This week teachers asked me to teach the "good fit" book lesson. This is taken from The Daily 5 reading philosophy from real life teaching sisters Gail Boushey and Joan Moser. I explain that choosing books are just like choosing shoes. They have to be a good fit! After the lesson students choose books based on the acronym "I PICK". After much discussion students decide on their purpose for reading. Next they must choose a book that is interesting to them. However, this can be a daunting and time consuming process. Students are then guided on how to find a book that may appear interesting to them by looking at the cover and following through by reading about the book on the back cover or inside flap. Once the students believe this to be a book that is interesting to them specifically, he/she must open the book to see if they can read most of the words so they can understand or comprehend the text. Students need a great deal of support to be successful in choosing good fit books independently.
The success of choosing good fit books is to have enough books on hand in classroom libraries and in the school library media center. This is why it is so important to have a healthy book budget and a school that backs the media center in providing current and popular books for students to select.
