Answer: Kennett Middle School for the first twenty minutes of the day!
Seeing RED at KMS
 Walk into any Kennett Middle School room at 7:30 am and you will see RED. Every morning the entire school community starts the day with twenty minutes of silent, independent reading as part of our new literacy initiative, the RED program. RED stands for Read Every Day and it has become an integral part of the KMS experience.
During Language Arts and Reading classes, students are given time and support in finding reading materials that will challenge and engage them. These classes also provide time and structure for students to develop the comprehension skills and to partake in discussions that allow students to get the most out of their reading. Those first twenty minutes of the day, however, are reserved solely for their reading pleasure.
 Research into school-wide Sustained Silent Reading programs show that daily, community-wide reading time increases reading fluency, improves attitudes toward reading, and develops the habit of independent reading (Pilgreen, 2000). Furthermore, the New Hampshire Grade Level Expectations outlines literacy expectations that include students reading widely and extensively and participating in a literate community. Our RED program is one of the opportunities we offer our students so that they can meet these expectations.
 RED is allowing students and adults to model strong reading habits and to share in the true magic of reading. When you see 7th and 8th graders groaning because it’s time to close their books, when you hear young teenagers in the cafeteria arguing over which book in a series is the best one, when you witness students pulling teachers aside in the hallway to share their anguish over a character’s fate, when you are in a place where every day someone is asking someone else what to read next, then you know you’re in a community of lifelong readers. You’ll know you’re seeing RED at KMS.
Pilgreen, Janice. The SSR Handbook. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000
Also see, Marzano, R.J. (2004). Building background knowledge for academic achievement: Research on what works in schools. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
The National Council of Teachers of English resource on Independent Reading
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
