Amy Buswell and Bruce Lansky's Giggle Poetry Reading Lessons turns
struggling readers into happy readers -- For Grades 2-5.
Many struggling readers are embarrassed to read aloud. They are often
intimidated or bored by texts that conventional programs require them to
practice. So, instead of catching up, they fall further behind.
Currently 67% of American fourth graders can't read grade-level text.
Reading specialist Amy Buswell has spent eight years looking for
remediation methods that work. "What is needed," Buswell explains, "is a
program that improves the motivation of struggling readers, because that
accounts for 90% of the problem." Four years ago, Buswell came up with a
brainstorm. She knew her best readers enjoyed reading Bruce Lansky's
poetry books for pleasure. The more poems they read, the better the
reading got. Why not use Lansky's kid-tested poems as texts struggling
readers could practice on to improve their reading -- using six
research-based strategies: choral reading, echo reading, paired reading,
repeated reading, sustained silent reading and "say it like the
character" reading. -- This book is the result of that brainstorm and
the resulting collaboration between Buswell and Lansky. It gives
teachers and parents everything they need to help children improve their
reading: -35 kid-tested poems by Bruce Lansky -35 customized reading
lessons by Amy Buswell -35 off-the-wall illustrations by Stephen
Carpenter -35 sets of zany performance tips by Bruce Lansky -- all of
which is designed to make the process of reading improvement more like
fun than work. -- What Amy Buswell and Bruce Lansky have created is the
most entertaining fluency intervention ever. That's why it is so
successful at overcoming negative attitudes to improve reading skills
and scores. Ninety-five percent of participating students made
significant improvement in their fluency (reading rate). And average
reading scores on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT) for
Buswell's school raised her school's rating to an A for the first time.
In 2011, Buswell's school achieved one of the highest-percentage reading
gains in the county. -- There's no reason parents can't get in on the
fun, too. Parents will enjoy Lansky's funny poems and Stephen
Carpenter's delightful illustrations as much as their children. By
reading the poems with their children and encouraging their children to
try some of Lansky's entertaining performance tips (by adding gestures,
sound effects, props and finding additional readers: be they friends,
family or neighbors), they can dramatically speed up their child's
reading progress (and have lots of fun in the process.)
