Reader's Workshop
Your child has Reader's Workshop each morning in his or her own homeroom. While Danielle, Beth, and Mr. B all use the same workshop format to structure reading, the concepts that we cover (driven by state standards and the School District of Waukesha learning targets) may be taught at different times depending on the needs we see in our classrooms. We started the year by "launching" norms in our workshops. Now we have all moved on to reading strategies that we feel integrate nicely into the launching of our STEaM Independent Research Projects.
The CAFE Reading Menu
Many of the concepts we will be teaching during the start of 3rd grade center around basic reading strategies. One model we will use to frame our instruction is The Reading CAFE Menu. The CAFE menu, created by two teachers, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, is simply a bulletin board that categorizes reading strategies:
C-Comprehension (Readers understand what they read)
A-Accuracy (Readers can solve unknown words)
F-Fluceny (Readers read accurately, with expression, and they understand what they read)
E-Expand Vocabulary (Readers know, find and use interesting words)
The visual is a constant reminder to the students of all the great thinking they can choose from to help them make meaning of the words they read.
Throughout the year we will be learning about and adding strategies to our CAFE Menus. We hope you will use the language on the menu when you read with your child at home to strengthen the tie between students' reading at school and at home. Please click here for a PDF copy of the CAFE Menu. Keep in mind that this is a GUIDE...we will add our own strategies and/or omit others. Please visit Gail and Joan's website for more information on The CAFE within Reader's Workshop.
The Comprehension Toolkit
The Comprehension Toolkit is another resource we will be using to drive our instruction. Written by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, The CTK is a series of strategies to guide comprehension.
Strategies that are broken down within this resource are:
1. Monitor Comprehension
2. Activate and Connect
3. Ask Questions
4. Infer Meaning
5. Determine Importance
6. Summarize and Synthesize
Please visit The CTK website for a bit more information that may guide your thinking and discussions as you read with your child at home.
Beth's Workshop:
November and December bring us into the world of informational text (nonfiction)! We will be reading, writing, innovating, and creating various types of both written and visaul informational text. This work is highly engaging and our workshop times are bustling with energy and learning! One of our final products will be something called an Integrated Text that creatively integrates both written and visual forms of literacy to convey information. Cool!
Danielle's Workshop
We are reviewing and adding to our repertoire of reading strategies within a Non-Fiction Unit of Study. We are skimming the surface of the following comprehension strategies so that the kiddos are more prepared for independent research. We will spiral back to these strategies throughout the year.
Big Ideas:
-Non Fiction Features -Inferring the Meaning of Unknown Words
-Asking Questions -Inferring What the Author Doesn't Expicitly Say
-Determining Importance
Brian's Workshoop
The CAFE Reading Menu
Many of the concepts we will be teaching during the start of 3rd grade center around basic reading strategies. One model we will use to frame our instruction is The Reading CAFE Menu. The CAFE menu, created by two teachers, Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, is simply a bulletin board that categorizes reading strategies:
C-Comprehension (Readers understand what they read)
A-Accuracy (Readers can solve unknown words)
F-Fluceny (Readers read accurately, with expression, and they understand what they read)
E-Expand Vocabulary (Readers know, find and use interesting words)
The visual is a constant reminder to the students of all the great thinking they can choose from to help them make meaning of the words they read.
Throughout the year we will be learning about and adding strategies to our CAFE Menus. We hope you will use the language on the menu when you read with your child at home to strengthen the tie between students' reading at school and at home. Please click here for a PDF copy of the CAFE Menu. Keep in mind that this is a GUIDE...we will add our own strategies and/or omit others. Please visit Gail and Joan's website for more information on The CAFE within Reader's Workshop.
The Comprehension Toolkit
The Comprehension Toolkit is another resource we will be using to drive our instruction. Written by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis, The CTK is a series of strategies to guide comprehension.
Strategies that are broken down within this resource are:
1. Monitor Comprehension
2. Activate and Connect
3. Ask Questions
4. Infer Meaning
5. Determine Importance
6. Summarize and Synthesize
Please visit The CTK website for a bit more information that may guide your thinking and discussions as you read with your child at home.
Beth's Workshop:
November and December bring us into the world of informational text (nonfiction)! We will be reading, writing, innovating, and creating various types of both written and visaul informational text. This work is highly engaging and our workshop times are bustling with energy and learning! One of our final products will be something called an Integrated Text that creatively integrates both written and visual forms of literacy to convey information. Cool!
Danielle's Workshop
We are reviewing and adding to our repertoire of reading strategies within a Non-Fiction Unit of Study. We are skimming the surface of the following comprehension strategies so that the kiddos are more prepared for independent research. We will spiral back to these strategies throughout the year.
Big Ideas:
-Non Fiction Features -Inferring the Meaning of Unknown Words
-Asking Questions -Inferring What the Author Doesn't Expicitly Say
-Determining Importance
Brian's Workshoop
Writers Workshop
The Writing Workshop
The Writing Workshop is a sacred time in our day that is set aside for the purpose of explicit writing instruction in the writing process.
Writing Workshop starts with a 10-15 minute mini lesson…a time for the teacher to give explicit instruction on writing. The teachers shows the students, or models for them, a writer’s craft or a part of the writing process. The day-to-day teaching of writing is part of a larger unit of study (poetry, biographies, personal narrative, non-fiction writing, etc…) that can last anywhere from one week to five or six weeks. Typically each unit of study ends with students finishing a piece(s) of writing within the unit of study.
After the mini lesson, the students go off to spend time writing, which is the most important part of the workshop. To become a better writer, one must write…a lot! During this independent writing time, the teacher moves to writers and has conferences with them. Some of these conferences are individual conferences and some are within the structure of a small group. When working in small groups, the teacher has identified a small number of students who need support in the same area. For instance, if 3-4 students need support on how to write in dialogue form, the teacher may pull these students together for a short lesson on this. Likewise, if stronger writers have the ability and skills to go further or deeper in their writing, they may be part of a small group of writers who have the same needs. The teacher takes notes on these conferences and uses them to both drive instruction and share with families and students the growth of individual writers.
In Writing Workshop, some units of study are chosen by the teacher, and some units are called ‘Choice’ units, which is a time for students to practice the skills and strategies they have learned in previous units of study in a writing project of their own choosing. This is key assessment time for teachers!
The Writing Workshop can be a magical time for students…and a frustrating one and a tiring one. It can whiz by some days and drag on other days. And we continue to work at our writing. Being able to express ourselves in writing is an important skill for students to learn and the writer’s workshop is the perfect environment to practice
"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties."
Bonnie Friedman
The Writing Workshop is a sacred time in our day that is set aside for the purpose of explicit writing instruction in the writing process.
Writing Workshop starts with a 10-15 minute mini lesson…a time for the teacher to give explicit instruction on writing. The teachers shows the students, or models for them, a writer’s craft or a part of the writing process. The day-to-day teaching of writing is part of a larger unit of study (poetry, biographies, personal narrative, non-fiction writing, etc…) that can last anywhere from one week to five or six weeks. Typically each unit of study ends with students finishing a piece(s) of writing within the unit of study.
After the mini lesson, the students go off to spend time writing, which is the most important part of the workshop. To become a better writer, one must write…a lot! During this independent writing time, the teacher moves to writers and has conferences with them. Some of these conferences are individual conferences and some are within the structure of a small group. When working in small groups, the teacher has identified a small number of students who need support in the same area. For instance, if 3-4 students need support on how to write in dialogue form, the teacher may pull these students together for a short lesson on this. Likewise, if stronger writers have the ability and skills to go further or deeper in their writing, they may be part of a small group of writers who have the same needs. The teacher takes notes on these conferences and uses them to both drive instruction and share with families and students the growth of individual writers.
In Writing Workshop, some units of study are chosen by the teacher, and some units are called ‘Choice’ units, which is a time for students to practice the skills and strategies they have learned in previous units of study in a writing project of their own choosing. This is key assessment time for teachers!
The Writing Workshop can be a magical time for students…and a frustrating one and a tiring one. It can whiz by some days and drag on other days. And we continue to work at our writing. Being able to express ourselves in writing is an important skill for students to learn and the writer’s workshop is the perfect environment to practice
"Successful writers are not the ones who write the best sentences. They are the ones who keep writing. They are the ones who discover what is most important and strangest and most pleasurable in themselves, and keep believing in the value of their work, despite the difficulties."
Bonnie Friedman
Writer's Workshop Units of Study
Gifts of Writing
Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction
Student Choice Unit
Fiction
Biographies/Memoirs or Photo Essays (TBD)
Slogans and Advertising
Student Choice Unit 2
Poetry is embedded weekly
Comparing Fiction and Nonfiction
Student Choice Unit
Fiction
Biographies/Memoirs or Photo Essays (TBD)
Slogans and Advertising
Student Choice Unit 2
Poetry is embedded weekly
