9/4: Today’s Lesson

Reading Strategy: Connect
In today’s class, we discussed a new Reading Strategy: Connect. This strategy enables students to “connect” or interact with what’s happening in their text while they read. “Connecting” to the text, or specifically, to a character or series of events in their books will help them to become active and more fluent readers. This means, they will be able to understand what they read and demonstrate that understanding verbally or via writing.
•This reminds me of…
•If I were…
•It seems like…
•I wonder why…
•I really like (don’t like)
•I can’t believe…
•I’m not sure because…
•I know how a character feels because…
•I was surprised…
Reader’s Workshop/Conferences.
In class, we also discussed ways in which readers can “handle their business” during the Reader’s Workshop. Reader’s Workshop entails both independent reading (15 minutes) in addition to the process of learning how to be a better reader.

It is during Reader’s Workshop that I will have my 3 min-5 min conferences w/ students. During these conferences, we will discuss:
•Their academic progress
•Maintaining their personal progess for the 25 Books Campaign (are they OK w/ the book they have, do they understand the book, do they need to switch to another book, etc.)
•Is the overall class work challenging, too easy or just right?
•Notebook check
•Anything else the student would like to discuss

I will meet w/ most students every 2 weeks or so. For those who need to see me more frequently, they are able to sign up for a meeting using the sign-up sheet at my desk.