Introducing Reader's Workshop!
Students will be able to demonstrate the routines of reader's workshop through shared participation.
- Gather students to the rug.
- Introduce the focus of today's lesson by holding up a familiar read aloud text and saying, "This is such a great story! I really love to read. When I am trying to decide what to read, I think about a few different things."
- Ask the students to turn to a partner and share what things they think about when choosing a book to read.
- Share out ideas and record them on the board or chart paper (e.g., cover, title, characters, long or short).
- Explain that today you will be learning about a new classroom Routine(the order or way we do a certain activity) called reader's workshop.
Explicit Instruction/Teacher modeling(5 minutes)
- Tell students that the purpose of reader's WorkshopIs to practise their reading skills and build their reading stamina.
- Define StaminaAs the length of time you spend doing something. Model stamina by holding up a book and playing with it vs. reading it. Then, show how you can become engrossed in the book. Discuss the difference. Explain that stamina is something that you have to build.
- Model the different ways to read a book (reading the pictures, reading the words, listening to someone else read) and explain that all of these ways are considered reading.
- Explain that during reader's workshop, students will learn a new skill, practise their new skill alone and with a partner, and then come back together to share with the group.
Guided practise(10 minutes)
- Pair students up together on the rug and pass out one book to each pair. Have the pairs do a picture walk and discuss the book together.
- Ask each pair to share out one thing they liked about their books. Have them share if they would recommend it to others? Why or why not?
- Create a class anchor chart that illustrates the different ways to read a book (using student input).
- Create a class anchor chart that illustrates what reader's workshop looks like and sounds like (e.g., looks like students reading quietly, students engaged with their books in one spot, students quietly sounding out words or sharing their book with a friend).
Independent working time(15 minutes)
- Send students either back to their desks/tables or around the room.
- Place book bins on each table and have students spend time "reading" several books.
- Pause mid-way through and have them turn to their partner and share about their books.
- Choose specific books for students to use during the independent portion of the lesson.
- For advanced students or those ready for a greater challenge, have them choose additional books to read from the classroom library.
- Have students create a poster outlining why they would/would not recommend a book to a peer.
- Assess if students are able to choose one of the ways to read a book during the independent work portion of the lesson.
- Walk around and informally assess which students are reading the words and which are reading using pictures.
Review and closing(5 minutes)
- Gather the class back together and celebrate a successful first reader's workshop!
- Review the elements of reader's workshop using the anchor charts as a reference.
- If time allows, have a few students share out about the book they read.