Reader's Workshop
Third grade classrooms use Good Habits, Great Readers materials during our Reading time.
Reading makes better readers! To start Reading Workshop, I teach a minilesson about things that successful readers do. These lessons range from strategies readers use to solve unknown words to how readers make connections to their life through their reading. After the minilesson, readers are expected to practice the skill I just finished teaching. During this time, readers are independently reading a book of their choice.
Readers in my room keep a Reading Notebook to collect their ideas, notes and writing about reading. They also 'buzz' or talk about their reading with a partner or group sharing their connections, predictions, inferences and more as they read.
During Independent Reading time, I have a chance to conference with individual students about their reading, what they like or don't like about a book and help with any tricky parts of a book. This is a great time to review the lessons we have been learning.
Reading makes better readers! To start Reading Workshop, I teach a minilesson about things that successful readers do. These lessons range from strategies readers use to solve unknown words to how readers make connections to their life through their reading. After the minilesson, readers are expected to practice the skill I just finished teaching. During this time, readers are independently reading a book of their choice.
Readers in my room keep a Reading Notebook to collect their ideas, notes and writing about reading. They also 'buzz' or talk about their reading with a partner or group sharing their connections, predictions, inferences and more as they read.
During Independent Reading time, I have a chance to conference with individual students about their reading, what they like or don't like about a book and help with any tricky parts of a book. This is a great time to review the lessons we have been learning.
- Guided Reading: Also during Reading Workshop, I take a group of 4-5 students and read a book with them at their 'instructional level'. That means that we are reading a book that would probably be too challenging for them on their own, but with teacher support, they are successful. This practice exposes them to new types of books, new text features and things that would be confusing or brand new for them that would cause them to not try to read the book.
Writer's Workshop
At the beginning of each writing hour, I teach a minilesson, modeling ways students can be better writers. We study published authors' work as well as our own to help us understand what makes good writing. When the lesson is finished, each student goes back to his/her desks and put the skill I just taught into practice. Students are being independent writers, thinking of their own ideas, drafting and revising their writing pieces. When each student is ready with their Revision Draft, I have a conference with that student about what he/she thinks should be revised. This is a time for students to shine, creating pieces that are truly their own. Writing Workshop is a great time for students to talk and share their wonderfully creative work.
- Writing Process:
- Exploring
- Find ideas to write about
- Use their Writer's Notebooks to look back on previous ideas (seeds)
- Discovery Draft
- Write all their thinking down, without thought to organization
- Revision Drafts
- Take the Discovery Draft and think about revisions to perform. Before they have a conference with the teacher, they will have worked on three revisions. Revisions range from organizing their piece into paragraphs, looking at the word choice, or how to paint a picture in the reader's mind.
- Final Draft
- Once the writer has revised their work, looked over it one more time and had a conference with the teacher, they write their final draft, the draft they think is their best work.
- Publishing
- If the writer wants to share this piece publicly, they need to edit the piece themselves and also have the teacher edit it with them. Our goal is to publish two pieces per quarter.
Spelling
Third grade classrooms use Sitton Spelling as the materials we use to address spelling. This program uses two types of words: Priority Words and Core Words.
* Priority Words are those that every third grader should know and have mastered. These are tested and are expected to be spelled correctly in their everyday writing.
* Core Words are new words introduced in a weekly spelling list. These words will be expected to be mastered after the week of practice and from then forward.
Sitton Spelling also focuses on one skill for the week. This practice skill is tested with the weekly spelling dictation test.
* Priority Words are those that every third grader should know and have mastered. These are tested and are expected to be spelled correctly in their everyday writing.
* Core Words are new words introduced in a weekly spelling list. These words will be expected to be mastered after the week of practice and from then forward.
Sitton Spelling also focuses on one skill for the week. This practice skill is tested with the weekly spelling dictation test.