Having stamina means being able to stick with something for periods of time. This stamina, or endurance, builds strength. Stamina can apply to many different areas, such as exercise or painting. But in second grade it applies to reading. Reading stamina is a child’s ability to focus and read independently for long periods (approximately thirty minutes) of time without being distracted or without distracting others. Reading stamina is quite important to creating life long readers. We discuss and practice this skill several times a week. Students who read self-selected, just right books for 30 minutes every day become better readers and develop wider vocabularies!
We begin this process with baby steps and develop a minimum level of stamina and work to accomplish longer periods of independent reading. We focus on self-selecting “just right” books. After all, if they aren’t interested and able to read the books they have, they are more likely to lose focus or get distracted. We set up our classroom to diminish distractions and create comfortable reading spaces. We celebrate great books and share our opinions about the books we are reading. If a student is loving a book he/she is reading, they share why they think others should read it, and what they love about it. Our author studies help encourage students to read additional books by their favorite authors. They tend to look for other books by authors or in a series they enjoy. Children’s stamina will increase greatly if they are engaged while reading. As our school year progresses, we will master comprehension strategies such as making predictions, visualizing, making connections, thinking about important ideas and asking questions and others. Being an active reader, a reader who “talks” back to their book, will help with engagement. But most importantly, in our classroom, we value independent reading.
As your child moves into higher grades, having reading stamina will help him/her navigate the longer texts and assignments. Reading stamina is something that parents can help students develop also. Here are some suggestions:
- Vary the way the reading is done. Parents can think about this in terms of having their child “read to himself, read to someone, and listen to reading.” Some combination of the three should make up the reading time, especially for new or struggling readers.
- Choose “just right” books. If your child is at a stage of being able to read alone, help him choose books that he is able to read independently. This means he should be able to decode almost every word in the book correctly. In this situation, avoid using books that are too difficult to read alone. If your child will be reading with you, choose books that are lively and engaging.
- Set reasonable goals. For elementary aged readers, consider starting with 10-15 minutes of reading time, and work up from there. Add a few minutes to your reading time every week or so.
- Celebrate progress. Without getting too caught up on the number of minutes spent reading, celebrate the time that is spent reading. Share your favorite parts of books read, plan the next visit to the library, and share progress with other family members.
The more stamina children have while reading, the more success they will have as readers. The joys of being lifelong readers await!
