Rereading

  Readers reread stories.

When I had shared this statement with the students I asked why readers might reread stories that they have read once already.

Students suggested that we reread 

• to remember the story better 
• to memorize poems or stories
• to create own memories
• to enjoy the book again because they like it
• to learn words

I added

• to notice details, patterns and ideas that we missed the first time

J. added

• to understand the story better

The last statement is the most important one. Rereading texts helps us to understand them better.

To see whether rereading really makes a difference, the students took the read aloud books and read them again.

Some examples:
  S. noticed many new detail on the pictures and also that the monster story was both happy and sad.
Ly. noticed that in the book Crysanthemum the name was repeated many, many, many times.
When La. read Each Kindness she was thinking about people in her life who had had similar experiences as the main character.
Z. discovered an illustration that we had missed on the first read on the back of The Invisible Boy.
G. noticed that in Sick Day for Amos McGee Amos was kind to the animals even when he was sick.
He also noticed that all the books we read were about kindness. (We later spent time working in groups writing what "Being kind" means, looks and sounds like and why it is important. We will continue with that discussion next week.)

I had asked the students use post-its to record some of their thinking.
C. had many thoughts when rereading It's Mine.

The biggest message he got from rereading the book was beyond the text and applied to our life.

"Warning! Don't create battles in the World!"