Independent Daily Reading
During my 90 minute reading block students engagei in Independent Daily reading. We have worked on selecting "Just Right Books". At the beginning of the year we do a series of lessons on how we choose books, reasons we abandon books, how to choose "just right books" as an orientations to Reader's Workshop. As A class we developed a set of guidelines for what Independent Reading Should look like and developed a rubric so they could evaluate themselves during that time.
My classroom library is stocked with a variety of expository and narrative texts for my students to choose from. They use their independent reading books to practice the reading strategies and skills modeled during our mini lessons. Each student has a Reader's notebook to complete reading responses, take notes on the skills and strategies we are learning, and vocabulary from our reading selections.
My classroom library is stocked with a variety of expository and narrative texts for my students to choose from. They use their independent reading books to practice the reading strategies and skills modeled during our mini lessons. Each student has a Reader's notebook to complete reading responses, take notes on the skills and strategies we are learning, and vocabulary from our reading selections.
Classroom Library
Reader's Workshop Orientation
Reader's Workshop Resources
I am the first to admit I am far from an expert when it comes to using Reader's Workshop in my classs. I am still learning what works and what I need to adapt or change. I really love the fact that my students are using the strategies they are learning and applying it to self selected literature. My students get to take ownership of their own reading. It makes them feel like they have choices and options and that makes a huge difference in keeping kids engaged.
I am constantly looking online for examples of mini-lessons and ideas for anchor charts. One of the most valuable resources I have found is the many teacher blogs sites. It is through the generosity and creativity of other teachers willing to share ideas that I have learned so much. There are so many great ideas for education. It has also led me to many great teacher blog sites where you can find amazing things.
Reader's Notebooks
Here are some amazing ideas I found for organizing students' Readers Notebooks.
http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com
http://teachingmyfriends.blogspot.com