Nearly every Halloween in the classroom has seen me running to the library during my conference period to beg the librarian for a book that would satisfy my student’s request that we do something “scary.” Coming up short on a day like Halloween is like looking into your kids eyes on Christmas morning as you explain that you just didn’t make room in your schedule for presents this year. So once again, I’ve armed myself with a holiday mini unit. This Halloween unit is flexible enough to blend easily with whatever I did in reading workshop on October 30, but festive enough to scratch that Halloween itch. Here’s a peek…
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What You Need to Know About Deep Reading
This is the third in a series of posts about Maryanne Wolf’s Reader, Come Home. You can read the introductory post and find links to other posts in the series here. “It takes years for deep reading processes to be formed, and as a society we need to be…vigilant about their development in our young from a very early age. It takes daily vigilance by us, the expert readers of our society to choose to expend the extra milliseconds needed to maintain deep reading over time.” -maryanne wolf, Reader, come home Deep reading comes down to time. Do we contribute the time and focus necessary to understand an author’s argument, to be…
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Real World Reading Conferences: A Flexible Plan for Reading Conferences
Reading conferences tend to get lost in the shuffle. When your reading block is too short, your roster too full, and your attention too scattered, squeezing in a short conference can seem impossible. Still, we know reading conferences are one of the best ways to provide individualized teaching, encourage good reading habits, and remind students that we care about their reading lives. So while I can’t offer you more time, more attention or a smaller class, I do have a handy freebie to help you eeeeek out a few reading conferences every now and then. Before we get to that though, what is a reading conference? What is a Reading…
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The Role of Inquiry in Genre Study
Inquiry is one of those things we know is good for students, but sometimes avoid because it seems like more work. I remember being very “pro inquiry” as a student teacher and slipping into more of the “demonstration” camp once I was an actual teacher. Inquiry brings to mind more materials, time and uncertainty than sit-and-get methods. Once again, enter genre study. Before, I hadn’t thought much about inquiry in regard to reading (it was mostly a “science thing” in my mind). But Fountas and Pinnell taught us an inquiry approach to genre that was structured, engaging and low-prep. Here’s how it works: Genre Immersion: Students read examples of the…
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How Genre Study Saved My Reading Workshop from “Grab Bag” Teaching
During my first year of teaching I had one crowning achievement—my students read independently each day and responded to a reading prompt while I led guided reading groups. This sounds simple, but it was a huge feat for me. I remember the first time I looked up from a guided reading group to see all my students reading—really, really reading. Like chuckling along with Diary of a Wimpy Kid, eyes wide over The Westing Game reading. It was a good moment. But once our workshop routines were established I felt a bit…lost. I’d been so focused on establishing routines during the first 20 days that when day 21 rolled around…
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How Do You Feel? The Mood Meter + A Vocabulary Challenge
Like I mentioned, I’ve been inspired by Marc Brackett’s book Permission to Feel. In the book he points out that most of us have a pretty puny vocabulary when it comes to emotions. Beyond “sad, glad, mad” we’re lost, and so we usually just stick to “fine.” Brackett suggests several tools for enhancing our emotional vocabulary. The more words we have to describe emotion, the better we become at understanding emotion. One tool is the mood meter: The mood meter is composed of four quadrants. Each quadrant corresponds to high/low energy and pleasantness/unpleasantness: Red: High Energy + Unpleasant Emotions that are fear or anger-related belong in this quadrant. Blue: Low…
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Visualize Your Ideal Reading Block Using the Time Management Matrix
A Time Management Matrix helps you prioritize tasks that are most aligned with your long-term goals. This leads to progress toward those goals and a sense of satisfaction. The matrix is a great way to organize your own time, but what about your reading block? The Time Management Matrix (Eisenhower Decision Matrix) can help you answer these questions about your reading block: How do I want students to spend their time? What do I want them to do daily? What should they do weekly? Monthly? What prevents them from meaningful reading, writing, etc? How can I support students through routines, expectations, and preparedness? Here’s how the Time Management Matrix might…
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About
Hi, I’m Janille. A few years ago I swapped my classroom for a nursery, but I’ve yet to kick the teaching “bug.” My children sleep from approximately 1:00-3:00 each afternoon, and I use that time to create materials for my imaginary classroom your classroom. I’ve taught third and fifth grade with a focus on reading. I love seeing students develop a reading life through a vibrant, engaging reading workshop. While reading workshop is great, it can also be overwhelming. Most of my resources are meant to help teachers make dynamic teaching more manageable. Most of the materials you’ll find on this blog and in my TpT store will fall into these categories: Reading Workshop: Materials…
