Ms. Fletcher

Becoming a stronger reader is the singlemost important thing you can do become better in all areas of school, and reading workshop is the best way I’ve found to help my students become stronger readers. It also happens to be quite enjoyable!

My daily goal for reading is for every student to get into the “reading zone.” The reading zone is when you feel like you’re “in” the story, or you feel like you really know one of the characters–you might even start to think like that character and have ideas about what the character should do next. 

Student choice, time to read, and real conversations about books are the three main parts of reading workshop. To find out more, keep… reading.

Student Choice

Student choice is the sacred, driving force of reading workshop, and you get to choose books that are ”just right” for you, books that will get you in the reading zone. If a book doesn’t take you to the reading zone, you have the right to abandon it.  You also have the right to read your favorite books more than once. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what kind of books you like to read, but I promise that once you find an author or a genre you like, it’ll be easy for you to get into the “reading zone” every day.  You can always borrow books from my classroom library and also feel free to visit the school library–Mrs. Thiele makes great recommendations.  You can also buy books from Scholastic each month.

Time to Read 

You’ll be relieved to know that I provide time in class for reading.  I have a few good reasons for this. First, although it would be wonderful to read at home, I know how busy things can be, and there often just isn’t time. Second, scientific research shows there is a direct correlation between time spent reading and the level of achievement in all school subjects. Basically, the more kids read, the higher grades they achieve in school. My final reason is selfish–when you read in class, I get to see what you’re reading and find out about the latest good books.  In addition to making time to read in class, we’ll take time to do book talks. Some of the book talks will happen during a pizza party you’ll earn by reading a certain number of books as a whole class.

Real Conversations about Books

You’ll be having real conversations about what you read.  This will replace literature circles, which you may have done in the past, and I’ll usually give you a conversation starter to get the discussion going. To help you get your thoughts organized, you’ll jot a few notes in your reading log, and then you’ll share with a buddy.  I like to eavesdrop while you’re doing this so that I can tell everyone some of the cool things I heard you talking about. Several of you might end up reading the same book at the same time, and if you’d like to have your own literature circle I can help you get that going. The main thing is to talk to each other about what you’re reading. 

Here is a break down of the story elements and literary devices you’ll be responding to and talking about:

STORY ELEMENTS:

• Character
• Setting
• Conflict
• Resolution
• Plot/Sub Plot
• Theme
• Mood
• Point of View

LITERARY DEVICES:

• simile
• metaphor
• idiom
• imagery
• exaggeration
• irony
• sarcasm
• humor
• dialogue
• analogy

Sometimes I’ll have you choose one of the prompts below for your reading log.  You’ll decide which prompt will let you write the best response. Please keep in mind that you can’t be wrong when you write responses in your reading log, so take risks and be honest.  I’m not too interested in reading a summary of the plot, instead, I want to know things like what you like and dislike, what seems confusing or strange to you, what you think is going to happen next, etc. I want to hear your voice.

I wonder what this means…
I really don’t understand this part…
I really like/dislike this idea because…
This character reminds me of somebody I know because…
This character reminds me of me because…
This character is like (name of the character) in (title of book) because…
I think this setting is important because…
This scene reminds me of a similar scene in (title of book) because…
I like/dislike this writing because…
This part is very realistic/unrealistic because…
I think the relationship between ______ and ______ is interesting because…
I like/dislike (name of character) because…
This situation reminds me of a similar situation in my own life. It happened when…
The character I most admire is ______ because…
If I were (name of character) at this point, I would…

I wish the author had included…
My opinion of the characters is…
My opinion of the illustrations, table and figures is…
As I read, I felt…
While I read I noticed…
I began to think…
I love the way…
I can’t believe…
I wonder why…
I noticed…
I think…
I observed…
I wonder…
If I were…
I’m not sure…
I felt sad when…
I like the way the author…
I wish that…
This made me think of…
I was surprised…
It seems like…
I’m not sure…
This story teaches…
I began to think of…