English Language Arts
Kindergarten News:
Letters: B, A, L, C
Sight Words: it, my, the, in
Reader's Workshop: Shared reading using songs, poems and stories
Writer's Workshop: Oral story telling, interactive writing and drawing our stories
_____________________________________
What is Reader's Workshop?Reader's Workshop provides students with a supportive environment that involvesthem in authentic reading experiences that focus on the strengths and needs of each individual student.
Reader's Workshop helps kids develop strong reading skills through the use of a mini-lesson, shared reading, read aloud, conferencing, independent reading, paired reading, literature response, and Reader's Chair. The basic philosophy behind the Reading Workshop is to allow students to spend an extended amount of time reading authentic texts that interest them on a daily basis and to provide opportunities to talk about literature. The ultimate goal of a Reading Workshop is always to develop life-long passionate readers.
A Quick Breakdown
The Mini Lesson- (5-15 minutes)
Reader's Workshop begins with a mini lesson that focuses on a strategy or skill children need to learn in order to grow as readers. We often have a read aloud that I use to teach and model the strategy I want the children to learn. We create anchor charts that anchor or hold our learning so that we can refer back to them during our work time.
Independent Reading, Conferring, Guided Reading (20-30 minutes)
During the next 20-30 minutes, students get to actually be reading books that they have chosen based on choice and on whether or not it is just right. The teacher can be either conferring with students one on one or meeting with small groups.
During this time students are directed to apply the strategy taught that day and to continue applying the strategies previously taught. (This can be easily reviewed by keeping a chart of what good readers do, or what to do during independent reading, or you may want to call it Reading Is Thinking. On this chart, you will add a strategy once it’s been taught. This way it is constantly reviewed on a daily basis.)
Strategies may be applied by jotting them down on a sticky note, or filling out a journal entry or strategy sheet. This way, students are held accountable for their thinking and reading during Independent Reading time.
Sharing/ Reflection (5-10 minutes)
After independent reading is over, spend about 15 to 20 minutes sharing and reflecting on their independent reading session. Students gather together to share the strategies that they have applied during the independent reading block.
Anytime you learn something new, you naturally follow certain steps to master it. You begin by watching someone else do it first. Then you practice it as someone watches you. Next, they offer helpful advice and feedback. You continue to practice independently until you can successfully do it on your own. Reading Workshop is designed to help children become independent in the process of learning to reading.
What are the Reader’s Workshop Comprehension Strategies?
Word-Solver Strategies- students will learn various strategies to help them with their reading. Example: decoding strategies
Schema (Making Connections) - the thoughts, feelings, and experiences that are "stuck" in our brain. We make text to self, text to text and text to world connections.
Creating Mental Images - proficient readers create images during and after reading text. We all picture something different because our schema is different.
Questioning - proficient readers ask questions before, during, and after reading.
Inferring - Our schema + evidence (text) = inference. We can infer the meanings of unknown words and create meaning from the story that isn't stated in the text or illustrations.
Monitoring for Meaning - proficient readers are aware of what they comprehend; they monitor their comprehension.
Non-Fiction- students will learn about the difference between Non-Fiction and Fiction.
What is Writing Workshop?
Components of the Writing Workshop
|
Time: |
Component: |
|
5 minutes |
Read aloud |
|
10 - 15 minutes |
Mini-lessons |
|
30 - 60 minutes |
Independent Writing & Conferring |
|
Guided Writing |
|
|
5-10 minutes |
Sharing |
|
Read Aloud of Touchstone/Mentor Texts |
Mini-Lessons |
|
Usually, when teachers use Writing Workshop, they teach using genre studies. Examples are personal narratives, information writing, procedural writing (how-to), and so forth. If students are expected to produce writing in these genres, then they need to be immersed with books based on those genres. These texts are known as touchstone texts or mentor texts. Read alouds are a way to use authors as mentors for writing styles and genres. Students can see how writers use different styles and literary elements to create pieces of writing. Teachers are not required to read the entire text. Excerpts are acceptable and recommended. |
The mini-lessons for Writing Workshop teach concepts, strategies, and techniques for writing while encouraging students to write in different genres or styles. The 10-15 minute mini-lessons gives teachers the opportunity to give direct instruction to students and model the lessons using authentic literature or teacher's own writing. Sample mini-lessons can include: · procedures for Writing Workshop · writing strategies and skills · literary elements · literary techniques (i.e. voice, descriptive words, etc.) · genre studies · text features |
|
Independent Writing |
Conferring |
|
The majority of time of Writing Workshop is devoted to independent writing. During this time, students are prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing their pieces. Depending on the age and abilities of your students, independent writing can be as short as 15 minutes or as long as 45-60 minutes. It helps to build stamina with your class, beginning with a short amount of time and building that time until they can work for up 30 minutes or more. |
During independent writing time, the teacher confers with students about their writing. The teacher should keep anecdotal records which include the date of the conference, observations, discussion, and teaching points. Teachers should keep conferences short. The purpose is to ask students how their writing is going and to teach them something that makes sense at the time.
|
|
Guided Writing |
Sharing |
|
During independent writing time, the teacher can gather a group of students to work on guided writing. Similar to guided reading, the teacher works with a group based on their needs. This is particularly helpful if a group of students is having difficulty with a concept and you want to avoid repeating the same conference with a number of students. |
Sharing is an extremely important component of the writing workshop that many teachers tend to dismiss due to time constraints. During the share portion, students contribute what they did during their independent writing time, either with the whole group or with a peer. This gives students the opportunity to observe and learn from each other. |