Workshop Wednesday {Tricks & Treats of Reading Workshop}

This week Jivey has us sharing our "Tricks and Treats" of Reading Workshop.  {Love the play on words!}

Trick 1: Use activities or centers your students enjoy to keep them motivated.  My students this year love to read silently, I know I am blessed!  I asked my students' opinions and input on centers/stations and they all said they didn't like them.  {I was very thankful for this because I personally don't care for centers either.}  I set my expectations for silent reading, for example behavior, book choices, and AR goals, and told them if they did not meet these expectations then we would move to centers.  My students do WONDERFUL during silent reading time!

Trick 2: Use texts students enjoy. For small group and whole group instruction I choose stories that I know my students would be interested in.  We have been using Wonder as our read aloud and for instructional purposes.  We do not have a basal reader so we have to create all our lesson plans from scratch.  So far this year we have used Wonder, The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, and Body System Expository Text.

Trick 3: Use task cards in small group instruction.  Task cards are great for centers, scoot in whole group, AND small group instruction.  I love to use task cards to review CCS in small group so that I can quickly identify students who are struggling with the standard.  There are some AWESOME sets of reading task cards out there!

Trick 4: Use a timer.  We all know there isn't enough time in the day to get everything done!  I use a timer with my small groups to ensure I don't keep them too long.  It is very easy to get into a story, skill, or discussion and before you know it you only have five minutes left to pull another group.

Trick 5: Use a stop light.  I created this stop light this summer after a "pinsiration" pin.  When the light is on students are reminded that I am unavailable.  I haven't had to use it very much this year because I am not using centers and I have set the reading silently expectations. {I do use it through out the day, not just for Reading Workshop.}

Treat: Informational Text Student Anchor Charts.  Continuing the celebration of my one year of blogging today's FREEBIE is my Informational Text Student Anchor Charts.  These are great for whole group, independent practice, small groups, or centers.

Don't forget to stop by and enter a chance to win a "year's worth" of products!