A few thoughts on structure

As I begin my Reader's Workshop each morning I have a firm structure that I use to begin EACH day.  Let me explain:

My students come to the meeting space (a rug near my easel and rocking chair) with three things:  their reading folder, reading journal, and a pencil.  I don't allow them to bring their books for one simple reason.  They read instead of listen to the lesson!  :)  Imagine telling your students NOT to read, but sometimes it's necessary.

Students sit next to their literature partners, without exception.  This person is the workshop "turn and talk" partner.    I have assigned them partners, thinking of reading levels, attention concerns, genre interests, etc.  Some partners switch often, but I have a few that are static.  It all depends on the needs of the readers.

All students must be able to see the easel.  They occasionally take notes or copy anchor notes into their reading journal.

Journals:  Notes go in the back, work goes in the front.

This is how we start each day:

• Students come in when the bell rings and begin the day's morning message.  This could be a math review, question generating task, or content area prompt.
• After 5-10 minutes of work (during which time they must also make their lunch choice, turn in lunch money and library books, etc...the usual morning routine tasks) students do a "Fit with Fred" warm-up.
• We are now 15 minutes into the day.  After FWF, students take out their reader's workshop materials, find their partner, sit down, and the lesson begins!

Please let me know if you have questions, another way of starting or organizing your workshop, or ideas to share!

All mini-lessons are approximately 12-15 minutes in length or less.

Reading Non-Fiction

I will start this post by admitting that I didn't plan my literacy instruction very well for January!  Although we are reading non-fiction, we are writing poetry.  Yeah, yeah...we should be reading AND writing non-fiction...but it's working out because the students feel refreshed every day we approach writer's workshop.  They have been so excited about writing poetry!

In the Reader's Workshop we are working on non-fiction text features (some call it conventions).  Here's a sampling of the work we are doing:

While the 5th graders have been creating "show and tell" projects about various text features, the 4th graders are creating these dynamic and fun booklets of features.  We've been using our National Geographic Explorer magazines to find the pictures and examples.  We write the definitions together as a group after we'd studied and learned about the individual feature.

At the same time we are using non-fiction articles to learn more about types of print in non-fiction as well as practicing our strategies of questioning, metacognition, visualizing, schema, and determining importance in text.  My students are becoming non-fiction experts!  :)

For teachers looking to "beef up" or improve their non-fiction lessons, check out this Scholastic link:  http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/teaching-nonfiction.  I have found some really useful tips at this site.

Finally, a special thanks to Laine, a 4th grader in my classroom.  She let me photograph her features booklet!

Questioning Chart

This one is thanks to Tanny McGregor's, Comprehension Connections.  It's very straightforward and very helpful to my students!

Questioning

Asking questions as we read..my kids were shocked to discover we are questioning all the time.  Questioning can be seen as scary.  How often has an inquisitive 5-year-old been told to "Stop!" or "Be quiet" when they are on a "How come?" rant.  Kids don't easily forget all the times they were shut down when they were knee deep in those never-ending questions!

As so it goes.  Kids go to school and answer lots of questions, but when and what do they ask?  I think that's where this strategy comes in to play!  We begin by showing our kids that they are generating questions all the time whenever they are reading.  Every time a child struggles to put down a good book they are questioning, "What will happen next?"  It's hard to put down a great book when you don't know the answer and you have to find out the answer!

Questions in reading?  Begin by teaching your students that they should be asking questions, all the time.  Let's help build their curiosity as readers and thinkers!  Second, sometimes the best questions have no answers.  These are questions that encourage us to think deeply about life and the world around us.  These are questions to ponder.   Third, although I don't require my students to record their thinking about this strategy all the time, I do talk with them often.  I like to find out what they think, what they wonder, what they disagree with, and what they want to do next.

Tanny McGregor introduces this strategy with a great sensory experience, holding and asking questions about a rock.  It's a great idea!  When I read her idea for the first time, I thought of a social studies strategy I'd learned from a education professor parent a few years ago.  Are you doing Artifact Analysis in your social studies classes?  If not, stop reading this and go here instead:  http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/worksheets/artifact.html.  Artifact Analysis has transformed my teaching in social studies!  We use this idea to study specimens, objects, etc., all related to a particular time in history.  There are many options for document analysis and artifact analysis on the National Archives website.

Studying the rock and asking questions is a lot like the artifact analysis, it's document analysis or artifact analysis for reading!  She also suggests bringing in an unusual food, such as quinoa, for students to question and eventually try.  I would recommend bringing in sardines!  All of these concrete experiences get kids thinking about questions!

Questions:  get kids to wonder, question, express uncertainty or confusion, ask what if...  Work with kids on artifact analysis, the work they do will translate into other academic disciplines!

Visualizing

It's been a few weeks, I'll admit.  Teaching full-time, PLUS weekend teaching, the MEAP (Michigan standardized tests) at school, parent-teacher conferences, report cards, family illness, a family wedding, volunteering at my kids school...well, you get the picture.

Regardless, I hope to catch up on my reading lessons.  So tonight I'll talk about visualizing.

Whatever skill level my readers (skill level tonight is defined as a Running Record score) I spend a few days covering the strategy of visualizing.  I feel that this is the most critical and basic skill.  Every other strategy is difficult without the ability to visual the reading.  Visualizing is defined as painting pictures in the mind, running a movie in your as you read the book, activating the senses, and being able to "see" the story.  (Sources:  Strategies That Work, Mosaic of Thought)

I believe it's important to reteach this skill each year, to make the kids aware of it once again so they are practicing the skill deliberately.  We began by practicing to music.  We listened to a song twice, the first time listening with our eyes closed to visualize the song in our minds.  Tanny McGregor recommends using the song, "Grandma's Feather Bed," by John Denver.  We used this song in our classroom and shared our images using the class document camera.  It's a great song for the activity!  Everyone's interpretation was different and unique.  Next, students practiced with their own song over the weekend.  Everything from AC/DC to classical came back the next day!

From there we listened and visualized to our class read-aloud, 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies.  Once again, everyone shared their unique mental images.  We finally moved to practicing the strategy with our own independent reading books.  From there, the visualization strategy became a strategy we could independently choose as a reader's notebook response.

What if your students struggle to visualize?  Use songs more often and also poetry.  Do the strategy WITH your students and share your images, thus teaching your students how you see a story.  Pull out key words from the song, poem, or story and tell how they would assist in creating the mental image.  When your students are more proficient, move to practicing this strategy with non-fiction.  It's important to make this move (when they're ready) since students are exposed to more and more non-fiction as they progress through the grades.

Finally, teach your students to visualize and create mental images.  It's a critical skill!

Books That Inspire Me

It's relatively easy for me to write about books!  I love to read.  I will give up sleep, a clean house, and clean clothes in order to read.  My family doesn't always appreciate my devotion to books, but that's okay!  At least one of my kids is an avid reader as well.

When I think of Reader's Workshop books, I immediately think of Aimee Buckner's book, Notebook Connections.  This is the book that got me thinking about changing my reading instruction to a reader's workshop.  Buckner's book isn't the only book that I've read; I want to share a few others.

Tanny McGregor's Comprehension Connections book is wonderful!  I resisted reading her book all school year last year because I was rereading Strategies That Work and Notebook Connections.  Thanks to a great deal of prodding by my friend, Kathy (a spec. ed. teacher at my school) I picked up Comprehension Connections over the summer and had a hard time putting it down.  I made notes, highlighted sections, and found mini-lessons throughout her book.  Now I'm reading the 2nd edition of Mosaic of Thought.  I found the first edition of the book to be insightful; but now that I'm older and, I dare say, *wiser,* the book has a new meaning for me.  I was especially appreciative of the sections that dealt with "Deep Structure" teaching and found myself marking areas to reread and use when I am deeper into strategy lessons this school year.  I say this every year, but I want to improve my conferring with students.  I believe that Mosaic of Thought will help me do just that!  I highly recommend the book and especially chapter 3.

If I could I would REQUIRE all new elementary teachers to read these books within their first year of teaching, form a book study group, and challenge each other monthly as teachers and scholars.  The books are that good, and will affect teaching that much!

...AND WHERE DO YOU KEEP THOSE BOOKS?

My home office is too small and is the only reason I've given any thought to moving in the past few months.  What will probably happen instead...is that I'll be adding shelves! (God Bless, Ikea!) I've become a lending library of sorts when friends are in graduate school.  If it's a book about reading and literacy I probably have it on my shelves!  My children's books are taking over our basement and my professional books are in my office, on my bedroom table, in the living room, at work, in the car...

IN THE CLASSROOM

In the past week we covered a lot of ground regarding fantasy and characters.  Two very different ideas in reading, but equally important.  First, we did discuss fantasy and our reading of the genre.  Next, we discussed characters--specifically how we describe characters.  Are they honest or greedy, friendly or selfish, generous or evil?  We learned how to find proof for our character analysis and also how to record this information in our reader's journal.

As students study characters this month they will develop a character project.  Students will choose one character from the book and analyze that character's traits.  They have the choice of three projects--create a trait poster, write a report, or dress and act as that character!  Students have a choice in their project, as long as they share their learning about the book and its characters.

One final comment:  We have started our first chapter book read aloud. (Prior to this we were reading short chapter books or picture books.)  We are reading, 101 Ways to Bug Your Friends and Enemies by Lee Wardlaw!  Our class will be using this book as our main mentor text for the next few weeks of reader's workshop.  Of course, we will read other books and study other authors but this books will be our read aloud as well as our mentor text.  It's "exciting stuff!"

Running Records

I've had a few questions about when I complete my running records.  Simply put, I do them during my workshop conferring time.  My district requires a running record score on all students in the fall and again in the spring.  For my 4th graders this means I need to complete running records by the end of September. (I usually have scores on my 5th graders form the spring; many of them have tested out of the Rigby Running Record scale).

If I complete two running records each conferring session I'm able to have these completed by the September 30th deadline.  If I feel further assessment is needed, I will complete an authentic running record (using a book of the student's choice), an Informal Reading Inventory (My favorite is the Bader Reading and Language Inventory), and usually I will use the QRI site word assessment to get a balanced view of the reader.  I have found the QRI assessments to be useful when my students are reading past Rigby's level 30.

I personally feel that a running record on a 4th or 5th proficient reader to largely be a waste of time.  At that point it's time to move to an IRI or QRI inventory for a useful, authentic assessment.

The First Week

Typically the first week of a Reader's Workshop in my classroom involves procedures...lots and lots of procedures!

Procedures Menu:

1.  Sharpening your Pencil--Students find out that sharpening their pencil, constantly, takes away from the focus of the reader's workshop.  Therefore, I restrict pencil sharpening (of any kind) to the very beginning of the workshop period.  Really, that's why I have a drawer full of sharp pencils!

2.  I let students read any book for the first two or three weeks of school.  It allows me to find out what kind of books students will typically pick when left on their own.  Are they reading comic books?  Are they jumping into a great novel?  Are they "pretending" to read?  It's a great time to begin my anecdotal records!

3.  Where do we sit during reader's workshop?  Anywhere...as long as it's not near your friend that will be a distraction to you or get you into trouble.

4.  We have to take notes???  Yes!  Notes are often related to the anchor charts we create in class.  Sometimes students are asked to "have a go" at the class anchor chart and create their own.

5.  You never know who's going to be turning in their reader's notebook, so do the work every day!  Expect to turn in your notebook at least two times during the week.

6.  Recess and lunch are times for talking with friends.  End of story.

7.  Yes, you really get to pick YOUR OWN BOOK for independent reading!

Those are the procedures we covered this week.  We also discussed a few important components of books and reading:

We read the following books as read-alouds this week:
The Teacher From the Black Lagoon.

My Many Colored Days by Dr. Seuss

Fireboat:  the Heroic Adventures of the John J. Harvey  **This book was our 9/11 read.  It's a wonderfully uplifting tale about a group of heroes on September 11.

Purpose

The task of this blog is to convey a year of reading workshop, as seen through the eyes of Amy Perrien and her 25 students at West Ottawa Montessori (WoMo) in Holland, Michigan.

Amy is a sometimes adjunct instructor at GVSU in the college of education--reading department.  She wants her reading students to see what takes place each week in her reading workshop and know that they can do it, too!

What's in 40?  Amy (or her students) will blog each week about the lessons, student work, successes, and failures of the reader's workshop.  She is figuring on 40 weeks for the school year.  In the end, you'll get a chance to see a year's worth of reading success stories, student work, teacher comments, and find out how Amy makes in work in a Montessori classroom.

Here's to real reading!