|
Students particpate in a Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop on a daily basis.
Our Reader’s Workshop is comprised of three elements: independent reading, guided reading and literature circles.
Independent reading: Students are reading independently with a self-selected literature book. We spend a great deal of time learning about different genres and exploring student interests. The goal of independent reading is for students will learn what types of genres they like to read and to continue to seek these types of books for pleasure.
Guided Reading: Often referred to as "reading groups", students work with the teacher on an appropriate ability based text. The goal of meeting in these small groups is to strengthen students reading and comprehension skills.
Literature Circles: Similar to guided reading, however, students have the chosen the text they are reading from a group pre-selected by the teacher. In these are small, mix-ability groups, students not only work on reading and comprehension skills, but also have the opportunity to read particular genres that interest them.
The goal of Writer’s Workshop is to familiarize students with particular writing genres while individually working on writing skills. Writing is viewed as a process. Students are taught to brainstorm, compose rough drafts, revise, edit and publish their work. During this process, students have one-on-one conferences with the teacher about their writing.
Some of the genres that may be explored during the year are:
o fables
o tall tales
o memoirs
o twisted fairytales
o fantasy
o informative writing
o responses to reading
o responding to test questions | 
