Creating a Reader's Workshop

Oh workshop. How I love thee! I am a workshop fanatic, y’all. Reading, writing, math, science, social studies…. I swear I use it for everything! Something about it is so soothing to my soul. Ideally, I have an hour for each subject, but not always. In reading and writing I like to strive for at least one hour of each. I’m not sure what my new schedule at my new school will be like, or what will be mandated, but I’m hoping I can make something like this schedule work in my new classroom.

Holding my mini-lessons to only 10 minutes {ideally} means I have to be p r e p a r e d, ALWAYS.

But it also means my kiddos get a good amount of reading time and that I love. It’s really what it’s all about, right? Actually reading and writing. Not learning about it or studying it. But doing.

Mini Lesson 
Based on the CCSS and my own anecdotals, I plan a scope and sequence that meets my student’s needs.

Independent Reading 
During independent reading time, students read, respond to their reading, and meet with me for book clubs or guided reading. In the older grades, I meet with each group once or twice a week for about 10-15 minutes and one or two groups a day. We discuss the reading and do our guided reading thang!  Our groups change about every month to every 6 weeks and are typically based on interests and student needs. I use the remaining time to confer with readers one on one. Some students I meet with multiple times a week. Others I meet with just once a month. {And most of the time I can't meet with them all enough!}  This is also the time I do assessments and running records. Every quarter I try to adjust my schedule so students are met with as needed. You can grab my reading anecdotal page here from dropbox!

Share time 
For the last 5-10 minutes, we all come together and refer back to our mini-lesson and share what we noticed about it during out reading time. I usually try to have an example ready based on my groups or independent conferences.  For example, "Today we talked about using inferences to understand our characters better.  Kate and her book club saw something really interesting today.  Can y'all share what you saw in our reading and how it helped you?"

Word Work was done at a separate time, although this year I may need to find a way to work that into our writing schedule. We shall see… Ive been doing some blog stalking and reading to see what type of options I have! 

Now, let’s be honest here. Am I great at meeting with all the groups every time we’re supposed to? Not in the least. That’s something I want to be better about. Sometimes my ADD kicks in and a group lasts 20 minutes+ . But on the good days, the schedule above is what we’re striving for. And I love love love when it goes smoothly!! I’m loving checking out everyone else’s schedules! Have you stopped by Catherine’s blog to see what everyone is up to? Be sure you do! You won’t be disappointed!