Reader's Workshop

 

An Overview of Reader's Workshop:

THE DAILY 5: FOSTERING LITERACY INDEPENDENCE IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

The best way to become a better reader is to practice each day, with books you choose, on your just-right reading level. So, during Reading Workshop in our classroom, students have time each day to practice, practice, practice! Reading Workshop in our classroom consists of the following: several focus mini-lessons that allow "brain breaks", small group reading instruction, individual reading conferences, and independent literacy tasks.

Students are carefully taught how to choose a good-fit (just-right) book to read. Each student in our classroom has his/her special book box to place all just-right books in. Students read independently (during Read to Self) and also with a partner (during Read to Someone). At this time, Mrs. Vensko teaches guided reading/strategy groups and confers with individual students. While Mrs. Vensko works with a small reading group, other students are highly engaged in reading activities around the room (see below).

In addition, we use the McGraw-Hill Florida Treasures reading program and you can see how I incorporate the basal into the daily focus (mini) lessons.


MRS. VENSKO'S LITERACY CAFE READING BLOCK:

**MONDAYS - WHOLE GROUP READING from 8:00 - 10:10: The entire morning is used to introduce the following from the basal: vocabulary & spelling words, phonics special sound(s), a reading skill, and the weekly anthology story. In addition, we rip out pages from our practice reading and spelling workbooks as our seatwork packet for the week.**


TUESDAYS - FRIDAYS FROM 8:00 - 10:10 

 
  

1st Focus (Mini) Lesson - 10- 15 minute

**COMPREHENSION LESSON**

During this first focus lesson, comprehension skills and strategies are taught from the McGraw-Hill Treasures reading program. The weekly anthology is reviewed at this time as well.  

  

ROUND 1:

1st Daily 5 Choice/Small Group - (20 minutes)

At this time, all students do the the following literacy activity: Read to Self.Mrs. Vensko meets with her first strategy group for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, she confers with students one-on-one until the end of the round.    
  

2nd Focus (Mini) Lesson - 10 minutes

**ACCURACY LESSON**

Word work instruction is the focus of this second mini-lesson and includes explicit instruction in the following: phonics, decoding, spelling.

 

ROUND 2:  2nd Daily 5 Choice/Small Group (20 minutes)  

At this time, students choose between the following literacy activities: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading , and Word Work. Mrs. Vensko meets with her second strategy group for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, she confers with students one-on-one until the end of the round.  

  3rd Focus (mini) Lesson - 10 minutes

**FLUENCY OR EXPANDING VOCABULARY LESSON**

During this third mini-lesson, explicit instruction in fluency or expanding vocabulary is taught to the students. Lessons come from the Treasures reading series. The weekly vocabulary words are reviewed at this time.

 

ROUND 3:

 3rd Daily 5 Choice/Small Group -

(20 minutes)

 

At this time, students choose between the following literacy activities: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading , and Word Work. Mrs. Vensko meets with her second strategy group for about 10 minutes. Afterwards, she confers with students one-on-one until the end of the round.  

  

Check-in Sessions - 5 minutes or less

(at the end of each round)

At the end of each round of guided reading, Mrs. Vensko rings her chime and signals all students to clean up and check-in at the gathering place (large carpet). During check-in time, we share reading successes and problem-solve together if necessary.

This is also time for students to make their individual literacy choices while Mrs. Vensko records them on her chart.

 

 

 DAILY 5 CHOICE DESCRIPTIONS:  

 

  Read to Self

When students choose Read to Self, students read good-fit books independently from their book boxes. Students take their book box and find a cozy reading spot around the room.

Why do we do this? The best way to become a better reader is to pratice, practice, practice each day! Read to Self helps us become better readers and it is fun!  

Read to Someone

 When students choose Read to Someone, partners take their book boxes and read just-right books together. Partners are taught to sit "EEKK" style always when partner reading (elbow to elbow, knee to knee). Students make decisions together about where they want to read, what they want to read (same book or different books), and how they want to read (echo or choral). Students are carefully taught to CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING when partner reading. This helps us improve our comprehension. While one student reads, the other student listens carefully and then "checks for understanding". The listener holds up a check-mark and retells what he/she heard by saying: "I heard you say (who & what)." This holds the listener accountable. Students are also carefully taught how to be good reading coaches and to assist partners when they come to an unknown word or when comprehension is lost.

Why do we do this? Reading with a partner is fun and helps us become more fluent readers. It also helps us improve our reading comprehension. A MUST-DO activity each week is to read the anthology story from our basal with a partner.    

 Listen to Reading

 When students choose Listen to Reading, they can either listen to stories on the computer or books on tape. There are many different links on Mrs. Vensko's website which allow students to listen to online stories. A MUST-DO each week is to listen to the anthology story from our basal online.

Our classroom is very fortunate to have three computers with internet access, several small, hand-held cassette players, and a variety of books on tape. All books on tape are organized in a book bag and labeled by genre. Students can choose a book bag and listen to a story for pleasure in a cozy reading spot around the room.

Why do we do this? Listening to books on tape is fun and helps us to become more fluent readers. It exposes us to a variety of genre, too!

 Word Work

 When students choose Word Work, they explore and work with our weekly spelling and vocabulary words. A MUST-DO activity each week is to RAINBOW WRITE our spelling words. After this is complete, students can choose from the following word work options: spelling task cards, magnetic letters and cookie tray, spelling stamps, word ladders & letter tiles, making words bags, reading rods, wikki stix, and white boards.

Why do we do this? Work work allows us to learn about words, to expand our vocabularies, and to become better spellers!  Our writing is important to us and correct spelling allows our readers to have a better understanding and appreciation of our writing.

 Work on Writing

 Work on writing is taught in a completely seperate literacy block from Daily 5 each day. All writing focus lessons are taught during the Writer's Workshop block from 11:00 - 11:45 daily. Please check out my writing workshop page on this website for more information as to how I structure my writing block. Thank you! :)

   

 What Does Mrs. Vensko Think About The Daily 5?

I have recently made the switch from literacy work stations to The Daily 5 and I'm SO glad that I did! To be honest, it took a VERY long time to get this structure started in my room, but the wait was worth it! The students are SO engaged around the room in independent reading tasks! The most important reason why I love this structure is that it is SO teacher-friendly and SO easy to manage!! I have not yet created a single activity this year! What more can a teacher ask for???

My students LOVE this part of the day,and I truly believe the reason is because THEY choose WHAT activities they will complete that day and WHEN they will complete them (during each of the 3 rounds). This structure allows students to really take ownership in their learning. In addition, the Daily 5 structure allows my students more time to practice what they need the most -- READING!!

I highly recommend this structure to anyone who implements small group reading instruction. Buy the book and give it try! You won't be sorry!

I'm very excited to add the CAFE Menu to my reading workshop. The idea of meeting one-on-one with young readers and pulling strategy groups is so exciting!

I LOVE this quote about independent reading workshop as stated

by Regie Routman:

"Just adding more time and space for independent reading is not enough. I'm advocating a carefully designed, structured reading porogram that includes demonstrating, teaching, guiding, monitoring, evaluating, and goal-setting along with voluntary reading of books that STUDENTS choose....When an independent reading component is added, test scores go up.

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Here are some great resources to help you get your own Reader's Workshop started! All of these resources were created by Stacy Vensko. Feel free to use them for your own classroom needs. Please ask permission first and be sure to provide a link to my page if you plan to use any of these resources on your own website. Thank you!

 

 Here is a reading rubric that I  created to assess my students during our Reader's Workshop. This will be used as a reading grade twice during each 9 week grading period.

 Reader's Workshop Rubric
This file may be helpful to those of you who want to implement CAFE along with a basal reading series. Here is a chart I created that combines the CAFE reading strategies and the McGraw-Hill Treasures reading series (Florida Edition). Chart for CAFE and Treasures  
 Here is list of my Word Work activities. On this sheet, you will find directions for all of the activities. Before students can complete these activities, they must complete their assigned spelling workbook pages and rainbow spelling.  Word Work Directions Sheet
 Here are my spelling task cards that I use as a word work option. Some of the ctivities on the cards are NOT my original idea, as I have collected many over the years. They can be printed out on 4x6 index cards and open as a PDF file.  Spelling Task Cards

 Here is another list of Work Work directions for students to use during Daily 5.

More Word Work Directions