Reading Workshop
Welcome to a new school year! I know each year in your child’s schooling presents new expectations and routines for you and your child to become familiar with. My goal is to introduce classroom routines and structures in a way that removes all of the guesswork from the children and allows them to concentrate fully on learning.
In reading, the classroom structure that I use is called “reading workshop”. Soon your child will be talking about the workshop at home. The purpose of this letter is to explain what the reading workshop is and what you should expect to see at home.
The reading workshop is a literacy structure that teaches the children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five tasks that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the children will discuss what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing that task.
The five tasks include:
When all five tasks have been introduced and the children are fully engaged in reading and writing activities, I am able to work with small groups and confer with children one on one. This structure is effective, the results are amazing, and the children really look forward to reading workshop time. I anticipate your child will tell you about the class stamina, how we are working towards independence, and maybe you will even hear about some of the fantastic things your child has written, read, or listened to during our workshop time.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
Thank you for your continued support!
In reading, the classroom structure that I use is called “reading workshop”. Soon your child will be talking about the workshop at home. The purpose of this letter is to explain what the reading workshop is and what you should expect to see at home.
The reading workshop is a literacy structure that teaches the children the skills needed to create a lifetime love of reading and writing. It consists of five tasks that are introduced individually. When introduced to each task, the children will discuss what it looks like, sounds like, and feels like to engage in the task independently. Then, the children work on building their stamina until they are successful at being independent while doing that task.
The five tasks include:
- Read to self-The students sit quietly and practice reading books on their level by themselves.
- Read to someone-The students read with a partner and share their thoughts and ideas about the book they are reading together or they take turns practicing reading to each other.
- Listen to reading-The students listen to books being read online at the computers or practice online using Starfall.com.
- Work on writing- The students choose from various handwriting or writing activities to practice their writing skills.
- Word work-The students work with various skills according to their needs such as beginning sounds, medial sounds, digraphs, etc.
When all five tasks have been introduced and the children are fully engaged in reading and writing activities, I am able to work with small groups and confer with children one on one. This structure is effective, the results are amazing, and the children really look forward to reading workshop time. I anticipate your child will tell you about the class stamina, how we are working towards independence, and maybe you will even hear about some of the fantastic things your child has written, read, or listened to during our workshop time.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have.
Thank you for your continued support!