In Reading Workshop, the students are constantly engaged in meaningful reading and thinking while I take the opportunity to work with small groups of readers at their individual levels.  During this time, the students write a letter to me each week about what s/he is reading, which includes the pertinent information about the book such as the title, author, genre, and summary.  The second paragraph includes a choice of connections, predictions, questions, or something else we have discussed in class for other topics.  This practice gets the students critically thinking (we use the term “reading is thinking”) about the text, characters, author, author’s purpose, and so forth.  These skills will be useful all throughout your child’s reading and language arts careers!

The students’ week typically looks like the following.  They will:

• have a mini-lesson highlighting skills and strategies everyday

• be called to at least 1-2 small group reading sessions

• write one thoughtful letter to me by their due date (I will write them back that night)

• constantly be thinking as they read and look for information to include in their letters (we have sticky notes for this)

• complete graphic organizers, worksheets, etc. that exhibit the skill for the week as well as vocabulary and phonics

• keep track of the books they are reading, books they would like to read, and their reading interests in their Reader's Notebook

The advantage of Reading Workshop is that the students will start to realize how closely related reading and writing are! 

In the small group reading instruction (Guided Reading), the students will read texts at their own reading level.  The instruction is driven by the students’ needs.  This could be decoding strategies, working on comprehension skills, improving fluency (read like we speak), and so forth.  The students might have an assignment to complete at their seats after our meeting, read aloud to me, answer comprehension questions at the table, etc.  The entire instruction is needs driven, and it varies every week!

Miscellaneous Information

Share Time

The workshops end with a share time on the carpet.  The students are up and down throughout the morning going to share what they learned, investigated, and/or wrote.  The students have learned how to “Buzz” (talk about what they are learning) in a productive setting. 

Support on the Walls

There are posters that are filling our reading/writing bulletin board to help them through this process.  The posters range from “Reading is Thinking” ideas, topics for the students’ letters, what specifically needs to be included in their letters, ways to select a good book, how to buzz effectively, letter due date schedule, five (5) steps to a great paragraph, and that’s just to name a few!  As the year continues, we will add more posters to remind the students of our procedures, how-to’s, and to simply be used as a reference.