Reader's Workshop

I have just finished reading the article "Try Reading Workshop In Your Classroom", by Kathleen Swift and she discusses the benefits of Reading Workshop compared to Basal Reading. I have to say that I am sold on Reading Workshop, based on the research she did on both. Reading Workshop fosters growth in reading and enthusiasm for reading. I cannot wait to teach Reading Workshop in my future classroom!
How do I envision Reading Workshop? Well, let me see. In this scenario I am a teacher in first grade and I am ready to do Reading Workshop with my little friends.  First, I will start with a mini lesson. For this mini lesson, my focus will be on relating the text to self.  I will talk for about 5-10 minutes about something I just read in the newspaper.  It was an article about a dog who was lost and then reunited with his family.  I will talk about how that article made me remember a time when my dog, Sammy, was lost and how worried I was at the time.  I will talk about who found Sammy and what it felt like when we were reunited. I will then read a story to the class, and ask them to listen for something in this story that ever happened to them. As I am reading the story, I will occasionally stop reading and say: "Hmm, that reminds me of ....", to model to the students that a good reader stops to make connections.  After I finish reading the story, I will ask the children if they heard anything in the story that reminded them of something that ever happened to them. They can share these stories with the class.
When the mini lesson is over, the children will get the books they are reading. The books they are reading have been chosen by the students, not by me. This way, the children will be reading books they want to read.  This will motivate and engage them.  I will ask the children to make connections to their books, like we did in the mini lesson.  After they read, they will write in their reflection journal on the connections they made.  They will share these connections with the class or with a partner at the end of Reading Workshop.
While the children are reading independently, I will call homogeneous groups to the table for Guided Reading. This is the perfect time for me to help small groups of readers work on different skills.  This small group instruction is beneficial for students as well as for the teacher, since it tells the teacher exactly what the students are struggling with.
I think Reading Workshop is so successful because the students are choosing their own books to read.  This way there are no 'good' groups and 'low' groups, and all students are reading together.  By choosing their own books, the students are more invested in reading.  They get a comment from the teacher after each entry, which I think is very powerful.  I am a college student and I am still looking for comments from my professors when I get my papers back!
Reading Workshop sets children up for reading success and instills a love for reading, which will hopefully last a lifetime!

Language Arts Memories

My earliest memories of language arts experiences take me back a long way, to a different time and place.  To a time of innocence, excitement, imagination and wonder. To a place called the Netherlands.

I am nine years younger than my sister, Odile.  It was just the two of us, and our parents. My dad was born in the southern part of Netherlands, a region that used its own dialect.  It was my first 'language', and I did not learn Dutch until I went to Kindergarten. To this day my family still only speaks Maastrichts to each other; it is our language of 'home'.  My mom was Belgian and, although she was from the Flemish speaking part of Belgium, she had an affinity for the French language, and she peppered her conversations with French, much to the delight of our Dutch speaking friends.  She had a flair for drama and she drew people to her with her joie de vivre.  She did not read to me, like the mothers of my friends did. She recited poetry, and she did it with so much passion, that she left me in tears more often than not.  My sister still remembers many of these poems by heart, and recites them sometimes. It brings me back to the times I would sit on my knees in front of my mother, asking her to please tell me the story again. "No", she would say, "because you will cry again." "I promise you I won't cry, mama! Please tell it to me again!"  She would start the story and had me in tears in no time!                     

My exposure to reading came from my sister. To this day, I can still remember her sitting in the big red chair we had. She would be all curled up in it, have a bag of licorice next to her, a cup of tea on the little table next to her and she would be happy as a clam, reading.  To me it seemed like you could shoot a canon off in front of her, and she wouldn't even notice.  It seemed like she was in a whole other world, detached from us, totally engrossed.   It fascinated me. Watching her enjoy herself with books is what drove me to learn how to read. I wanted to do that too!

Many children in 2014 are familiar with letters in Kindergarten. A few will even know how to read.  For me, formal reading instruction did not start until first grade.  Reading was taught by using a 'letterdoos' (box with letters). The letters were printed on small rectangles of plastic and organized in their own little spaces. The sounds that consisted of multiple vowels had their own space as well. The teacher would write the word we were learning on the black board with chalk and we had to replicate it.  We did so by putting the letters of the word  in order on a 'leesplankje' (reading shelf).  The teacher would then walk around the room, check if we spelled them right and then write down another word. When we were done with spelling the teacher would caution us to make sure we put each letter back in its appropriate little space, so the letterdoos would be ready for the next time.
                                                                                                              

Once we learned how to spell words we were told that writing would be next.  I remember that I was so excited to learn how to write! The first few times we used lined paper and a pencil, but we soon moved on to fountain pens. Yes, I learned how to write print in first grade using a fountain pen! I even used blotting paper after I wrote. Every child had a piece of blotting paper, which has the consistency of tissue paper.  After we wrote a word we had to use the blotting paper and gently pat the word dry.  The ink from the fountain pen was wet, and if you rubbed your hand over the just written word it would smudge and ruin your work.  Neatness counted as much as penmanship, which I loved!  Every letter had its own symmetry and I wanted to make them all perfect.  It gave me pleasure to look at a page full of letters, proudly standing straight. After we mastered the printing we moved on to script in second grade.  This was a whole new way of writing the letters of the alphabet: graceful and elegant.  At one point the teacher told us that we could not pick up the fountain pen until we finished writing the word. This took all the concentration I could muster and by the time I finished the word my tongue was sticking out between my lips and my hand was cramped from holding the pen too tight. I loved it!
My elementary school years were the best years.  They were full of excitement of newly learned skills which I was proud to use. Not only did I love to write, but I loved to read as well.  My favorite books were series.  I think that was because I always felt bad when a book ended and if I read a series then the story would continue and I would not have to say goodbye to the characters.  My love of reading stopped for a while when I was in high school because we had to read fifteen books in Dutch, twelve in English, and ten in French and German.  I started to dread reading. Not until I finished high school did I start to love reading again. Now I can't wait to start a new book, sit in my big, red chair with a bag of licorice and be in my own little world for a while.

Differentiating Instruction

"How will I be able to accommodate different learners in my classroom?"  An effective teacher needs to make sure that all students in her class are learning, regardless of learning styles.  There are children who learn orally and need the spoken word to be able to absorb information.  I know that I need to write stuff down in order to remember.  There are children who need to move around a lot and there are children who learn visually; they need to see what they need to learn.  Then, we need to also look at which level the children are: who is a non-reader and needs basic instruction, who is an emergent reader and is able to match sounds to letters, and who is able to read?  How to accommodate all these different styles is what makes teaching challenging and rewarding.  

I am using a Kindergarten class with twenty students during a reading block as my example.  How will I differentiate instruction? By setting up stations around the room, at which four or five children at a time will be working.

For example, I just read the story "The Hungry Thing" by Jan Slepian and the stations will have activities relating to this story.   The groups will be set up in a semi heterogeneous fashion.  The children I will group together will be working at different levels, but close enough so there will not be an enormous difference.  I believe this will benefit all students, because if the levels of the children are too far apart, then the lower level children would be leaning too heavily on the higher level children. The higher level children are not learning as much as they would if they were with children who were close to their level.

One of my literacy stations will be a listening station. At this listening station the children can listen to the book "The Hungry Thing", using headphones. The book is available at this station as well, so the children can follow along in the book.  Some children will look at the pictures only, some will look at the printed words, and they all will work on turning the pages from left to right.

Another station is the "lunch bag station".  Here the children will make up their own lunch bags, containing different items.  The purpose here is for the children to cut out pictures from magazines of food items and put them into their lunch bags. They then have to think of words that rhyme with the items they cut out. Let's say the child cuts out a picture of a piece of cheese. She would have to think of a word that rhymes with 'cheese'. After she cuts out the pictures and puts them in her lunch bag, she will share with a partner what she has in her lunch bag. When asked what she has in her lunch bag, the child will say: "In my lunch bag I have a piece of meese."  The other child then has to guess what is really in the lunch bag, that rhymes with meese.  The higher level students will come up with bigger, more complicated rhyming words, and the lower level students will keep their rhyming words simple.

The "Read Around The Room" station is not a stationary station and allows for movement.  Each child gets a special pointer.  With this pointer the child will walk around the room and point to labels he sees around the room, then find a word that rhymes with that word.  This still ties in to our theme of the day, rhyming, and they become aware that you can rhyme any word, even if it is with a silly non-existing one!

The book "The Hungry Thing" is available at another station: the Reading Station.  This is where the children sit shoulder to shoulder with a partner, and read the story to each other. Some children might retell the story by just looking at the pictures, while others will try to read the words.  

One of the stations is the "Teacher Station", and this is where the guided reading takes place. At this station the teacher does not use "The Hungry Thing", but uses the Guided Reading leveled books that the children are working on.  This station is homogeneous: the students are all reading the same book.    The teacher pulls children out of their groups to read at her table.  At this station the teacher can work with the children on their comprehension.

Differentiating instruction in the classroom is crucial to the success of all children. It keeps students interested and challenged.  Differentiation keeps learning interesting and stimulating. It encourages the children to do their best and it empowers them. And isn't that what each teacher wants for their children?

Dreaming about the ideal classroom

If I could set up my ideal classroom, and money was no object, what would it look like?  This question has kept me occupied for the past several days.  The more I think about it, the longer my wish list becomes. What kind of an environment do I want to create?  I want to accommodate all children, with their varying interests.  Some children love to read, some like to perform, some like science, and some like problem solving.  I want children to be excited about learning and that starts with the right environment.  Here is what I came up with for my ideal Kindergarten classroom.

I would like to have three teachers in the classroom.  One 'main' teacher, and two supporting teachers.  I think well qualified and motivated people are so important in supporting children in their education. More adults in the classroom means more help for children who need the extra help.  Extra adults can also help in setting up for certain activities, problem solve with computers or run a small group activity.

 My library will be quite extensive.  I will have different level books, as well as different genres.  And my book corner will consist of a small, child sized couch, two child sized comfy chairs and several bean bag chairs.  It will have a rug in the middle and some cozy lighting.  The book corner will be so inviting! It will encourage children to pick up a book and settle down to read.  I hope this will be the foundation for them to start to love reading!  The children can also opt to sit and listen to a story in the book corner. They can do this by using one of the five available iPads and the headphones. This book corner will also serve as the "quiet area".  Everyone needs to be "away from it all" for a little while, to recharge their batteries, and this will serve that purpose as well.

I will have a space available where children can play dress up and perform.  It will include different kind of costumes, from police officer uniforms, to fairy dresses.  A full length mirror will be hung up, so the children can identify with the character they are trying to portray.  I have been in several classrooms, and these mirrors are always missing. This is so sad.  Wouldn't you want to know what you looked like after you dressed up?  I hope this dress up/performance area will serve as the setting for many plays.  Plays the children think up themselves and plays of books we read.

Children love to play 'house', so I will have a miniature house set up.  The house will have a kitchen, a living room and a bed room, all with the appropriate size furniture and accessories.  Next to the miniature house will be the 'grocery store', complete with cash register, money, plastic groceries, and a little shopping cart.

The art center will take up another area of the room.  It will have easels, as well as tables.  I will have paints available for the children, in all the colors of the rainbow, not just red, yellow, blue, brown and black! The children can also sit at art tables and glue, cut, stamp and clay to their hearts' content.  This is a classroom for exploration!




This exploration will take us outside the classroom as well. You see, the classroom has large windows

and a door that leads to the courtyard.  This courtyard is where we will learn about nature: we will plant flowers and vegetables. We will do research on insects and birds, observe them and report on them.  The courtyard will be our own "science laboratory"!

The reports we write will be done on our computers.  There will be five computers in my classroom and a color printer.  The children will learn keyboard skills, write, learn and play on the computers.  Reports and written pieces can be printed on the color printers and hung up in the classroom. By the end of the school year they will all have their own portfolio, which documents their growth in Kindergarten.  We can also stay in touch with each family through a monthly blog, in which we will tell moms and dads what has been going on in the classroom that month.  We will post pictures,  do interviews, tell about our favorite books and report on what is going on in our science laboratory.

From observing a third grade class for a previous class, I noticed how versatile the Smart Board is and I would definitely want to have one in my classroom.  The smart board engages children and keeps their interest.  The lessons become much more interesting because the teacher is able to use all sorts of graphics.  It is interactive, fun, user friendly and can be used to teach everything.

For math, my students will have access to many different manipulatives.  They can measure, sort, count, and make patterns.  I will have beads available for counting, cups for measuring, dice for counting, and blocks for patterns.  There will be puzzles available for those who like to problem solve, and geo boards for making shapes and measuring. Math games will be available on the computer as well.

I know that technology is a big part of our society today and our children need to be comfortable using them.  However, I do not think that technology alone is enough for children.  They need to learn things "hands on", they need to be able to play to learn, to explore new things, to use their imagination. It is this variety that I would like to bring to my classroom.  In the words of Miss Fribble: I want my children "to get messy, make mistakes" in order to have fun and learn.