How to Use the DEAR Reading Programwritten by: dawn m. laughlin edited by: Wendy Finn updated: 12/28/2011DEAR stands for Drop Everything And Read. You tell the students to stop what they are doing and get out their books. The program is meant to encourage independent reading and to help children want to read more at home. Drop EverythingIn our busy classrooms, it's hard to fit everything in during the day. DEAR is a great reading program from Deb Foertsch that makes time in the classroom for reading.In our classroom the children pick the books they want and they can go anywhere in the class to read by themselves. Some sit in the cubbies, on the rug and even on their bellies under a desk. How DEAR WorksAfter the children have picked the book they want to read and choose a quiet place in the room to read, the teacher sets a timer for 20 or 30 minutes. If you are just starting with younger children, you could begin with 10 minutes. Ideally these should be daily sessions.When the student has finished the reading for the day, they write in their reading logs. You can get ideas for these in the web resource atwww.readwritethink.org. Deb Foertsch has all the tools there to go with the program she developed. You have to type in A Daily Dear Program to get to the actual site. The web resource has everything you need to get started.Learn English Centerwww.astro.com.my/Oh-My-EnglishLearn & Improve Your English With Astro Oh My English Education ShowClassroom Whiteboardswww.liksoon.comAll kinds of writing, notice boards High Quality & Buy Online NowAccess Education Articlesudini.proquest.comAccess PhD theses and other education studies.Ads by GoogleNext comes the teacher conference. Here the teacher guides the student to give more information from their book, to expand on the comprehension. A big part of the program is the PAL or Partners Assisting Literacy. These are adult volunteers that listen to the children read and tell about their selections. There are also guidelines for the PALs on the web resource. Putting it all TogetherSo the process is this: Drop Everything And Read Record in logs Teacher conference PAL conference Written note to student in mailboxI have really seen this grow in our school from the early grades. The students look forward to reading and sharing the books they read.The site has all the information you will need so check it out and happy reading.

What is D. E. A. R.?Drop Everything And Read time, better known as D. E. A. R. time, is a time regularly set aside in the classroom schedule for both students and their teachers to "drop everything and read.." D. E. A. R. time conveniently accommodates a variety of student interests and ability levels, since each student selects for himself or herself the book or books he or she wishes to read. D. E. A. R. isnotintended to be . . . a substitute for other language arts instruction -- D. E. A. R. supplements the regular reading program by encouraging independent reading, but it does not replace guided reading. anextra activitythat gets plugged into the schedule when another lesson finishes early or dropped from the schedule when a lesson runs longer than expected or a fire drill interrupts class. D. E. A. R. time is "dear." It is an important part of the daily or weekly classroom schedule. It is scheduled for the same time each day or week so students recognize that D. E. A. R. time is a priority and so that they can look forward to this special period. a time for students to select books. When D. E. A. R. becomes a regular part of the classroom schedule, each student should bring a book from home or select a book from the classroom library before D. E. A. R. time begins. When D. E. A. R. time arrives, every student should be prepared to pull out immediately a pre-selected book and begin to read. a graded activity. D. E. A. R. time has one purpose: getting students excited about reading. Although book reports and reading quizzes may serve a purpose in direct reading instruction, they should never infringe upon D. E. A. R. time. If studentswantto tell about the books they have read (and many will), they may writerecommendationsfor their books and post these on a bulletin board in the class library center, or add an evaluation for the book to a classroom database. a teacher's escape from teaching. D. E. A. R. time should be quality time, but not necessarily a large quantity of time. Ten minutes a day for younger students or two fifteen- or twenty-minute periods each week for older students is ample. Remember, the goal of D. E. A. R. is to encourage students to readindependently. Give them class time to begin a work, to get interested in the story, then let them finish it at home!Making D. E. A. R. work for you . . . Build a large classroom library-- include books from a variety of genres and books written at various reading levels. Children surrounded by books are more likely to read books. Even when on vacation --let's say you visit Miami and are staying at one of the manyMiami hotels, shop around for some books. The same thing applies if you are staying at one of the manySan Francisco hotels, shop around whenever and wherever you can. Develop a literature-rich classroom environment.Create comfortable areas for reading; put a large rug, bean bag chairs, large pillows, child-size rockers, and so forth in the library area. Make sure reading area is well-lit. Display prominently posters about various books. Hang student-created book mobiles around reading area. Let students take turns "advertising" their favorite books. For younger students, purchase stuffed animals related to favorite stories -- Winnie the Pooh, Clifford, Arthur, Paddington Bear, etc. Set up a file system through which students can share their comments on the books they've read with the class. Read excerpts from various books aloud to class; show students the book from which you are reading, and let them know that the book is available in the class library. In general, let students see that you place a priority on reading. Expose children to a variety of genres.Some children think they don't like reading because they haven't liked the selection of literature to which they've been exposed. Present nonfiction titles including biographies, autobiographies, historical works, and scientific works. Present a range of fiction including adventure, fantasy, mystery, science fiction, historical fiction, and general selections. Present poetry and humor. Help students understand that books, like ice cream, come in a myriad of flavors. . . . There's something for everyone! Teach students how to find books in the library.Teach all students how to find fictional works according to the author's name and how to look for books in card catalog ordatabase. Teach older students how to use the Dewey Decimal system. Enlist parental support.Ask parents to take their child to the library regularly, to buy books for their child, and to donate books their child has outgrown to the school for others to enjoy. Encourage them to discuss the book their child is reading with the child and to let the child see them reading. Set aside regular times in the class schedule for reading.If D. E. A. R. time is set to begin at 2:15 every Tuesday and Thursday, then it should begin at 2:15 every Tuesday and Thursday, except in the case of life or death emergencies. Make sure every child has a book to read before D. E. A. R. begins.A good way to do this is to hold a book check right before recess or lunch. Any child who does not have a book at book check should take a few moments to select one from the class library so that he or she is ready to read when D. E. A. R. begins. Allow children a high degree of control over their reading selections.You may choose to disallow some series of books because of objectionable content, but try not to limit genre or reading level. Whether the child selects an easy book that he or she can read for pure enjoyment or a hard book that poses a special challenge does not matter. All that matters is that the child learns to enjoy reading. If a child begins reading a work in D. E. A. R. time, only to discover that he or she intensely dislikes the chosen book, let the student choose another book.Sometimes, it may take a student a chapter or two to get interested in a book, so you might encourage the child to keep reading (or even begin reading at a later point in the book) and at least give the book a chance. A few students may also try to take advantage of this option, and it may occasionally be necessary to make these students choose a book and stick with it. As a general rule, though, avoid requiring a child to read for pleasure a book he or she does not find pleasurable. Purchase some sturdy portable cassette players and a selection of books with accompanying tapes (or narrate popular stories onto cassettes).Let children with major reading problems listen to the story and follow along in the books. While they may not be reading independently, they are still making associations between words and meaning, and they will enjoy getting the author's message from the book. Do not make students report on their reading.Encourage them to share their favorite books with other students, but don't demand that they share. Remember, D. E. A. R. time is supposed to be fun! -- not another academic exercise. Always read with your students during D. E. A. R. time. Remember, students are watching your example. D. E. A. R. is not the time to grade spelling tests or prepare for math class. It's a time to show students thatreading is fun!Example Report:Drop Everything and Read** Just in case anyone was wondering how that DEAR event went (see previous blog entry "Taking a Leap") this is a report I wrote for our staff newsletter. This slightly downplays how much organisation it took but I recommend giving it a go if the idea appeals to you. It was a great library outreach / reader development activity. Hope you all had a happy Easter. **

DEAR - Drop Everything and Read

On the 1st March staff and students across the College took part in a DEAR (Drop Everything and Read) event to celebrate World Book Day. A bell went off at 11 oclock and people stopped what they were doing and read for ten minutes. The idea was to do something a bit different in order to create a sense of excitement around reading.

Weve had a lot of positive feedback from people who enjoyed their ten minute escape into a good book or an interesting magazine. It was nice to take an unusual break from the everyday. More importantly DEAR sparked a lot of discussion about what people like to read and hopefully inspired some participants to read more or to try reading different things.

If you would like to share what you read for DEAR or just your thoughts on a good read the Library has recently launched a reading blog at:

http://www.richmondreaders.wordpress.com/

If you dropped everything and read we hope you enjoyed it. Thank you to everyone who took part and everyone who encouraged students to take part.

Alan Green Liaison Librarian

D.E.A.R. stands for Drop Everything and Read. Schools often have D.E.A.R. time (sometimes called D.I.R.T., S.S.R., U.S.S.R., S.Q.U.I.R.T., F.V.R. or P.O.W.E.R.). It's when kids can read and enjoy the books they want, just for the pleasure of reading and with no questions asked!

Drop Everything and Read how to highlight the importance of reading in your school community.Quick, simple, easy to organise and extremely effective, DEAR is a great way to get both staff and students reading! A DEAR session consists of getting the whole school to stop, drop what they are doing and to read, for pleasure, for 20 minutes.Werneth introduced DEAR sessions over 5 years ago, and they are still going strong. The idea came from the National Literacy Trust website approximately 6 years ago, (http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/) and there is an American DEAR site, too, run by Beverly Cleary. (http://dropeverythingandread.com)The introduction of these sessions came as a result of meetings and discussions about creating a whole school reading culture. Many initiatives were introduced as a result of these meetings: DEAR was just one of them. We were aware that staff may not take too kindly to having their precious teaching time disrupted in this way; however, we were also aware that if students do not read regularly, it has a negative impact on attainment. We decided to use Form time for our first session, as an experiment and take it from there. A bell sounded to indicate the start of the DEAR session and we ran around the school with cameras and a video camera, taking pictures and footage of the session. We chose one person at random from the photos and awarded them with a 10 voucher for being caught reading. This was awarded publicly and the photos of the Mystery students were placed in a gallery outside of the library as well as on the library OPAC software.Once our initial session had been completed, we asked for feedback from staff. Because we had given them and the student plenty of warning, most staff had collected their literacy boxes or brought in extra reading materials for those students who had not brought their own. Staff were surprised at how well their session had gone; some students had complained when the 20 minutes were over and some staff wanted to carry on reading, too! Other comments received were about behaviour on the corridors at the end of the session; students seemed calmer and were more ready for learning when they went to their first lesson. DEAR had arrived and was there to stay!For our second session, we took the first twenty minutes of a lesson after the success of our first session, we knew staff would be more receptive to taking 20 minutes of a lesson for reading. Again, with advanced warning, staff were not only prepared, but raring to go. Some staff allowed their students to read for the whole of the lesson! In PE, expressive arts, Reception, the office staff, dining room, everywhere, the whole school stopped and read. Again, feedback was positive, and DEAR now happens at least once a Term at Werneth, with visitors being forewarned to bring in reading material.Combining a DEAR session with a GCR reward was also highly effective. In a school where students were not necessarily happy being seen reading, students, by our third session, were suddenly asking for their photo to be taken and were asking when the next DEAR session would be!DEAR has evolved. We have had DEAW (Drop Everything and Write) for Poetry and then Valentines Day and, more recently, DREAM (Drop Everything and Move) where the whole school performed dance and/or drama as part of their lesson. Who knows where it will take us next?By Nikki Heath, Librarian & Sally Apps, Director for Standards and Achievement, Werneth SchoolDEAR : Drop Everything And Read ProgramDavao City 3 Feb 2012 -Sejak September 2011 yang lalu, Sekolah Indonesia Davao membuat suatu pmeningkatkan kemampuan dan ketrampilan Bahasa Inggris siswa khususnya program terobosanuntukketrampilan berkomunikasi dalam bahasa Inggris yaitumelalui Pogram DEAR yaitu Drop Everything And Read. Program ini diterapkan untuk semua jenjang : SD-SMP dan SMA dimana 2(dua) kali dalam seminggu selama 30 menit sebelum pelajaran pertama dimulai, semua guru mendampingi seluruh siswa pada masing-masing kelas untuk mendampingi siswa membaca materi tentang apa saja dalam teks Bahasa Inggris.

Setelah selesai membaca, secara sukarela siswa diminta untuk menceritakan kembali ( story telling ) di depan kelas. Banyak innovasi dan metode menarik yang telah dilakukan oleh guru-guru pendamping dalam kegiatan ini. Tidak hanya story telling , menyanyi, spelling bee, word hunt, pengembangan vocabulary tetapi juga permainan game yang menyenangkan ( English for fun ).Sebagai media untuk mengukur kemampuan bahasa Inggris siswa, sekolah juga melaksanakan English Contest yang dilaksanakan pada setiap akhir / awal bulan. Kontes ini diikuti oleh seluruh siswa pada semua tingkat yang diatur secara bergilir, sehingga seluruh anak mempunyai kesempatan yang sama untuk mengikuti Contest English For Fun. Untuk mendukung dan membantu meningkatkan motivasi siswa, sekolah juga menyiapkan hadiah untuk semua kategori contest. Harapannya melalui reward ini, siswa dapat termotivasi untuk lebih giat belajar terutama dalam meningkatkan kemampuan komunikasi dalam Bahasa Inggris. Dengan demikian maka Sekolah Indonesia Davao, telah mempersiapkan diri untuk meningkatkan status sekolah menuju sekolah Berstandar Internasional.Slamet NugrahaWakasek Kesiswaan