Tips, Titles and Tools for Teachers
Resources for Reading and Writing Workshop
This newsletter includes a few new book recommendations, some posts and resources for Reciprocal Teaching comprehension strategies, as well as new blog posts from Two Writing Teachers to support our work with Units of Study! My hope is that this collection of resources and posts will support your work in reading and writing workshop.
Happy Reading!
Shelly
New Book Recommendations
Check out the New York Public Library's list of 100 Best Books for Kids from 2016!
Reading Comprehension Strategies
One of the high impact literacy strategies for comprehension is reciprocal teaching. Teaching these four reading strategies to your students through close reading, read aloud, CAFE and/or small group instruction can help improve their comprehension! Let me know if you would like support or materials for implementing these strategies in your classroom. I have a collection of resources to support you including graphic organizers, bookmarks and more!
Reciprocal teaching can even begin in kindergarten. This blog post shares a few ideas and materials for introducing these strategies in the primary grades. Close reading is the perfect time to begin introducing each of the Fab Four strategies to your readers.
You may want to check out the introduction to the reciprocal teaching professional book which explains the power behind this approach!
I highly recommend these prompts and questions for small group instruction!
Writing Resources for Units of Study
Conferring with "If...Then...Then...Then..." In Mind Blog post about how to give feedback in small steps to students using the "If/Then" approach from Units of Study.
The Freedom to Create Blog post about how Kathleen Sokolowski incorporated independent writing time beyond her Units of Study.
The Joys, Wonders and Challenges of On Demand Writing Blog post on the process, joys and challenges of our "on demand" writing prompts.
Record Keeping - Why and How Blog post on the importance of taking notes during writing conferences. I know many teachers at WES have been working to incorporate status of the class or a grid for notes from daily conferences. Your notes can be used to create small groups for instruction.
Self Assessment Blog post with tips for helps students to set goals and self assessing progress.
Writing Portfolios Blog post with questions and suggestions for creating portfolios with your writers. "Shoving a bunch of student writing into a folder and calling it a portfolio will not strengthen writers. The key to any portfolio system is reflection."
For more blog posts related to writing instruction, check out the Two Writing Teachers blog!
Shelly Moody
Atwood Primary School
Williams Elementary School
Email: smoody@rsu18.org
Twitter: @shelmoody