Setting up Reading Workshop
What materials do I need?
Data- Reading Assessments to analyze and group students according to level or instructional need.
Baskets- One for each Guided Reading Group
response journal for each student, Guided reading book sets
A Teacher Binder- one for each group
pkg of dividers for:
conference forms
anecdotal notes pages
Goal Sheets
Lesson plan sheets
Data section
Data Tracking forms
Pocket Sleeves to store GR book, sticky notes, highlighter, book marks
A Basket set up with:
book marks, dry erase boards, dry board erasers, dry erasers, highlighters,pencils, erasers,index cards, sticky notes ABC charts, magnetic letters, strategy book marks, ink pens, markers,scissors, glue, tape, sentences strips.
Setting up Groups
You will want to set up a binder for each group and divide it between the number of students in a given group. You will need one for each student, within each students section further divided it in order to place their test data, conference forms, anecdotal notes form, goal sheets and a data tracking form. Place lesson plan sheets at the front of the binder. These items will go at the front of the binder inside a sleeve: the chosen book, sticky notes, and a pen. Another option is to use one binder for all groups then you will have less to manage. However, I found I like the separate binders better.
Meeting Schedules:
An example of a typical schedule is as follows:
Group A, Group B Group C Group D
Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Group A Group C Group B Group C Group A
Group B Group D Group A Group D Group B
Group A Group A
Group A is My Struggling Readers
Group B is the Bubble students
Group C is my on level kids
Group D is my above level kids
Group D is usually engaged in a Literature circle and I meet with for 10 min. No more.
Group C I meet with for 15 to 20 min (gives them 20 to 25 minutes of independent reading time)
Group A/B I meet with for 20 min- (gives them 20 minutes to read independently)
Is the Only Schedule? No Did it work for me? Yes Did it allow students to be reading most of Reading workshop? Yes Did I stick to this consistently? No I did a lot of modifying and adjusting.
It was some Friday's I didn't meet with GR groups but students read the entire workshop and I went around to student in their reading spots and conferred with them, we looked at their progress, their reading logs and goals. It was some day that these Guided Reading groups became Strategy groups.
What are Strategy Groups?
A strategy group can be of mixed ability and students can apply the strategy to their individual Guided Reading books. Teacher gathers students to reteach a skill that has been taught whole group that she or he notices students are still struggling with showing understanding through independent work or even during the mini lesson, when you are engaging students in the lesson to do the task your modeling, make sure you are observing students as they are doing it. You should be able to see who has it and who doesn't and that becomes your small group for the workshop that day.
Another important element of Reading workshop is to make sure you have a mentor text and a mentor notebook where you are doing the activities you expect students to be doing. As teachers you should make sure that you are doing everything that you ask students to do. I use my mentor text to model Reading Behaviors students should be using. Your mentor notebook can show students an example of writing about my reading. I often use this during the Mid teaching workshop. I place it on a document camera and ask students what they notice I did as a Reader. I list them, on an Anchor chart give it a title, post it and challenge them to do the same thing.
The next element is the Reading Journals: Each student has one separate from the one I have in the Guided Reading baskets. They each have a Browsing box that has other books, highlighters, sticky notes, book marks that demonstrate strategies and skills, erasers, and a journal. I personally divide the journal up. All teachers are different. Think about your purpose and what you want students to do in their journals.
Example Journal set up:
- Reading log
- Reading Goal
- Progress monitoring charts(maybe)
- Books I Want to Read
- Genre chart
Section 1: Mini Lessons/IAN
Section 2: Student independent Response
So I have my groups formed, I have my Journals set up now based on Curriculum or reading data start developing lesson plans for Mini lessons and Guided Reading Groups.
A big part of the Reading workshop is your class library. You need to make sure to introduce your library to students. I usually do this by introducing my own reading life. I ring out a basked of books that I have read, want to read or want to read again. I ask kids what they notice about my Reading life and we create a anchor chart. I hope kids notice my variety and the sticky notes and writing in them. Of course we talk about how they can write in the class library books. We set up expectations as a group on how to use the library and I introduce how it is arranged and we talk about how to exchange or whether their shopping days for books. This part usually takes a whole workshop day, so I will work with my struggling readers to help them shop for books after we tour it and figure out their reading identity. What do I mean by this? What do they like to read this becomes a list in the Mini-lesson section of their journals.
Another thing I provide students is a book mark. The book mark may or may not have reading strategies on them, it just depends. I usually keep a jar of them next to library as I do with Reading logs. Which is the next important element for me in my workshop. I model how to use and explain the purpose. I usually use it as a way to monitor and change goals. I use them during the conferring days mostly. However, I take up reading logs every two weeks to analyze. That's just how I do it, you as a teacher make a call of what part the reading logs will have in your workshop. The next element that I have in my workshop is to make sure I make time for partner ships to share books. Students should have the opportunity to discuss what they are reading,, so I recommend that you assign reading partners at the beginning of the year and make sure to change them up as you will be doing with your Guided Reading groups. They should be flexible.. Students should also be held accountable to reading text for understanding. So what I do is create response sheets, or prompts that students may do every day, every other day or just one day a week. It just depends on the unit and what my goals for the unit are. I pre plan all of this ahead of time so I want be scrambling at the lat minute. It is also a way to get a grade. It is so hard to get grades for Reading workshop.
What do I use for grades?
- quick writes
- reading response activities
- reading prompts
- graphic organizers
- reading log
- learning progressions
- (occasional skills worksheets, quizzes and assessments)
From one Reading teacher to the next Reading teacher, I off these tips and steps for you to implement in your classroom. Get these things implemented and organized and I guarantee you that your Reading workshop will get off to a great start.
