Charting the Course

Over the summer, I attended the Teachers College Reading Workshop Institute at Columbia University in NYC.  This week-long training was packed with book suggestions, sample lessons, planning resources, and encouraging discussions.  I walked away with tons of great ideas to improve the reading instruction in my classroom this year.

One idea I am trying to implement right away is making my reading charts more purposeful -- creating charts "with and for" my students.  Our first unit is all about how Readers Build Good Habits.  In other words, teaching children to choose appropriate books, read for a sustained amount of time, read the words carefully, and pay attentions to the plot and details.

In the past, I've relied on one "anchor chart" -- the Readers are Like Runner Chart (below) -- to structure my lessons in those first few weeks.  We have discussed how readers warm-up, set goals, and focus on reading.  However, this year, I pushed myself to create more charts that students could rely on to really understand each objective.

We started by creating a chart for HOW Readers Warm-up (above).   I added each of the large sticky-notes after I introduced the skill and had the kiddos practice during Workshop.  Our Warm-up includes looking at the cover (reading the title and determining possible main characters), looking at the back (reading the blurb), and taking a picture walk (making predictions).   We spent at least one lesson during the first two weeks on each of these skills.  We also timed our reading stamina (how long the class could read quietly) each day and kept track of our progress. 

Then we created a chart for things to do when we finish reading. My goal is for the kiddos to be able to hold on to a book in their head, and often that means that they need to re-read or retell.  Especially when young readers are spending most of their first read-through focusing on decoding or sounding-out the words, they miss essential plot pieces.  I encourage them to go back and find their favorite parts or try to read again using the character's voices to improve their fluency before moving on to another book.

Finally, I created this "We Are Readers Who" chart to capture all of the reading habits that we've put in place.  Although this chart has a lot going on, it is really just a condensed version of the other charts we've been using so the kiddos have been able to refer to it independently.  I'm so excited about the strong foundation we have laid in just the first 4 weeks!