Choral Reading Poems for Upper Elementary

Choral reading is a teaching technique used by elementary teachers to reinforce reading fluency and public speaking skills. Choral reading poems should be slightly below the median reader in the group's reading level. It should not contain a high volume of new vocabulary words and should not be used to present new information. For example, do not use choral poetry to introduce a new concept in .

science.Read Write Think, the lesson plan collection supported by the National Teachers of English association, offers a page of resources for Choral reading. The page includes a body of research supporting Choral reading as a teaching technique, strategies to apply when using choral reading in the classroom and a page of choral reading resources including links to multiple poems.Reading strong is a website dedicated to helping reinforce the skills of and improve the fluency and comprehension of struggling readers. Their webpage on choral reading gives a list of suggested poetry to use for choral reading. It also offers links to poems well suited to choral reading which can be accessed online. Read strong insists that almost any poem can be read poetry but those with a clear rhythm and rhyme scheme are best because they lead students to develop a strong sense of flow and improve their ability to predict in a text.The Reading Rockets organization offers suggestions for when and how to use choral reading in the elementary classroom. At their website, www.readingrockets.org, they offer a list of poems which are ideal for choral reading, divided by subject matter. Poems for science, social studies, language arts and other areas are available.Choral reading is a teaching method that is supported by research and has been proven in classrooms around the world. When choosing a poem for your students to read chorally, select a reading that is both appropriate to your subject and manageable for your students reading level. More reference links: www.readwritethink.org myweb.stedwards.edu