Robin Gibson's List: FVR (Free Voluntary Reading)

• sustained silent reading,
• children become better readers by reading.
• There are no book reports, no assignments, and no grades.
• During SSR time, library media specialists and teachers also read for pleasure.
• It’s about helping students develop richer vocabularies, understand complex oral and written language, and become proficient writers and reasonably accurate spellers.
• When we give readers more time, the results strongly favor SSR.
• NRP’s report is seriously flawed. For instance, it overlooked many studies of effective, long-term SSR programs as well as the importance of recreational reading for students in English as a Second Language classes.
• NRP’s findings on recreational reading have led to the elimination of SSR programs and reduced library funding.
• four decades
• ree voluntary reading has a powerful effect on second-language learners.
• Many studies have shown that children with more access to books read more, and as we have seen, those who read more, read better.
• quality of public and school libraries and the number of books available in students’ homes.
• access
• schools have not only failed to level the playing field between affluent and poor schools, they’ve actually made the disparity worse. Studies have shown that children from low-income families attend schools with inferior classroom and school libraries. The school libraries available to children in low-income neighborhoods are open fewer hours, have fewer books (and allow fewer books to be taken out), are less likely to contain reading materials that children are really interested in, and are less likely to be staffed by a certified librarian.

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• "Research has shown that reading ability is positively correlated with the extent to which students read recreationally
• many schools a special time is set aside each day when every student (and every   teacher and staff person, including the principal and the custodian!) is expected to "drop everything" and read silently.   Indeed, the main thrust behind most SSR programs is to demonstrate to students that pleasure-reading is something   to be valued by all.
• It is crucial that teachers participate in the process as role   models.
• If students are expected to   fill out a reading log after reading, teachers should do the same. If a weekly "share time" is part of the SSR routine,   the teacher can serve as a model by talking about the book he or she is reading

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• This year, everyone in the class reads what they want to read, and they read without interruption for 30-40 minutes each day.

• How do we share that reading is a life-changing, passionate, totally enriching experience?
• I started listening to my students.  I read what they were reading so I could share their experiences.  I would get them talking about what they read. 

• The literacy rate in Laos
• d 70 percent.
• The mission of the small but thriving enterprise, which has a bookish cartoon mouse as its logo, is to "make literacy fun for children in Laos."

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• It's not about the numbers. It's about reading enough to build reading experiences, fine-tune your preferences, and discover who you are as a reader.

• In a three-year study, researchers at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, found that simply giving low-income children access to books at spring fairs — and allowing them to choose books that most interested them — had a significant effect on the summer reading gap.
• Children who had received free books posted significantly higher test scores than the children who received activity books.
• That conclusion confirms other studies suggesting that children learn best when they are allowed to select their own books.

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• Home library size has a very substantial effect on educational attainment, even adjusting for parents’ education, father’s occupational status and other family background characteristics,”

• statistics from 27 nations, a group of researchers found the presence of book-lined shelves in the home — and the intellectual environment those volumes reflect — gives children an enormous advantage in school.
• Home library size has a very substantial effect on educational attainment, even adjusting for parents’ education, father’s occupational status and other family background characteristics,” r
• This effect holds true regardless of a nation’s wealth, culture or political system, but its intensity varies from country to country. I
• Having books in the home has a greater impact on children from the least-educated families. It is at the bottom, where books are rare, that each additional book matters most.”
• enjoyment of books and reading
• love of reading

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