Reading

GFHS Language Arts

Reading

Sustained Silent Reading (SSR)

Every Friday our class will participate in SSR for twenty minutes. Students are asked to bring a book or other reading selection or select a book from our classroom library. Any kind of text is acceptable as long as it is reading level appropriate. The 20 minutes of SSR reading does not count towards the two hours of independent reading required each week.

Reading Requirements

Independent Reading:

Two hours of reading must be documented in the Reader's Response Journal every Monday or the first day of the week. Journal entries should also include a weekly reading goal, two interesting or new words and definitions, and written response.

Click here to learn more about Reader's Response Journals.

Don't know what to write about in your reader's response? Click here for a list of ideas.

Need a book? Check out our classroom library!

Quarterly Book Projects

Each quarter students must read one book and complete one of the six book projects. Students may only do a project once and must choose a different option each quarter.

Book Project Options

Book Project Rubrics

Reading is THINKING...

Active Reading Strategies

This fall we will be working on using active reading strategies to read difficult text and to become more engaged with our reading. Here are a few of the reading strategies we will be working on...

Questioning
Clarifying
Connecting
Visualizing
Predicting
Evaluating

Research on Sustained Silent Reading (SSR) and Independent Reading

If you would like to learn more about the effectiveness and importance of SSR or Independent Reading, please read the articles below.

"Silent Sustained Reading"

"The Effects of Independent Reading on Reading Achievement"

"The Effect of Sustained Silent Reading on High School Students' Lexile Scores and Attitudes Towards Reading"