Let's Make a Reading Pizza!

Friends~I read the very best book this past summer and in fact, I am still reading it.  The title is Comprehension Connections by Tanny McGregor.  I have it highlighted, post it marked, and even dog eared.

It is filled with tons of wonder ways to bring concrete examples of reading strategies to your students.  My favorite is the Reading Salad.  McGregor shows how thinking is like a salad.  You can add parts that are reading and parts that are thinking to create the big picture of the story.

I wanted to bring this idea into my classroom but I needed it to be a bit more advanced so I added some data collection and created a Reading Pizza!  The concept is similar but I had my students begin to tally the results from the reading to monitor if they were thinking enough during the story.  The goal is the think more than just read.

I introduced the concept as a whole group by reading the story The Stranger by Chris Van Allsburg.  It is a wonderful book for teaching inferring so I know there would be lots of good thinking going on.  I had students share during the book and then they added a green pepper for the thinking.  Before I started reading I chose a student to then add a pepperoni for the text I was about to read.

I  set them free during the Daily 5 and left the Reading Pizza out as a center for independent reading.  It worked beautifully. 

That night I went home and knew I had to create something that would allow my students in my reading groups to join in on the Reading Pizza Fun.  Click the image below to see what I created:)

 

 Check out the video below to find out how I am using the file above with my guided reading groups.  

If you download the file, I would love to hear how you are using Reading Pizza in your classroom.  Keep me posted!  Feel free to pin this to Pinterest or share on Facebook.  My students love it and know yours will too:)

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