Reading

Our aim is to inspire and guide all children to be accomplished readers who love to read.

At Running River we aspire to develop in children a love of language that lasts a lifetime. In every classroom teachers read award winning books or tell stories to the children that engender deep discussions, laughter, tears, questions and awakening consciousness. A love of reading begins with a love of stories or information, and by nourishing curiosity and inquiry about all aspects of life, our students move forward on the path of becoming life long readers.

Besides reading and telling stories out loud, we believe that books need to be brought to life and become multi-dimensional. We do this in a variety of ways. We teach comprehension strategies starting in kindergarten all the way through middle school. Children learn to look deeper, to understand all the pieces of literature that make a story great. They learn to compare stories to their own lives, to other’s lives and to other stories they have heard. They ask questions, look for inferences, feel and listen behind the words, and find meaning in their reading.

We also use the arts to bring books to life. We use all mediums to illustrate stories. We have both used and made puppets and put on shows. We have danced stories and put them to drumming. We have created full-length, original musicals performed by the entire school from stories. In 2008 we did this with “The Lorax,” by Dr. Seuss. We wrote and performed songs, dances and used drumming to bring this story to life. This play led to a much deeper look at environmental issues and helped the students feel empowered to make a difference in the world.

Running River utilizes the Boulder Valley School District standards and combines these with other individualized assessment tools and curriculums such as “Words Their Way” to help place children in appropriate reading groups in the younger grades. Concurrently they receive instruction in whole language, phonics, sight words and all other reading strategies. All children are also given daily reading time to read or look at books of their choice.

In the lower grades, children read books in small groups and also on their own, according to their reading level and personal interests. As they grow older, although they still read books on their own, there are more books they read as a group, especially the classics which promote discussions and class projects.

Teachers create their own materials, or find appropriate reading to bring theme studies into reading class. If children are studying animals or plants in kindergarten or first grade, you will find books the teachers have written for the children so they can read about what they are studying. No matter what the age or reading level, we want children to discover that books bring even more information about their interests and what they are studying. We also have a process by which a class writes a book together on a certain topic. By being involved in the creation of books in the classroom, early readers get to know (and memorize) the contents, and therefore start to build confidence in their reading.

Famous Person Project

In 2008 our combined 2nd to 6th grade students worked on a project called “Famous People.” Each child, with the help of teachers and parents, chose a famous person to learn about. We found books at every level of reading so that every child had at least 2 books to read. We asked parents to read some of the longer books to the children at home. We also used the internet to gather information.

In class we studied Thomas Edison and then Helen Keller to use as examples of how to learn about a famous person’s life, and after reading and discussing these two people, we watched films about their lives.

Every child was involved in a series of projects to immerse them further in their study: they created “Life Maps” of each person; Venn Diagrams to compare themselves to the famous person; portrait paintings in art class along with original poems that outlined the portraits; written reports (of different lengths and depth depending on the student’s age), and they performed scenes from the life of the person. Finally, each child illustrated three important treasures their famous person might have held dear to them, and then explained why. In the end, every child knew a great deal about their famous person, and also about the others in the class.

A Professor Teaches Chaucer and the Odyssey

William Kuskin, CU Professor (and parent) came to the 2-4 grade class every Friday morning and taught the children about Chaucer, the Legend of the Green Knight, and the Odyssey. He had the children reciting Chaucer in no time, and gave them a real taste of great literature through his dramatic storytelling.

Upper Grades Reading (written by the teacher, Jane)

I choose a combination of classic and contemporary pieces.

The students and I begin our examination of the text by exploring the historical and social context of the piece.

We read the books together-sometimes out loud, sometimes with a partner, sometimes alone in class and at home. Sometimes the parents are asked to read passages with the students and discuss or do some type of writing assignment.

I model good reading strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, analyzing, and summarizing. We discuss the reading strategies. I ask the students to identify their comments and questions about the text as one of the reading strategies.

While reading, I point out different examples of literary terms, writing style and technique. We practice writing examples of our own which contain examples of that particular aspect of writing that we have studied. Eventually, the students are asked to find the examples in the text on their own. So, we hit on many examples over and over throughout the year.

We answer written discussion questions to recall, interpret, and analyze information.

We always discuss on the following day the previous night’s reading homework assignment.

Students put together a project for each piece of literature that we read. The students are given a list of ideas to choose from. The ideas are based on Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences. I give them a list of ideas which are designed to show the student’s strength in an aspect of their MI. In other words, “they get to pick something they are good at.” Students are also always given the option to create their own project idea if one of mine doesn’t appeal to them. Of course, this idea must be given teacher approval.

If time allows and the media is available, we view the film version or live production. We further study this aspect by writing comparing and contrasting pieces.

In the 2008-09 year we read: “To Kill a Mockingbird;” The Diary of Ann Frank;” and “Romeo and Juliet,” which they chose parts to perform at the end of year camping trip. All of the books entailed projects which the students greatly enjoyed and presented to the parents.