Read With Me Cultivating a Literary Community 

We talk daily, in Reading Workshop, about becoming good readers.  We already know many things that good readers do.

1. Good readers read “just right” books. We use three tests to find a “just right” book: the Five Finger test (Were there five or more words on the page that we didn’t know?), the Driving Test (Did our reading sound like smooth driving, like a sports car, or bumpity-bump-bump, like a jungle jeep?), and the Stop & Think Back test (What did we just read about?  What are we thinking about the characters and setting? What is happening?).
2. Good readers are always thinking as they read. Readers move back and forth through clarifying, questioning, predicting, and summarizing.
3. Good readers read the whole time. When we find our thoughts straying from our reading, we have strategies to reel our minds back.  We need to focus on the text and read, read, read.  Don’t get distracted.  If we do find ourselves unfocused in our reading, what can we do to fix it?
4. Good readers read a variety of genres. Science fiction, mystery, realistic fiction, informational texts, biographies…there are so many different types of books for us to enjoy!  We know that we use different strategies and thinking as we are reading different types of books.  If we stay stuck in one genre all the time, we will not grow into better readers.  Branch out!  Try something new!

One of the steps we’re taking to become better readers this year is setting goals.  Over this first nine weeks, we are working to read a variety of genres and authors.  Each reader is required to read and respond to a book from the following categories:

• a mystery chapter book
• a Beverly Cleary book
• a “Battle of the Books” selection *
• a book from a chapter book series that is new to them
• two free choice chapter books

Additionally, readers will be reading these picture books in class.  They will need to respond to them at home or in Reading Workshop.

• a Chris Van Allsburg book
• a fable or folk tale

If your reader is meeting the goal of reading 120 minutes per week at home and using their time wisely in Reading Workshop each day, this goal should be very easily attained.

We have now formally discussed both story maps and 5-sentence summaries (the responses expected for this grading period).  Story map forms are available to students in class, but they can be created on their own as well.  Many story maps formats are available online, as well, and can be printed at home.  For instance, here is a good example and here is another.  Students may also be interested in this one or perhaps this one.  If your student is writing a 5-sentence summary, they should complete this in their reading notebook.

Students are encouraged to bring chapter books they’re reading at home to school each day, so they can continue to make progress towards completing that book.  Many readers at this stage are not yet disciplined enough to read multiple chapter books simultaneously.  And, as you know, good readers are always prepared!  When we’re loving the book we’re in, we keep it with us so we can steal a minute or two to dive back in, whenever and wherever possible!!!

* This nine weeks, selections from prior Battle of the Books years will be acceptable, as we have not received copies of this year’s selections yet.  If you are unsure if the book is suitable, please see Mrs. Nash.

Your reader has most likely heard countless times from their teachers over the years that “reading is thinking”.

I wondered, though…what exactly does this mean to the readers at Club 222?  WHAT are they thinking?  What are they thinking ABOUT?

During reading work period and read alouds this week, we decided to focus on our thinking while we read.  Readers talked about their thoughts as they listened to chapters read aloud from The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School.  Readers wrote about their thinking during their independent reading.  Finally, after listening to what our classmates were thinking about, we’ve started a list.

THINGS WE THINK WHEN WE READ:

1. Seeing “snapshots”. Sometimes readers can see pictures of events, characters, and/or settings from the story.  Using the details from the text with their background knowledge, readers paint a mental picture as they read.
2. Watching the movie. Many times readers get so involved and “sucked into” (as we so eloquently describe it) their reading that they can watch the pages play out in real time in their mind.  This is especially true when readers are able to describe actions, reactions, and details that fit inside the story but the author didn’t mention.
3. Listening in. Often, a sound or dialogue is particularly real to us as we read.  We can “hear” the characters talking, the bell ringing, the door knocking.
4. Questioning the text. Readers don’t only ask questions when they don’t understand.  Sometimes, we ask questions when we do!  ”Why on Earth would Melvin jump on the table and scream like that when the lunch monitor was coming back?  Doesn’t he know he’ll get caught?”  ”How does Candace Fleming [author] come up with these stories?”  ”Will Lil win the poetry contest, or Jackie?”
5. Predicting. Have you ever watched a scary movie and found yourself saying, “Oh no!   The bad guy is going to be there!  Don’t go in that room!”  Readers do the same thing sometimes.  Good readers get involved their reading and think ahead in the story and make guesses about what they think will happen next.
6. Reactions. Sometimes, readers just spend a moment thinking about what they just read.  ”That was so funny!”  ”I loved that chapter!”  ”I’m not sure I understand what’s happening…”
7. Character’s emotions. Good readers feel sympathy and compassion for the characters.  They also share in their excitement, their successes, and their happiness.  Good readers learn climb inside the heads and hearts of the characters in the books they read.
8. Connecting within the text. Reading a book can be like threading beads on a string.  The author hands you one bead at a time and the reader has to know how to string them together.  We need to think as we read to realize little patterns, like how Miss Paige Turner is slowly changing from a mousy librarian to a beautiful blonde wearing heels and makeup.  Why?  We need to make connections from chapter to chapter to remember that it’s Melvin that everyone ignores, Lil who is poetic, and Stanford Binet who is the “downer” and serious about EVERYTHING.  (He can be a bit precocious, can’t he?)
9. Connecting from text to text. Good readers notice similarities between two or more texts as they read.  Remember what they’ve read in the past and draw from those memories constantly.  ”I’ve heard that moral before…I wonder if that comes from the Tortois and the Hare?  That would make sense, becasue the hare got lazy in the end, just like Lil, and lost the contest because the tortoise kept workiing all the way to the end.

This week we’re going to have some fun with Wordles! 

What? You don’t know what Wordles are???   You are going to LOVE them!!!

At wordle.net you can type or paste in a piece of text and watch it magically become art!  For instance, some students in Miss P’s afternoon class helped me input the lyrics to the Chets Creek song and customize this cute little Wordle.

(Click on the image to view it larger.)

Today, in readers’ workshop, students brainstormed things they know that successful readers do.  Afterwards, we turned our gaze to ourselves.  Thinking about ourselves as readers, we completed a short questionnaire about our reading tastes, favorites, least favorites, hobbies, topics we like to learn about, personalities, and more.  Stay tuned for the big reveal tomorrow after we transform our individual feedback into a whole group Wordle representing our classes’ interests. 

We’re having fun with Wordle!