Reading Workshop
Readers’ Workshop is an extended time for students to read, think, and converse about books on a daily basis. The main focus is to differentiate, or personalize, instruction in order to accommodate the learning needs of all students while fostering a love for reading.
Readers’ Workshop includes:
Adapted from Guiding Readers and Writers by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell
The key to all of this, is that students must read, read, read, and also write, write, write...
Thank you for your help in encouraging and providing opportunities for your child to do both.
Readers’ Workshop includes:
- Focused mini-lessons with the whole class about reading process, skills, or strategies (such as reading strategies, comprehension strategies, word work strategies) •
- Students independently reading and the teacher conferencing with individuals •
- Teacher instructing small groups •
- Students reflecting upon and responding to their reading orally and in writing •
- Students working on assignments relative to the mini-lessons •
- Whole group sharing time and/or peer conferences
- Readers' Workshop is not Silent Sustained Reading or D.E.A.R. It is not a time for the teacher to be removed from interaction with students.
- Readers' Workshop is a time to involve students in authentic reading experiences that focus on the strengths and needs of each individual student.
- Readers' Workshop occurs daily for 60 minutes.
- Readers' Workshop allows time for independent reading on an independent level (95-100% accuracy; “just right”). Students choose books with guidance from the teacher.
- Readers' Workshop does not require a written response to every text read.
- Readers' Workshop ends with a 5-10 minute whole group sharing time that focuses on discussing the employment of strategies taught in mini-lessons.
- Readers' Workshop is a time during which the teacher’s role shifts from one of initiating, modeling, and guiding to one of providing, observing, acknowledging, and responding through conferring.
- Readers' Workshop includes a time when teachers are meeting with a student or with groups of students, “reader to reader,” to discuss their reading and to guide the sharing at the end of each workshop session.
- Readers' Workshop is a time for readers to learn how to work together as a community, supporting one another, as well as pursuing individual reading goals.
- Readers' Workshop is a time when students are actively engaged in reading individually, in pairs, or as a small/large group.
- Readers' Workshop is a time for readers to take responsibility for their learning by setting goals, tracking progress and assessing their success.
Adapted from Guiding Readers and Writers by Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell
The key to all of this, is that students must read, read, read, and also write, write, write...
Thank you for your help in encouraging and providing opportunities for your child to do both.
Saline Area Schools is now using the Fountas & Pinnell Reading Leveling System. This assessment not only checks your child's fluency; which is how well they read the words, but also their comprehension; what they retain and understand. The books in my classroom are leveled based on Guided Reading Level, which is what Fountas and Pinnell use. The guided reading level is based on criteria such as vocabulary, sentence complexity, book and print features, text structure, themes, and ideas. Students will be assessed through the month of September and will know their guided reading level. This information will be communicated to parents in October.
Here are some additional resources:
Websites to help you choose what to read next:
Here are some additional resources:
- Description of Guided Reading Levels
- Grade Level Correlations
- Fountas and Pinnell Website
- Scholastic Book Wizard (Find books at guided reading levels)
- The Saline Library is a great resource for books and ideas for what to read next!
- Don't forget Scholastic Books as a great way to help build your child's interest in reading. Our classroom code is: HZZ3X
- Brown Baby Reads - An African American book club that includes suggestions for book choices for children at various developmental levels
Websites to help you choose what to read next:
- Guys Read
- Scholastic Book Wizard
- Book Alike
- Teen Reads
- Reading Rants
- Tween Book Reviews
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- The Story Siren
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- Read Kiddo Read (James Patterson)
- Your Next Read