What is Shared Reading?
Shared reading is an interactive reading experience when the teacher leads the class in reading or chanting a familiar book, text, or poem enlarged for the whole class to see. This is a great time to incorporate activities that extend children’s engagement with and response to literature, such as retelling or acting out stories with puppets, flannel board pieces, or props.
Please refer to the 'Materials' page for ideas.
It allows students to observe the reading process and to practice reading strategies or concepts in the safety of a group. The text is reread several times over a few days initially by the teacher, who gradually pulls back as students progressively master the text. In each reading, children are encouraged to focus on or discover new concepts of print.
It is required to plan specific shared reading or modeled writing experiences daily; however, it is equally important to capitalize on the many spontaneous opportunities that occur throughout the instructional day.
