Reading Workshop

Reading Workshop begins with a mini-lesson where all the students gather on the rug for direct teaching, guided practice, and independent practice. Today's mini-lesson in Reading Workshop was on using all the strategies we've taught for solving hard words. On the rug, I explained to students how we would see tricky words all the time, and it's important that we use the strategies we've learned, instead of just giving up. This is a repeat of other lessons since the unit is about solving tricky words, and we circle back and reteach many of the same concepts. On the rug we reviewed the different strategies, and I modeled how I find a tricky word in a poem I'm reading and just give up. Students encouraged me to keep trying and to use strategies. After modeling how I do this, students worked with their partners to solve another tricky word later on in the poem using all the strategies they've been taught. Reading Workshop is a time where students have direct reading instruction. Since the mini-lesson is only roughly ten minutes long, afterward students read independently, using what was taught in the lesson, and as a teacher, I either meet with a Guided Reading group or I confer one-on-one with a student. Reading workshop serves as an opportunity to directly teach and expose students to new strategies and ideas, and then have substantial time to practice and apply this newfound learning.