Reading Workshop Updates

BECOMING AVID READERS

Our new reading unit builds on all of our previous units, but it especially reinforces that our kids are not just emerging readers- they are avid readers! This unit focuses on how the students are grown-up readers with their own strategies who can read independently. And, that they can read often and for long periods of time. We focus less on new skills, and more on making sure that what the children have learned has been internalized and automatic. We are making sure that kids are using their reading super powers and trying another one or two of them when the first one doesn’t work. We are also focusing on reading for accuracy, fluency and comprehension. This unit will continue to immerse the children in books, poetry and songs, but children will now be encouraged to take more responsibility in making decisions about what and how to read independently and with their reading partners. We will capitalize on our student’s reading knowledge including knowledge of letter-sound correspondence, comprehension, sight words and fluency.


Ways to prompt and support your child. You might say:

  • Check the picture and use the first letter of the word to help you.
  • Think about what's happening in the book right now and use the first letter of the word to help you.
  • Look through all of the sounds in the word to help you figure it out.
  • Does that look right and make sense?
  • Does that sound right and make sense?
  • Reread it so that is sounds right and makes sense.
  • Read that part in a smooth voice.
  • What happened in the story? What was the book about?


How Can You Support This Work At Home?

In addition to the Shared Reading Notebook, many students will begin to bring home books that are ‘Just Right’ for them as independent readers. Many of these books contain patterns i.e. ‘The cat can jump. The cat can run.’ You can support this reading at home by encouraging students to use their “pointer power” to point to each word as they read it and giving a brief book introduction i.e. “This is a book all about a cat. The first page says…. You read the rest.” Having your reader retell what happened in the book and/or their favorite part is an excellent support for building comprehension skills!You can also go on word hunts inside books → I’m looking for a word that starts with the sound….I see a snap word…When reading with your child, ask them to use their “picture power” to notice the pictures before reading the words. In most of the children’s books, the pictures will support their understandings of the text and tricky words.

Pointer Power: This power pushes students point to each word as they read. They should be giving one tap to each word, especially words that have multisyllables. Their knowledge of snap words will help them keep track of the words they are tapping. To support this work, we give our kids special pointer power tools such as finger lights or witch fingers. This is a fun tool to help them physically tap each word and keep that one-to-one matching as they become conventional readers.


Reread Power: This power gets students to read books over and over again. Each time they read the book, they might choose to read in a different way, such as reading in a whisper voice, singing it, or creating a beat. This is important to get their reading voices smoother and fluent. Reread power could also mean to go back to the beginning of a sentence and read it over again. This could help students when they get stuck on a tricky word.


Partner Power: Students can double up their pointer power by having one partner read while the other partner points, and both check that one word gets one tap. Partners also work together during partner reading time to give power reminders. They might remind them to use their picture power while reading.


Picture Power: This power pushes students to use pictures to help them predict and read unfamiliar words. We want them to search the picture to think about what makes sense.


Snap word Power: This power allows students to turn any word that they use a lot into a snap word. It becomes a snap word when they can look, read, spell, and write in a snap.


Sound Power: This power pushes readers to look at the first letter and say the first sounds to help them predict and read an unfamiliar word. This power helps kids look at the letters in an unfamiliar word.


Persistence Power: This is the last power that students get. This power teaches kids to never give up. Readers try one thing and then another when they are stuck. If one power doesn’t work, then they try another power.