Independent Reading in the Classroom

How does your Mentor Teacher support and encourage independent reading in the classroom?  What unique ideas have you seen that you will carry into your classroom?

First thing in the morning, the students go to their classroom teacher and then immediately head to two specials for the day. I am not usually here during this time because I get to practicum at 10:00 am when they are back in the classroom but when I am at the school earlier, I have seen the students at their library special before they start the main lessons for the day. When I have observed the students in the library, they get to check out books and read and take Accelerated reading tests as well to keep their word count up. The students also visit the librarians turtle when they are there as well and enjoy seeing the turtle and having free time to read and relax. On the other hand, this is the only time that I see the students independently reading because I only see math for the whole day. They are only with Mr. Borunda, the 5th grade teacher for Math and ELA and science and other subjects with different 5th grade teachers. As of unique ideas seen with independently reading, I have not seen anything different that Mr. Borunda has done since I am only there for the Math block but I do like that they are able to have library in the morning which is a great way to start off the day before students dive right into their core classes. I think it is important to set aside class time and a portion of the day for students to be able to read independently to help students gain new vocabulary and enhance their knowledge by learning about a new story or a new concept. This is something that i would want to incorporate into my teaching style when I become an Elementary Special Education Teacher.