I teach my 4th graders the power of rereading using the mentor text Goblins in the Castle
Rereading gives students time to think about the story and to find the author’s clues for the inside story. Reasons to encourage rereading include:
- Good readers reread books they love.
- If kids read go ahead of the class or their group , it’s not a big deal; they’ll be rereading anyway.
- It gives struggling readers more than one chance to be engaged with the text.
- Coupled with small group instruction and group discussions, rereading can provide readers with the opportunity to understand what they had missed. The process forces students to slow down and think about the story.
- Rereading develops vocabulary and fluency. A child must hear or use a word between 4 and 14 times before it becomes a part of his/her vocabulary.
- Rereading allows children to develop their understanding of new concepts.
For this book, our class reread the story and developed a character map to think through the complexity of the characters’ relationships and emotions:
and 
are both available through Stenhouse.
