Put Shared Reading into Action with Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™

Shared Reading is a time for children to gather together and listen to an exciting story or fascinating text in a warm, accepting, enjoyable environment. And the great thing is that they can actually participate in reading a more complex text than they are yet ready to process independently. They’re not aware that, as they listen and share the reading of an enlarged book, they are building phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, word-recognition, and much more. The children are building an early reading process while having fun as they immerse themselves in the meaning and language of books. In this highly supported participation in the act of reading, children find out how it feels to be a reader. 

Shared Reading is a time for children to:  

• gather together and listen to an exciting story or fascinating text in a warm, accepting, enjoyable environment 

• participate in reading a more complex text than they are yet ready to process independently 

• build phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, word-recognition, and much more  

Within the context of shared reading, children are building an early reading process while having fun as they immerse themselves in the meaning and language of books. 

How Does Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™(FPC) Support Shared Reading? 

Shared Reading plays a vital role in expanding the systems of strategic actions using a variety of engaging texts. Thoughtful, precise teaching needs to accompany high-quality texts to maximize student learning. The Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ Shared Reading Collection provides beautifully crafted texts along with high-quality, cutting-edge lessons that boost and extend students’ reading, writing, and language skills.  Put shared reading into action with these FPC resources:   

The Books 

The books used in the Shared Reading are an exquisite collection of original texts (enlarged and accompanying small versions) that nurture students' ability to construct meaning in a supported context so they can enjoy reading and learn critical concepts of how texts work. There are 220 titles spanning grades PreK-3 in English as well as 190 titles spanning grades PreK-2 in Spanish. There is a recommended sequence based on book series, genre, and/or connecting topics; however, the books can be introduced in any order that meets the needs of the children in your classroom so they can enjoy reading and learn critical concepts of how print and stories "work." 

The Lessons 

The Shared Reading lessons folders in FPC provide an extensive menu of ideas and language to spark learning and discussion. Each lesson includes goals taken from The Literacy Continuum. You can choose from or modify these goals to match the learning needs of the learners in your classroom. A message (sometimes more than one) is provided for each book to support you in conveying the main or "big" idea of the text; and there is also an "About the Book" section to help you draw students' attention to the book's genre, structure, and characteristics. Support for English learners is woven throughout. The following are some highlights you will find in each Shared Reading lesson that should take about 10 minutes each day:  

• Introduction and discussion suggestions  

• Prompts for reading to and with the students  

• Suggestions for making connections to other texts  

• And specific behaviors and understandings to observe as you assess children’s learning    

Other Resources and Features 

Here are some of the other resources and features that make Shared Reading in FPC a valuable addition to your classroom: 

• The Fountas & Pinnell Classroom™ Shared Reading Collection Guide: A brief guide that provides an overview of the components and implementation of the FPC Shared Reading Collection 

• Shared Reading audiobooks 

• FPC Shared Reading Online Resources: The resources needed for each lesson including: PDFs of each lesson; Professional Development video library; general resources to enhance learning 

Shared Reading is a time for children to work together as a team, helping each other, creating the demonstration of proficiency, and having fun! Shared Reading makes the story or the text accessible to all the children regardless of where they are in their literacy journey.  

~The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy™ Team 

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