We had lot of fun in SSBHS std. 7 and STGPS std.3. How? Why?
It was Graded Readers week!
As I said, there was so much fun in the classes! To begin with, I wrote a song on the board. “I like books” was the song for this session.
I like books, you like books,
Board books, big books, reader books,
You need to read and search and write it about too,
You know what you have to do.
In the beginning we sang very slowly so the students would get the tune. The second time, the song was sung faster, with all of us singing together and at the end we sang so fast and loud and with a lot of energy! And then, everyone was ready for the story!
But wait… Where is the story book today?
No story for the day, but! Many storiiiiiiiiies. Stories which they were going to read for themselves.
We began by playing a short game about the book that identified the cover page, back page, Bookworm sticker, title of the story, author, illustrator of the book, etc. I was happy to see that most identified these correctly.
Some could not locate the author on the cover page, so I asked if any could find it one the book’s spine. I then paused to check how many knew what the book spine was. One boy responded and called it ‘sline’ in SSBHS std. 6. I tried to find out what he meant by that but he did not tell me.
I had to refresh their memory about what a book spine was and so I called on Nagappa to stand facing the board, and pointed to his spine. They said “backbone”. Then I told them it is also called a spine. If we do not have a spine what will happen to us? I tried doing action of the spineless person, falling down. They all laughed. One boy said you can use the stick. Then I said if I don’t have the spine only then how will I hold the stick and walk, they all laughed again.
The books already having been distributed to them, I asked them to read their stories softly so that they would not disturb others, and they did so.
To read the story was easy for some, though many had difficulties in reading words like that, end, moose, buck, etc. When it was time to answer the questions, it was difficult for them to even understand the questions. So what would they answer? We assisted and explained the questions to those who asked for help.
Illustrations play a major role in the reading process for the children. After we told what the questions were asking of them, they began the search for the answers. .
Some students were so shocked when I told them look into your stories and write the answers, maybe because they are not supposed copy the answers from the books.
Graded Reading gives the children a chance to read and write independently. It also gives us an insight into how much further we have to walk in this journey we have started.
