Our 2nd grade team has had great success this year by "adopting" The Daily Five book's approach for Reader's Workshop. This book was just what I (and the kids!) needed to help "train" them for independent work. You spend a lot of time modeling HOW to spend time reading (what it looks like and sounds like) and practice this reading behavior in short, 3 minute intervals to "build stamina." There is some excellent information on building muscle memory. It is amazing! We are trying to merge the thinking in this book with Reading With Meaning and absolutely love the results we're getting so far.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Kimberly Stapert Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 8:52 PM To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Listserv Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] readers workshop help needed I haven't processed your whole email yet, but I skimmed it. I saw your last paragraph on what to be teaching. I would be spending a lot of time on decoding, etc., but more... You really need to find out what they each know by doing a running record on each of them, then group them according to need (what they need to know next), balancing the semantic (meaning - what makes sense), syntactic (sentence structure - "how we talk"), and letter-sound, (and pictures, too!) strategies. Do you have leveled readers - "six packs" of books?? I group my kids (and regroup as they progress and I regularly do running records) and use those books (like from Rigby, etc.) I teach the comp. strategies but in a VERY strategic approach---over time. I first model, model, model text to self connections, then we do it together, and then they do it on their own- but I think that they need to be able to read some kind of text to do this ideally. Your non-readers aren't ready for that yet - in my opinion - at least independently (yes with a partner or small group or large group). I then move into text to text, but much after they get the text to self. Debbie Miller is one of my heroes, but maybe your class isn't quite ready for all the components of readers' workshop yet - it's still very early in the year... Kim On Sep 28, 2006, at 9:24 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > HI > > I wrote earlier this summer about being very excited to start readers > workshop this year (first grade). No one else in my school does it > and my classroom > is supposed to be a "model classroom" for the school. I know it > takes a > while to get things running smoothly but I'm having a little more > trouble than I > anticipated and I need some help. > > First of all, my class is extremely chatty and fidgety. They have a > very > tough time paying attention and staying on task. I know thats not > very unusual > for first graders but they are definitely one of the chattiest classes > I have > had. Last year, I was very lucky to have a great class of kids > that were > very excited about learning. This year, the kids really don't seem too > interested. I'm having a very tough time holding their attention > during read-alouds > and mini-lessons. I try to use all that great Debbie Miller talk to > get > them excited about their thinking but it's just not happening. > Also, many > children are not staying on task during independent reading time. I > have done > many lessons on rules and routines and rituals but it's still a real > challenge. > > Also, I have 4 kids who are not reading at all (below A on the DRA). > They > are the ones who are having the most trouble staying focused. I have > provided > them with books at their level and have confered with them about using > the > illustrations to read their books but they aren't getting it. I know > I need to > do small group work or guided reading with them but how much time > should I be > doing that. Should they still be doing independent reading? Should > I have > them using the listening center instead? I can't meet with them all > the > time because I obviously need to confer with other students as well. > > I was so sad the other day because a parent told me that her son was > crying > about coming to school because of readers workshop. He says > independent > reading is so boring because he doesn't know how to read. He's > really a very nice > , sweet boy who is very well behaved. I felt so bad. That's > exactly the > opposite of what was supposed to happen. I was ready for readers > workshop to > be exciting and motivating. > > One more thing, I'm having trouble figuring out the balance between > decoding > minilessons and comprehension minilessons. So far we've spent most of > our time > on comprehension (schema and t-s connections) We have just touched > upon > decoding strategies. I'm wondering if I should be spending more time > on > decoding. > > I know I'm asking for a loot but would appreciate any feedback. > > Thanks, > Cami > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. 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