Reading Workshop at PS 118
Our approach to teaching reading is heavily influenced by our work with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP). Our standards-based balanced literacy approach to teaching reading has evolved and continues to evolve as teachers and administrators participate in ongoing professional development and do our own classroom-based research. We have developed unit plans and have mapped out the year in reading and writing. Copies of the curriculum maps (pacing calendars) for the entire school are available on our Google Drive. Each grade will revisit its calendar from time to time throughout the year to see if any revisions are necessary. We will make some revisions in our pacing, but overall, it appears our literacy curriculum is aligned to the common core standards. At 118, the expectations for teaching reading include the following:
➢ In all classrooms, teachers read aloud daily from chapter books and/or picture books. The read aloud time is an important teaching time when different reading strategies are modeled. During read aloud, the expectation is that children are not passive listeners, but rather are actively engaged in listening and responding to the text and practicing strategies that will help them in their independent or partner reading. In cases where the teacher reads aloud more than once a day, one of the read aloud times may be less interactive.
➢ Shared reading (with an enlarged text such as a big book, a poem on chart paper, or a section of text on a Promethean board or ELMO) happens daily in prekindergarten, kindergarten, and early first grade. It is used frequently in the rest of the grades as well.
➢ Readers Workshop happens daily in our kindergarten to fifth grade classrooms, although in kindergarten it may be brief on some days and longer on some days. The usual format for Reading Workshop is a mini-lesson; a time when children are reading (either independently, with partners, in reading centers, in book clubs, or in guided reading groups) and teachers are conferring or meeting with small groups; and a share time. The heart of the Readers Workshop is the time when children are engaged in reading. Both the mini-lesson and the share time should be brief, focused teaching times. Except in special cases (such as the need to accommodate the schedule of a push-in intervention teacher), Readers workshop happens in the morning in grades K-5.
➢ Independent and partner reading are an essential part of our Readers Workshop. From prekindergarten on, children have time to read (or, in pre kindergarten and kindergarten, look at) books on their own and with another student. This reading time is an important instructional time, and the teacher is doing a great deal of direct teaching through her/his conferring with students.
➢ Teachers come prepared to reading conferences with notes on children and their needs, and at times they may group children with similar needs in conferences. Increasingly teachers use “conferring toolkits” for more effective and efficient conferring. Teachers often refer to the Jen Serravallo book, The Reading Strategies Book, to plan for small group instruction and conferencing.
➢ In pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, it is appropriate for children to be looking at and talking about books that they cannot actually read, although once we get to January of kindergarten, we expect that children will also have “dot” books on their appropriate book level to read. Once children get to first grade, almost all of their independent and/or partner reading time is spent working on books that are at an appropriate level for them to read. In kindergarten and first grade (and sometimes in the upper grades), children have book bins, boxes, or bags where they keep 8-10 books they are working on. Children in grades 2 and up who do not have book boxes or bags should always have an independent reading book that they are working on that they keep in their desks.
➢ We use a “units of study” approach in teaching reading. It is expected that teachers will follow the reading pacing calendars that they developed. The TC curricular calendar gives very useful details on many of the units of study. In addition, all units of study are written and posted on the Google Drive by grade teams.
➢ Our goal is to have consistency across a grade and a logical sequence from grade to grade. Several grades have developed rubrics for different units of study that are shared across the grade. We also periodically have cross grade meetings where we review a unit that is done in various grades (such as character studies) and differentiate goals and lessons for the different grades.
➢ In our classrooms, we have a portion of our library in leveled books, with grades K, 1 and 2 having more leveled baskets than other grades. When we talk about leveling books, we mean assigning books a level based on difficulty. We use the system created by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell and described in several of their books including Guided Reading and Matching Books to Readers. Our interim assessments in literacy include running records in leveled texts (“TC Assessments,”) and parents are informed of their children’s’ book level in the report cards. Book levels are not absolute measures. For example, a child with a great deal of prior knowledge about snakes may read a higher level books about snakes than about electricity if s/he knows little about electricity. A first grader reading at a high level may be able to decode a T level book and even understand parts of it, but the subject matter might well be inappropriate. Book levels are, however, an essential guide and they help us to get children reading in appropriate books so that we can move them forward. Teachers are expected to develop a tracking system for their students’ levels that is uploaded and shared on the Google Drive.
In all of our classrooms, there are some opportunities for small group reading instruction that includes talking about books. This may take the form of reading centers, guided reading groups, and/or book clubs. (Note that now TCRWP is calling what we have referred to in the past as Reading Centers as Reading Clubs–see Kathy Collins’ book on Reading Centers/Clubs, Reading for Real.) Depending on the grade and the particular class, these structures may be in place the whole year or periodically. It is particularly important that struggling readers have ongoing, intensive teacher- directed instruction. A particularly efficient way to do this kind of instruction is through guided reading, and so the expectation is that all teachers will have their less proficient readers spend some time in guided reading groups. Struggling readers need to meet with a teacher at least two times a week, either in a small group or an individual conference, although some of these meetings may be brief.
Reading is all about making meaning, and students who do not comprehend what they read are not reading, but simply decoding. Our F/P Assessments include comprehension questions, so that children who can decode but not comprehend at a particular level cannot be considered to be reading at that level. We teach comprehension skills beginning in prekindergarten; children learn a variety of comprehension strategies through directed book talk. As they move up in the grades, they also use writing to help make meaning and to be held accountable for what they read.
We use the Reading Level Chart (located in the back of the handbook) for guidance on student’s goals throughout the year. Please see this chart for guidance.
Ongoing assessment is an essential aspect of our reading program. Teachers need to have a note-taking system where they keep track of what and how children are reading and what their instructional needs are. Teachers can choose their own ongoing record keeping system, but everyone must have a system that includes either a notebook, a clipboard, or a computerized record keeping system. Teachers must be aware of the level of the readers in their room throughout the year. Although the book level tracking sheet is submitted to STARS twice a year, teachers do informal assessments and move children up much more frequently.
Some of the books that guide us in our teaching of reading. include: Units of Study for Teaching Reading Grades 3-5 by Lucy Calkins and Kathleen Tolan; The Art of Teaching Reading by Lucy Calkins, (which is based partly on research at P.S. 321 and has many pictures of our students and teachers); Growing Readers: Units of Study for the Primary Classroom and Reading for Real, both by former 321 teacher Kathy Collins; Shades of Meaning by Donna Santman; On Solid Ground: Strategies for Teaching Reading K-3 by Sharon Taberski and Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension To Enhance Understanding by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis.; In the Company of Children by Joanne Hindley; Guided Reading by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, What Really Matters for Struggling Readers by Richard Allington, and Reading Strategies by Jen Serravallo.
In the early childhood grades, phonics and word work is an important part of our reading instruction. We will be trying the new TC phonics program in grades Kindergarten and First Grade.
➢ In all classrooms, teachers read aloud daily from chapter books and/or picture books. The read aloud time is an important teaching time when different reading strategies are modeled. During read aloud, the expectation is that children are not passive listeners, but rather are actively engaged in listening and responding to the text and practicing strategies that will help them in their independent or partner reading. In cases where the teacher reads aloud more than once a day, one of the read aloud times may be less interactive.
➢ Shared reading (with an enlarged text such as a big book, a poem on chart paper, or a section of text on a Promethean board or ELMO) happens daily in prekindergarten, kindergarten, and early first grade. It is used frequently in the rest of the grades as well.
➢ Readers Workshop happens daily in our kindergarten to fifth grade classrooms, although in kindergarten it may be brief on some days and longer on some days. The usual format for Reading Workshop is a mini-lesson; a time when children are reading (either independently, with partners, in reading centers, in book clubs, or in guided reading groups) and teachers are conferring or meeting with small groups; and a share time. The heart of the Readers Workshop is the time when children are engaged in reading. Both the mini-lesson and the share time should be brief, focused teaching times. Except in special cases (such as the need to accommodate the schedule of a push-in intervention teacher), Readers workshop happens in the morning in grades K-5.
➢ Independent and partner reading are an essential part of our Readers Workshop. From prekindergarten on, children have time to read (or, in pre kindergarten and kindergarten, look at) books on their own and with another student. This reading time is an important instructional time, and the teacher is doing a great deal of direct teaching through her/his conferring with students.
➢ Teachers come prepared to reading conferences with notes on children and their needs, and at times they may group children with similar needs in conferences. Increasingly teachers use “conferring toolkits” for more effective and efficient conferring. Teachers often refer to the Jen Serravallo book, The Reading Strategies Book, to plan for small group instruction and conferencing.
➢ In pre-kindergarten and kindergarten, it is appropriate for children to be looking at and talking about books that they cannot actually read, although once we get to January of kindergarten, we expect that children will also have “dot” books on their appropriate book level to read. Once children get to first grade, almost all of their independent and/or partner reading time is spent working on books that are at an appropriate level for them to read. In kindergarten and first grade (and sometimes in the upper grades), children have book bins, boxes, or bags where they keep 8-10 books they are working on. Children in grades 2 and up who do not have book boxes or bags should always have an independent reading book that they are working on that they keep in their desks.
➢ We use a “units of study” approach in teaching reading. It is expected that teachers will follow the reading pacing calendars that they developed. The TC curricular calendar gives very useful details on many of the units of study. In addition, all units of study are written and posted on the Google Drive by grade teams.
➢ Our goal is to have consistency across a grade and a logical sequence from grade to grade. Several grades have developed rubrics for different units of study that are shared across the grade. We also periodically have cross grade meetings where we review a unit that is done in various grades (such as character studies) and differentiate goals and lessons for the different grades.
➢ In our classrooms, we have a portion of our library in leveled books, with grades K, 1 and 2 having more leveled baskets than other grades. When we talk about leveling books, we mean assigning books a level based on difficulty. We use the system created by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell and described in several of their books including Guided Reading and Matching Books to Readers. Our interim assessments in literacy include running records in leveled texts (“TC Assessments,”) and parents are informed of their children’s’ book level in the report cards. Book levels are not absolute measures. For example, a child with a great deal of prior knowledge about snakes may read a higher level books about snakes than about electricity if s/he knows little about electricity. A first grader reading at a high level may be able to decode a T level book and even understand parts of it, but the subject matter might well be inappropriate. Book levels are, however, an essential guide and they help us to get children reading in appropriate books so that we can move them forward. Teachers are expected to develop a tracking system for their students’ levels that is uploaded and shared on the Google Drive.
In all of our classrooms, there are some opportunities for small group reading instruction that includes talking about books. This may take the form of reading centers, guided reading groups, and/or book clubs. (Note that now TCRWP is calling what we have referred to in the past as Reading Centers as Reading Clubs–see Kathy Collins’ book on Reading Centers/Clubs, Reading for Real.) Depending on the grade and the particular class, these structures may be in place the whole year or periodically. It is particularly important that struggling readers have ongoing, intensive teacher- directed instruction. A particularly efficient way to do this kind of instruction is through guided reading, and so the expectation is that all teachers will have their less proficient readers spend some time in guided reading groups. Struggling readers need to meet with a teacher at least two times a week, either in a small group or an individual conference, although some of these meetings may be brief.
Reading is all about making meaning, and students who do not comprehend what they read are not reading, but simply decoding. Our F/P Assessments include comprehension questions, so that children who can decode but not comprehend at a particular level cannot be considered to be reading at that level. We teach comprehension skills beginning in prekindergarten; children learn a variety of comprehension strategies through directed book talk. As they move up in the grades, they also use writing to help make meaning and to be held accountable for what they read.
We use the Reading Level Chart (located in the back of the handbook) for guidance on student’s goals throughout the year. Please see this chart for guidance.
Ongoing assessment is an essential aspect of our reading program. Teachers need to have a note-taking system where they keep track of what and how children are reading and what their instructional needs are. Teachers can choose their own ongoing record keeping system, but everyone must have a system that includes either a notebook, a clipboard, or a computerized record keeping system. Teachers must be aware of the level of the readers in their room throughout the year. Although the book level tracking sheet is submitted to STARS twice a year, teachers do informal assessments and move children up much more frequently.
Some of the books that guide us in our teaching of reading. include: Units of Study for Teaching Reading Grades 3-5 by Lucy Calkins and Kathleen Tolan; The Art of Teaching Reading by Lucy Calkins, (which is based partly on research at P.S. 321 and has many pictures of our students and teachers); Growing Readers: Units of Study for the Primary Classroom and Reading for Real, both by former 321 teacher Kathy Collins; Shades of Meaning by Donna Santman; On Solid Ground: Strategies for Teaching Reading K-3 by Sharon Taberski and Strategies that Work: Teaching Comprehension To Enhance Understanding by Stephanie Harvey and Anne Goudvis.; In the Company of Children by Joanne Hindley; Guided Reading by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell, What Really Matters for Struggling Readers by Richard Allington, and Reading Strategies by Jen Serravallo.
In the early childhood grades, phonics and word work is an important part of our reading instruction. We will be trying the new TC phonics program in grades Kindergarten and First Grade.
Word Study
Word Study/Phonics/Spelling is taught explicitly both within and outside of the Writing Workshop in a variety of age-appropriate ways in all grades. Our lower grades use the Teachers College phonics program. Upper grades use Words Their Way.
Other useful resources for word study include Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell’s Word Matters, which includes time-saving lists of such things as words with various consonant clusters, phonographs, alphabetized high frequency word lists, lists of suffixes and prefixes, etc, and Patricia Cunningham’s Phonics They Use; What’s a Schwa Sound Anyway? A Holistic Guide to Phonetics, Phonics, and Spelling by Sandra Wilde (theoretical background for teachers); Whole) to Part Phonics: How Children Learn to Read and Spell by Henrietta Dombey, Margaret Moustafa, and the staff of the Centre for Language in Primary Education and Faye Bolton and Diane Snowball’s books, Teaching Spelling: A Practical Resource; Ideas for Spelling; Spelling K-8, and Interactive Writing by Andrea McCarrier, Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas. Teachers should all have word lists for your grade (and the grades before you). If you need another copy, let Beth know. Children need to learn phonetic patterns as well as high frequency words that are not phonetically regular.
Part of our word study time is devoted to vocabulary development, and teachers have developed a variety of successful approaches to teaching vocabulary which are shared with grade colleagues. In teaching vocabulary, repetition is key. So, for example, if a teacher focuses on a particular word from a read aloud the word is used many times by teachers and children, children sometimes act out the word, and they “sign up” when they use the word in talk or writing. In general we do not feel that it is effective to combine vocabulary and spelling instruction as the words that children need to learn to spell correctly automatically are words that they already know the meaning of.
Other useful resources for word study include Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell’s Word Matters, which includes time-saving lists of such things as words with various consonant clusters, phonographs, alphabetized high frequency word lists, lists of suffixes and prefixes, etc, and Patricia Cunningham’s Phonics They Use; What’s a Schwa Sound Anyway? A Holistic Guide to Phonetics, Phonics, and Spelling by Sandra Wilde (theoretical background for teachers); Whole) to Part Phonics: How Children Learn to Read and Spell by Henrietta Dombey, Margaret Moustafa, and the staff of the Centre for Language in Primary Education and Faye Bolton and Diane Snowball’s books, Teaching Spelling: A Practical Resource; Ideas for Spelling; Spelling K-8, and Interactive Writing by Andrea McCarrier, Gay Su Pinnell and Irene Fountas. Teachers should all have word lists for your grade (and the grades before you). If you need another copy, let Beth know. Children need to learn phonetic patterns as well as high frequency words that are not phonetically regular.
Part of our word study time is devoted to vocabulary development, and teachers have developed a variety of successful approaches to teaching vocabulary which are shared with grade colleagues. In teaching vocabulary, repetition is key. So, for example, if a teacher focuses on a particular word from a read aloud the word is used many times by teachers and children, children sometimes act out the word, and they “sign up” when they use the word in talk or writing. In general we do not feel that it is effective to combine vocabulary and spelling instruction as the words that children need to learn to spell correctly automatically are words that they already know the meaning of.
Writing Workshop at PS 118
At P.S. 118, we follow the TCRWP units of study for writing.. Our expectation is that all Kindergarten-Fifth Grade classes have Writers Workshop four to five times a week. The usual format for a Writers Workshop is a mini-lesson, children writing and the teacher conferring, and a share time. Predictability of structures is an important aspect of writing time. Over the past couple of years we have paid close attention to what we do when students don’t produce the work that is expected of them. We need to hold them accountable and to have structures in place to address this. In addition, we are moving toward helping children develop more independence during Writers Workshop. Although we continue to have genre studies that each grade is responsible for, we are also building in more “open genres” or independent writing cycles. An additional goal is to have children move through the writing cycle at their own pace at least during some units of study, so that some will be revising while others are publishing and then beginning a new piece. We also save student writing periodically to evaluate it as part of our focus on using assessment to guide instruction and we duplicate some student writing to use as mentor pieces. The following are some of our expectations for teaching writing at P.S. 118:
➢ In grades K-1, children keep their writing in folders. These folders should have current work in them. Completed work should be looked at by teachers and filed in a separate folder or envelope and used for assessment purposes. Work should be sent home at the end of each writing unit, but selected pieces should be saved in the portfolio three times a year (see Portfolios above).
➢ In grades 2-5, children keep Writers’ Notebooks. Some second grade teachers begin the year with one cycle using a folder before starting notebooks, but by late fall, all second graders should be using Writers’ Notebooks. These notebooks should go home at least once a week (ideally more) , so that children get the idea that these notebooks are an important part of their lives. Depending on the part of the writing cycle that students are in, they may or may not be writing daily in their notebooks, but they should be used regularly during much of the year. It is essential that children learn from the first day of school that every writer's notebook entry must be dated.
➢ As our curriculum map indicates, all Kindergarten through fifth grade classes will do some genre studies, where all children are writing in a particular genre (such as realistic fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.). When they are not doing genre studies, children have choices about which genre to write in. Periodically classes may do other kinds of writing studies--such as a craft study. Independent writing projects are important in all grades.
➢ We encourage writing across the curriculum as well as during Writers Workshop, and especially in the upper grades, there are times when the focus of Writers Workshop overlaps with content area studies.
➢ We expect children to publish their writing frequently, although what it means to have a“published piece” varies by grade and study. Kindergarten “publishing” can mean simply creating a finished piece with a cover and some minor revisions. Publishing (in all grades) generally ends with some kind of a celebration, which might be very simple (children reading their pieces to partners) or more complex (a celebration with parents invited and refreshments served). Most teachers use a kind of “museum” format for celebrations, where children sit with their pieces and visitors walk around and read the pieces and make written comments. It is not particularly productive to have children read long pieces out loud, though this kind of a celebration may work well for poetry or if children select just a favorite paragraph or line to read.
➢ Teachers come prepared to writing conferences with notes on children and their needs, and at times they may group children with similar needs in conferences. Increasingly teachers use “conferring tool kits” for more effective and efficient conferring.
➢ WE RECOMMEND THAT CHILDREN IN GRADES 2-5 KEEP A RECORD OF THEIR PUBLISHED PIECES that can go in the portfolio.
➢ Published pieces should be displayed or in the library area for a while; some can be sent home and some can go in the portfolio.
➢ At P.S. 118 we value both the creative aspect of writing and the need for conventions that make our writing readable to others. See pacing calendar for information on the conventions that are taught on each grade level.
➢ The TC writing has excellent details on many of the units of study that we teach, as do Lucy Calkins published Units of Study in Writing (one set for lower grades and one set for upper grades). The Workshop Help series of brief books on teaching writing (by Lucy Calkins and members of the TCRWP) are very useful and include Teaching Second Grade Writers, Reaching Struggling Writers, and Teaching Persuasive Writing K-2 and Jen Serravallo’s book The Reading The Writing Strategies Book. Other valuable resources include Lucy Calkins, The Art of Teaching Writing; Katie Wood Ray, Wondrous Words; Carl Anderson, Strategic Writing Conferences; Carl Anderson, How’s It Going: A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers; Carl Anderson, Assessing Writers; Lucy Calkins, Amanda Hartman, Zoe Ryder White, One to One: The Art of Conferring with Young Writers; Joanne Hindley, In the Company of Children. Several former P.S. 321 teachers have written books on writing including Colleen Cruz, Independent Writing: One Teacher–Thirty-Two Needs, Topics, and Plans; and Stephanie Parsons, First Grade Writers: Units of Study to Help Children Plan, Organize, and Structure Their Ideas. Some of these titles have been given to teachers; others are available for borrowing from the Teacher Resource Room.
➢ In grades K-1, children keep their writing in folders. These folders should have current work in them. Completed work should be looked at by teachers and filed in a separate folder or envelope and used for assessment purposes. Work should be sent home at the end of each writing unit, but selected pieces should be saved in the portfolio three times a year (see Portfolios above).
➢ In grades 2-5, children keep Writers’ Notebooks. Some second grade teachers begin the year with one cycle using a folder before starting notebooks, but by late fall, all second graders should be using Writers’ Notebooks. These notebooks should go home at least once a week (ideally more) , so that children get the idea that these notebooks are an important part of their lives. Depending on the part of the writing cycle that students are in, they may or may not be writing daily in their notebooks, but they should be used regularly during much of the year. It is essential that children learn from the first day of school that every writer's notebook entry must be dated.
➢ As our curriculum map indicates, all Kindergarten through fifth grade classes will do some genre studies, where all children are writing in a particular genre (such as realistic fiction, nonfiction, poetry, etc.). When they are not doing genre studies, children have choices about which genre to write in. Periodically classes may do other kinds of writing studies--such as a craft study. Independent writing projects are important in all grades.
➢ We encourage writing across the curriculum as well as during Writers Workshop, and especially in the upper grades, there are times when the focus of Writers Workshop overlaps with content area studies.
➢ We expect children to publish their writing frequently, although what it means to have a“published piece” varies by grade and study. Kindergarten “publishing” can mean simply creating a finished piece with a cover and some minor revisions. Publishing (in all grades) generally ends with some kind of a celebration, which might be very simple (children reading their pieces to partners) or more complex (a celebration with parents invited and refreshments served). Most teachers use a kind of “museum” format for celebrations, where children sit with their pieces and visitors walk around and read the pieces and make written comments. It is not particularly productive to have children read long pieces out loud, though this kind of a celebration may work well for poetry or if children select just a favorite paragraph or line to read.
➢ Teachers come prepared to writing conferences with notes on children and their needs, and at times they may group children with similar needs in conferences. Increasingly teachers use “conferring tool kits” for more effective and efficient conferring.
➢ WE RECOMMEND THAT CHILDREN IN GRADES 2-5 KEEP A RECORD OF THEIR PUBLISHED PIECES that can go in the portfolio.
➢ Published pieces should be displayed or in the library area for a while; some can be sent home and some can go in the portfolio.
➢ At P.S. 118 we value both the creative aspect of writing and the need for conventions that make our writing readable to others. See pacing calendar for information on the conventions that are taught on each grade level.
➢ The TC writing has excellent details on many of the units of study that we teach, as do Lucy Calkins published Units of Study in Writing (one set for lower grades and one set for upper grades). The Workshop Help series of brief books on teaching writing (by Lucy Calkins and members of the TCRWP) are very useful and include Teaching Second Grade Writers, Reaching Struggling Writers, and Teaching Persuasive Writing K-2 and Jen Serravallo’s book The Reading The Writing Strategies Book. Other valuable resources include Lucy Calkins, The Art of Teaching Writing; Katie Wood Ray, Wondrous Words; Carl Anderson, Strategic Writing Conferences; Carl Anderson, How’s It Going: A Practical Guide to Conferring with Student Writers; Carl Anderson, Assessing Writers; Lucy Calkins, Amanda Hartman, Zoe Ryder White, One to One: The Art of Conferring with Young Writers; Joanne Hindley, In the Company of Children. Several former P.S. 321 teachers have written books on writing including Colleen Cruz, Independent Writing: One Teacher–Thirty-Two Needs, Topics, and Plans; and Stephanie Parsons, First Grade Writers: Units of Study to Help Children Plan, Organize, and Structure Their Ideas. Some of these titles have been given to teachers; others are available for borrowing from the Teacher Resource Room.
