Frequently Asked Questions: This page contains answers to common questions of students
and parents.
- What is Independent Reading?
- What is Words Their Way?
- What is Writer's Workshop?
- Why should my child read at home if they read in school all day?
What is Independent Reading?
Students are encouraged to read independently for extended
periods of time.
Students should select books that are appropriate for their
reading abilities
as well as what they are interested in.
Students will be given time in class to read.
Please encourage your child to read at home as well.
What is Words Their Way?
Students will utilize a developmental spelling and vocabulary
program called Words Their Way. In this time period, students
will develop an understanding of spelling patterns, roots,
prefixes, suffixes, etc. Students will use hands-on sorting and
other activities to learn and practice spelling words and apply
newly learned patterns.
What is Writer's Workshop?
Writer's Workshop
I’d like to tell you a little bit about writer’s workshop. Each
day the workshop will last about thirty-five minutes. During the
first 5-10 minutes, there will be a mini-lesson that will usually
be direct teacher instruction. The focus will be a technique or
strategy that good writers use. After the mini-lesson, students
will have the opportunity to practice the day’s strategy and will
then have independent writing time.
While the students are writing, I will meet with individuals or
small groups to confer with them about their writing and to
encourage their growth as writers. Sometimes in the middle of the
independent writing time we will pause for a "mid-workshop
share." This will be a time for me to refocus the group
or highlight the extraordinary efforts of an individual writer in
the class. At the end of the workshop, about 5 minutes will be
spent giving the students an opportunity to share their writing
with the class or with a writing partner.
Students will write, revise, edit, and publish stories throughout
the school year. They will also begin to assess their writing and
learn to implement the characteristics of quality writing into
their own work. Most of our writing will be kept at school and
will be sent home at the end of the year.
We are excited to share with you our focus units for the upcoming
school year. During each unit, students will be asked to do a
certain kind of writing, but they will choose their own topics.
By giving the students choices in their writing, it makes the
writing more meaningful and engaging.
Why should my child read at home if they read in school all day?
Research shows that the highest achieving students are those who
devote leisure time to reading. Recently, the largest-ever
international study found that the single most important redictor
of academic success is the amount of time children spend reading
books. Additionally, one of the few predictors of high
achievement in math and science is the amount of time children
devote to pleasure reading.
Children read in order to become smarter about the world and how
it works. They read to broaden their vocabularies and to become
better readers-faster and more fluent, purposeful, engaged,
critical, and satisfied. They read to stretch their imaginations,
to escape to other lives, times, and places. And they read to
become good people-knowledgeable about and compassionate toward
the range of human experience.
There is no substitute for regular, sustained time with books.
Please sit down with your child tonight and talk about the best
time and place for reading to happen at your house. We know that
children whose parents and teachers expect and encourage them to
read are likely to grow up as happy, skilled readers.