I practice I tried last year was using a tap bell. As we did read alouds where one student was selected to read while the others followed, I would randomly tap the bell and then select the next reader. If the reader was
following along and was prepared to pick up where the other student stopped, they got a sticker. It took care of the problem of "daydreaming" among the students.
The only read alouds the students did was out of the reading text book. I did read to the students a lot. I read them storybooks, and they loved anything by Lane Smith. (True story of the "Three Little Pigs", "Happy Hocky
Family") They also loved fractured fairy tales. I can't remember specific titles, but one was "Bigfoot Cinderella." I also didn't require them to do anything during these storytimes except listen and appreciate, and would even allow them to come up and sit on the floor. (I teach 5th.)
