Making Text Sets, Reading Across Genres, and Compare and Contrast Skills in Reading Workshop

Breanne and Francesca, two first grade teachers, and I have been thinking lots about how to help first graders meet the demands of the Common Core as they think across texts and use compare and contrast skills.  You might be embarking in a unit of study in reading workshop just like these first grade teachers and wondering what you can do to support students in this complex reading work. 

Here are some things we have been thinking about that may help you:

The first graders looked through their nonfiction library baskets and sorted books into narrow topics.  Then, they looked for other fiction texts and poems to add to the piles.  Soon, they had over 15 text sets!  Here is one example, "Monkeys and Apes":

Next, the teachers invited students to choose the text set they wanted to read.  Kids give choose a few options and teachers gave students a new reading partner based on interest.  Note:  Not all of the books in each text set match the level of both of the readers, but most of the books in the text set baggies did represent the range of readers in the room (levels G-K).  For this unit, the teachers decided that the partners and the books will be at mixed levels AND after 15 minutes of text set reading time, kids will then read from their just right book baggies for another 15-20 minutes.  

Here is the chart that reminds the readers of the text sets available and the partnerships assigned to each set.  Kids read from the same text set for 4-5 days.  Then they will switch to another set.

Next, the teachers wanted to have a way for kids to keep track of information they learn and questions they have while reading.  They decided to use RAN charts.  Tony Stead recommends these charts as way to help students read and analyze nonfiction reading.  See his book, Reality Checks, for more information.  Here is the example from Breanne's class.  She is reading the monkey and ape books aloud and modeling for her students how to use a RAN chart to keep track of their thinking.

Each partnership has one of these charts in their text set baggie to help keep track of the thinking.

As I listen to first graders read in a cross-genre unit like this, I often hear kids saying things like the following example (after reading a Poppleton story about the main character trying to wall paper his home), "Hey, Popleton's friend Filmore just ate the wallpaper!  Do goat really eat wallpaper?  Do they eat other things?  Do they eat people?" 

These questions then fuel future reading about goats.  This reader can now turn to some nonfiction text about goats to get his questions answered and learn some new information.

Finally, I wanted to share with you some of the other charts the teachers are using to help the students use nonfiction reading skills to help answer their questions.

Special thanks to Breanne and Francesca for thinking and working with me and their principal Ms. McEvoy for supporting all of this work!

Partner Time Reading in Kindergarten and First Grade

Hello Friends,

A few weeks ago some teachers at North Street School and I investigated partner reading time in reading workshop.  We began our investigation thinking that we can teach kids to use their partner reading time to practice one or more of the following:

• Accuracy - Kids can read books to or with partners and practice monitoring for accuracy and helping each other with the tricky parts.
• Fluency - Kids can read books with partners and practice reading in longer phrases and using punctuation to help with intonation.
• Comprehension - Kids can talk about their books with partners.  They can retell important or favorite parts, ask for help with confusing parts, and talk about ideas across books.

Kristi, one of the teachers at the school, thought that her kindergarten readers needed some support to read for long chunks of time with their partners.  We came back to one of our BIG ideas this year...
USE YOUR INDEPENDENT READING TIME TO GET READY FOR PARTNER TIME.

Kristi taught her students several different options for partner reading time throughout the year and so now, rather than telling the kids how they would spend their time each day, she gave them some choices.  She presented a a 'placemat' of sorts with three options:

• Read
• Talk
• Ask for help 

Note:  These three options can change.  You can add options like this:

• Act out a page or a part
• Read/perform in character voices 
• Talk across books (compare/contrast)

 Kristi gave her students the placemat and invited them to place it on their table stop during independent reading.  Then, as kids read independently, they decided which books they wanted to read with partners and the purpose for reading each book or part of the book with the partner.  As they finished each book (8-10 books in the baggies of these readers reading at levels B-G) , kids decided if they wanted to read it to a partner and if so, they decided if they wanted to read it, talk about it, or ask for help. 

Many kids filled up their placemat with piles of books so when partner reading time began, they were excited to follow their partner time agenda.  Many of the partnerships read for 15 minutes.  Bottom line - using your independent time to prepare for partner time allowed kids to have a full partner time agenda and increased their stamina.  Kristi can now teach another guided reading group or strategy lesson during this block of time on some days of the week.

Thanks to Kristi for sending us the pictures!

Series Reading Club Charts

Hello Readers!

Are you and your students involved a big book club study this year?  If you are in a series book club unit in your classroom, you may be wondering how you can get all of your clubs reading and jotting on post-its with independence.  Some teachers at I at PS 309 in Brooklyn made some charts to help the kids work with partners and club members with independence.  I wanted to share them with you.  You can see that these are just my small handwritten versions.  You can make them bright and colorful.

Happy Reading!

Supprting Kindergarten Readers: Move Up Levels from A to B to C

Hello Everyone,

I have been collecting lots of great things to share with you on the blog this winter and spring.  Look for updates this month!

Last week I studied with 28 fabulous literacy coaches from across the globe.  We worked in several classrooms coaching and teaching together.  We assessed kindergarten readers who have been reading level A and B books for the past four weeks to find out if they are ready to read level C books.  We noticed that some kids were definitely ready to read C books and we got them shopping for books in new baskets.  It was so exciting to quickly assess kids and congratulate them on all they can do and then support them to shop for new books!

Here is how you can do it in your own classroom. 
1.  Sit next to a child during reading workshop and listen to her read her level A or B books.  Look to see if she can do the following:

• One to one matching
• Reads high frequency words
• Uses the pictures to make attempts and guesses at unknown words
• Uses initial and/or final consonants

Here is an example of a recording sheet you can use:

Conferring Notes About Each Reader (from their independent reading)

Name of the Reader	One to one matching	Can read high frequency words in text	Uses the picture to make attempts	Uses initial and or final consonant to make attempts

2.  Read the writing folder of the student and assess the writing and the reading of the writing to be find out if she can do the same things in independent workshop.

 Conferring Notes About Each Reader (from their writing folders)

Name of the Reader	One to one matching	Writes high frequency words	Consistent spaces in between words	Writes initial and final consonant sounds

 

Remember.... If kids are using initial and final consonant sounds to read some tricky words in their A and B books, they are ready for level C!  Hooray!  Time to celebrate.

And, remember that we will want to support kids as they shop in a new leveled book basket.  We can do two things:

• Small group shared reading with level C and D big books.  Then give kids the small copies of the big books to the kids in the group or invite them to have some time with the big books at the easel during reading workshop.
• Guided reading in small groups.  This is especially crucial as kids move into a new level.  

Best wishes with your quick assessments!  Happy reading!

Kindergarten Book Shopping Lists

Some of you may be finishing a reading unit of study that supports young readers to reread familiar picture books like Corduroy, The Three Billy Goats Gruff, or Caps for Sale by looking at the pictures and telling the story.  Now, through lots of repeated shared reading activities your students are probably ready to reread these familiar shared reading texts.  If you need some recommended titles for familiar shared reading or teaching ideas, see the list in this post from last fall.  Some kids too may be ready to read higher level books in your classroom library. 

You may be wondering how to manage and support these different needs.  I like to give kids personal shopping lists to keep in their book boxes or baggies.  Then, on the days they go into the library to shop for books, they will know how many books to choose from the different baskets. 

Here is a photo of one such bookmark from an inclusive kindergarten classroom.  Special thanks to the teachers Mia and Lisa.

Happy Book shopping everyone!

Build Reading Stamina

Hello Readers,

I've been talking with lots of teachers lately about building reading stamina in the reading workshop.  We have been thinking about ways to help kids enjoy their books and read for long chunks of time.  We know how to show kids how long they read each day by building a tower of cubes to represent how many minutes we read and we know we can make a bar graph so kids can see their reading stamina growing across time.  In addition, we are using a few tools that I thought would be helpful to share.

We are creating welcoming and comfortable reading spaces in our libraries so kids can shop for plenty of books.  Two pictures are shown below.  One is for a series section in a library and the other is a leveled book section.

Next, we have been thinking lots about reading goals with kids.  Emily has this chart hanging in her room to help her chapter book readers set goals for themselves and their reading for the week.  This could be helpful for second and third graders who are getting into longer texts.

Setting goals and monitoring progress toward those goals with a reading log is crucial to maintaining stamina.   We can confer with the logs and notice if kids stick with a book, how long it takes them to read a book, and their preferences for certain genres and authors (and their understanding of each genre).  It also helps us see how long they have been reading at a given level and if they struggle to maintain stamina when they move on to the next level. I like kids to keep all of their reading logs for an entire year in a folder so we can reflect together about the kind of reader the child has grown to be throughout the school year.  A sample of one of these logs is seen here.

 


I think a chart to help kids build stamina and get back into their reading when it feels difficult is also important.  Here is one that a second grade class built together:

I hope you are all off to a strong start to the school year!  More posts will come in October!  I've got some things to share about Small Moments units and partner talk time during the read aloud.  I'll be back soon.

Literacy Classroom Photos

Are you a literacy coach or reading teacher looking to remake your classroom or small office space?

Maggie, a teacher in Brooklyn wanted to create a space that would allow for these two things:

• a place for teachers to gather and plan curriculum
• a place to teach small groups of students who need more support in reading and writing

She worked hard, with an incredible team, to create a classroom make-over.

Above:  Curriculum mapping board.  Tables for teachers to gather are in front of this board.

Above:  List of PD workshops, locations, and directions.  

Dates for on-site PD will be listed on the posters at the bottom of the board.

Above:  Maggie, seated in front of the professional text shelves.  

Her meeting area for the kids is behind this shelf and books for their classroom library are on the opposite side of this tall shelf as well as in a lower set of shelves that run perpendicular to this one.  

This shelf breaks the room into two zones, one for kids and one for teachers.

Above:  Each teacher has a pocket to hold notecards.  Teachers can jot the titles of the professional books they need and place the notecard in their pocket so texts can be located and shared.

Above:  This is the shelf opposite the professional text shelf where Maggie was seated in the other photo.  These shelves contain baskets for series books as well as nonfiction topics.  

Maggie also has a few bins for mentor text to use in writing workshop as well as genre specific read aloud books she knows she wants to use throughout the year.

You can give your literacy room or coaching room a makeover too!  Here is how we started.  First, we asked a key question and we gathered lots of answers to it.

Question:  What do we want out of this space?

Answers:

• Meeting area for kids to gather with comfortable seating and an easel or smart board for teacher.
• Classroom library that supports the needs of the students and has clearly organized bins.
• Writing center with paper choices and revision tools that support the needs of the students and has clearly organized zones or buckets.
• Bulletin board to display student work.
• Tables for students to work independently and with partners.
• Folders and folder hold areas for students to keep their work and have access with independence.
• Bulletin board to post workshop dates and on-site PD notices.
• Bulletin board to display curriculum maps and units of study resources.
• Tables for teachers to gather with writing tools at the center.
• Bookshelves with professional texts for teachers and a bulletin board with pockets for teachers to jot the titles of the books they check out and take into their own classrooms.

Then, we divided the work into the zones, each took on tasks, and stuck true to our needs to have all the things we wanted in the room with no clutter.

I hope you enjoy your own classroom makeovers.  Have a super week everyone!