A Teacher's Treasure: Readers' Workshop

Welcome to my Readers' Workshop!

In our middle school we are on a block schedule. Each class is an hour and fourty five minutes.

Here is what Reader's Workshop looks like in my classroom:

To see what Reader's Workshop looks like in my classroom, visit my classroom blog Zrihen's Zone for pictures & videos. (more will come as the year progress.)

DEAE time - 30 min. / The teacher meets with Guided Reading Groups or Conferences.

Reader's Jurnal - 10 min.

Mini Lesson - 15 min.

Class Novel Read ALoud - 20 min.

Discussion - 10 min.

Impact - 20 min. (our FCAT prep. workbook)

Wrap Up - 5 min. (exit tickets)

I do not believe in busy work! I no longer give bell work - I'd rather they READ!!!!

DEAR Time:

As my students enter my room they already have their book in their hand (they take it our in the hall when they line up. It does take some training :)) no time is wasted! The students walk in, check out the book nook poster for their weekly seats, hang their back packs, and take a sit in their designated book nooks.

The timer is set for 30 min., soft classical music is playing in the background and EVERYONE is reading!!!!

At this time I walk around the room to check what everyone is reading, conduct one-on-one conferences, and work with small (2-3 kids) guided reading groups. Click here to view pictures of our DEAR time!

During this time student read books of their choices. My classroom library is not leveled. It is organized by genres.

Reader's Journal:

When the timer goes off at the end of the 30 min. designated DEAR time, the students take out their Reader's Journals and log in their books. Students actually write weekly response letters to their books online - they BLOG!!!!! and print out their letters and glue them into their Reader's Journal.

I found the blogging their journals gets my reluctant readers & writers more involved. They are also commenting one one another's blog which makes reading and responding much more interactive.

I never have to carry notebooks home again!!! Winner!!!! I just log onto their blogs!

They do have to print their letter though and glue them into their notebooks so that the school has copies for auditing purposes. Here is a sample of a student's Reader's Journal Blog from this past summer.

You can find the list of forms we use in our Reader's Journal below (scroll down the page) and is also available in my TpT store.

Mini Lesson

After DEAR and Reader's Journal time we than procced to our 15-20 min. mini lesson.

We begin the year with procedural mini lessons, and move into strategies & literary elements.

As I teach middle school I fo not use anchor charts (too much to keep up with when you teach 6 classes)

I project my mini lesson on the board and the students copy the notes into their ISN's. (For more information on my Interactive Student Notebook check out this post)

For my sixth graders I do provide an outline of my notes to make things run more smoothly as they are new to the program.

For a complete list of my mini lessons scroll below. Mini Lessons are available in my TpT store.

Class Novel Read Aloud & Discussion

At this time the entire class reads the same book. (unlike DEAR time where they choose their own book)

We take turns reading as whole class, listening to the book on audio (if available), or partner reading.

We use this time to practice the skill we covered during the mini lesson, and discuss what we are reading.

This is the perfect opportunity for alternative assessment as the students discuss the story.

Impact

This is our first year using Impact workbooks. They are full of high interest stories that my kids are going to love!!! Perfect practice for our state assessment - FCAT.

Wrap Up

Our wrap up activity is quick, simple, and friendly.

We use a Post It Parking Lot (click the link to read more about it)

Here is a list of the items you can find in my TpT stores. These forms & mini lessons will enhance your Readers' Workshop.

Visit my TpT store

Readers' Journal

Readers' Journal Guidelines

Books I'd Like To Read

Reading Interest Log

Genres Tracker

Genres At A Glance

Reading Log