It’s time to start Reader’s Workshop in my classroom. We spent our first few days of school getting to know each other, and one thing I wanted to know about my students is how they feel about reading. I gave them a quick survey on their “reading life”, and I will keep it in my workshop binder for quick reference. I also made notes of those who said they didn’t like to read at all, with titles I can recommend to them.
I spent a lot of time getting my teacher binder organized. This weekend I’m going to put together a binder the students will access that contains assignment options for them. Because they are all reading different books, they won’t always complete assignments at the same time. This one is going to test my meagre organizational skills, but I’m determined to come up with something that works well. I’ll keep you posted on that!
I did my first book talks yesterday and used two of my favourite books for reluctant readers: The Absolutely True Story of a Part Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie, and Looking for Alaska, by John Green. I’ve had several students, who claimed they will never, ever enjoy a book, devour both of these titles, so I tried to do a really good selling job of both. Hopefully I can hook the three boys who wrote that they have never finished a book before.
Our first mini-lesson was on active reading strategies, so I put up my poster as an anchor chart. It looks a little dorky with the magnets, but I was too tired and lazy, after actually working for four days, to deal with the sticky tack!
So, I’m hoping my charges are primed and ready to go next week when we will dive into more reader’s workshop. One of my favourite parts of my job is turning kids on to reading – hopefully I’ll hook a few more this year!
You can read more of my blog posts about reader’s workshop HERE.
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