Language Arts is broken down into 3 main blocks every day:
-Block 1 - Phonics, Word Work & Discover Reading
-Block 2 - Reader's Workshop
-Block 3 - Writer's Workshop
Reader's Workshop is a cherished time everyday. This model consists of a whole-group mini lesson in which the teacher models a thinking strategy followed by ample time for independent reading in which students practice using phonics and thinking strategies to dive deeper into reading. There is no better way for a child to become a reader than to give him time to actually read everyday. Independent reading time will consist of students reading texts and responding to their reading based on the strategy taught. It is during this time that I confer with individuals or small groups to differentiate reading instruction for every unique learner in our class. We are lucky to have Mrs. Cole, our English-Language teacher, in our classroom during Reader's Workshop everyday and she also confers one on one or with small groups during independent reading time. Students will be reading choice-picked and just-right books (with Mrs. Gayle's guidance and suggestions) based on reading-level and interest. This allows for me to meet the student where they are at as reader's and provide individual support and challenges. It is during this time that students will also be responding to their reading in their reading journals. The workshop will end with a quick sharing time where students can participate and reflect on what they learned and noticed as readers during the day's reading time.
Below is an overview of what reader's workshop will look like during the year including the thinking and comprehension strategies that will be taught throughout the year:
Our language arts block also includes:
-Phonics & Discovery Reading
-Block 1 - Phonics, Word Work & Discover Reading
-Block 2 - Reader's Workshop
-Block 3 - Writer's Workshop
Reader's Workshop is a cherished time everyday. This model consists of a whole-group mini lesson in which the teacher models a thinking strategy followed by ample time for independent reading in which students practice using phonics and thinking strategies to dive deeper into reading. There is no better way for a child to become a reader than to give him time to actually read everyday. Independent reading time will consist of students reading texts and responding to their reading based on the strategy taught. It is during this time that I confer with individuals or small groups to differentiate reading instruction for every unique learner in our class. We are lucky to have Mrs. Cole, our English-Language teacher, in our classroom during Reader's Workshop everyday and she also confers one on one or with small groups during independent reading time. Students will be reading choice-picked and just-right books (with Mrs. Gayle's guidance and suggestions) based on reading-level and interest. This allows for me to meet the student where they are at as reader's and provide individual support and challenges. It is during this time that students will also be responding to their reading in their reading journals. The workshop will end with a quick sharing time where students can participate and reflect on what they learned and noticed as readers during the day's reading time.
Below is an overview of what reader's workshop will look like during the year including the thinking and comprehension strategies that will be taught throughout the year:
- Setting a foundation of reader's workshop and building reading stamina
- Studying mentors to build characteristics of good readers
- Activating and building upon our reading schema
- Making inferences to analyze characters, setting, plot, and theme
- Visualizing and looking at sensory images
- Determining what is important in our books and in our world
- Determining the main idea and supporting details in nonfiction texts
- Synthesizing our thoughts to create something new
Our language arts block also includes:
-Phonics & Discovery Reading
- Phonics is roughly 30 minutes a day but is also intertwined into our reader's and writer's workshop time everyday. Phonics usually includes a focused, whole-group lesson followed by real reading in which students identify and use the phonics strategies that were just taught while reading real books. Your child may refer to this time as Discovery Reading. During Discovery Reading, I work one on one or with small groups to further help with whichever phonics strategy we are currently working on in order to build decoding strategies and fluency. Once students are proficient at a specific phonics skill, we have Word Work Centers which help to solidify specific phonics skills. These may include magnetic letters, using pipe-cleaners or play dough to form sounds and words, stamping words or sight words, quick sight word practice, etc.
- Weekly news and current events for 1st graders in the form of magazines which helps to deepen thinking, make connections to the world and teach non-fiction text features
- Our writing time will primarily be based around Lucy Calkin's Units of Writing for 1st Grade. I will be using a Writer's Workshop Model where kids will spend the majority of their time practicing writing after watching me model and craft writing strategies and lessons while using mentor texts from a variety of successful authors. My hope is to instill a love of writing and story-telling. We will focus on three main writing units: narrative (small-moment) writing, informative writing, and opinion writing. We will touch on fairy tales and imaginative writing as well later in the year.