Curriculum companies make huge money selling their basal readers, which are what some refer to as "one size fits all" curriculums. Save your money and use real tradebooks to meet the needs and desires of all your students. Harveny Daniel's book Literature Circles Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups puts forth a great program for teaching reading in the elementary classroom that I have personally used for the past three years.
The program puts forth a three part reading block whereas the children meet in their book groups to discuss, and then after choosing pages as a group they read quietly and then responsd in their journals. of course, in the opening weeks of school I model various journal responses, discuss how to use sticky notes, and prepare them with the logistics of being in reading groups. The payoff is that more children are excited about the choice and interaction they have in the reading block, they think more critically about the book they are reading as evidenced through their journals and observed discussions, and a more intrinsic desire to read is instilled.
I collected various small sets of literature from the Scholastic specials and I constantly add to my collection of books to offer the kids. So, it may take time building a reading group library, but inexpensive if you use classroom points to buy the literature. The literature I acquire is of varying levels and genres, which is different then with a basal reader that has all children in the class reading the same story regardless of its difficulty level or the interest level it holds for a given child.
Harvey Daniels offers a great program in his book that has been thorougly researched. In the back he has a list of questions and answers that will reassure teachers with any concerns they may have. Aside from the research, it seems common sense. Adults love book groups. We love to choose our own books, explore books from preferred genres, discuss books with people who have read the same material, analyze books at a personal level, and read books by authors we love. So, why not give children the same opportunities we as adults have with reading. Teachers speak of building a love of reading and I say unless we offer choice and freedom in the classroom we are not going to inspire this love. In fact, we may inspire just the opposite.
