ESL Toolbelt
April Newsletter
Balanced Literacy-Reader's Workshop
Check out the brace map below to see the parts of Reader's Workshop:
Shared Reading
Shared reading is a whole group activity using enlarged text (big book or text enlarged by the document camera). Teachers use shared reading to teach fluency, vocabulary, conventions of print (including grammar and punctuation), and types of language (sensory, descriptive, figurative, rhyming).
Children of all ages (yes...even 5th graders!!!) enjoy listening to stories read aloud by their teacher. Pick a novel and read a chapter to your class every day (5 minutes). Read a poem and allow students to make inferences. Read a short story that you liked to listen to as a child. Read an article of a newspaper that you found really interesting from the weekend and discuss what they learned. The possibilities are endless and your students will gain so much!
Things to remember while you are reading text aloud:
1) Preview the text to make sure it is worth reading to your class.
2) Engage your students in the reading. Don't just read the story and move on. Ask probing questions, have students make connections, predictions, and inferences.
3) Talk about story elements.
4) After reading, end with an oral or written response.
Although reading aloud sounds easy, there are many components that make it truly meaningful. It is an important component that you should include in your reading block during the day.
Watch the video below for a 5 day shared reading lesson plan idea (and yes...this can even be adapted for 4th and 5th grade students. You just have to be intentional about the text you choose).
Interactive Read Aloud
Your whole group lesson should be about 20 minutes. Use non-fiction text to incorporate Social Studies. You will create multiple anchor charts (strategies, text features, author's purpose, and more) that can be displayed and/or place in a class book for future reference.