last type of book suggested is information books. Information books do not follow a pattern; they can be used to teach vocabulary and facts (PREL, 2012). //Wonderful Worms// by Linda Glaser is an informational text that appeals to young readers because it is in simple narrative form and has wonderful illustrations to go along with the text. For older students, information books, can be used to teach how to use a table of contents and glossary (Manning, 1997).

Big Books, however, are not the only kinds of text that can be shared during shared reading lessons. Nursery rhymes, chants, and songs can be written on chart paper or on sentence strips and used during shared reading lessons (Manning, 1997). These kinds of text can be used to address letter and word recognition as well as rhyming words. Teachers can also use a pattern from a familiar book, such as //Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?// and have the students create a class book using their own words. These class-made books can be used during shared reading and give the students the confidence to read through the text themselves.

When choosing text for shared reading, it is important that teachers choose a text that lends itself to the shared reading experience (Manning, 1995). Teachers should choose text that is of interest to the students, but that also addresses a skill that they are trying to teach. It is important that the text allows the teacher to show the reading process and the strategies that lie in not only the reading‍, ‍but comprehension as well. Whatever the reason in choosing a particular text, it is important to keep in mind that shared reading is a positive experience for the children and should nurture their interest in books instead of diminishing their enjoyment (Manning, 1995).

**References ** Holdaway, D. (1982). Shared book experience: teaching reading using favorite books. //Theory into Practice, 21// (4), 293-300.

Jackman, H.H. (1997). //Early childhood curriculum: A child's connection to the world//. Albany, NY: Delmar Publishers.

Manning, M. (1997). 14 ways to use shared reading. //Teaching Pre K-8, 28//(1), 129-131.

Mooney, M. (1994). Shared reading: Making it work for you and your children. //Teaching Pre K-8, 25// (3), 70-72.

Morrison, G.S. (1997). //Fundamentals of early childhood education//. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. (2012). Shared reading: An instructional strategy for teachers grades K–3.Retrieved from [].

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'times new roman',times,serif; font-size: 120%; text-align: center;">Additional Resources <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Shared Reading Book List (As found on Hubbard’s Cupboard) [|Shared Reading Quick Book List]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Adams, P. (1989). //There was an old lady who swallowed a fly//. Auburn, ME: Child's Play International.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Brown, M.W. (1977). //Goodnight moon//. New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Glaser, L. (1992). //Wonderful worms//. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Martin, B. (1992). //Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?//. New York, NY: Henry Hold and Co.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Martin, B. & Archambault, J. (1989). //Chicka chicka boom boom//. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Taback, S. (2004). //This is the house that Jack built//. New York, NY: Penguin Group USA Inc.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Westcott, N.B. (1992). //Peanut butter and jelly: A play rhyme//. New York, NY: Penguin Group USA Inc.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Williams, S. (1991). //I went walking//. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.