Reading Workshop Management

It has taken me years to figure out what works for me during Reading Workshop. I have read SO many books and tried a lot of different things. When I tried just doing centers, then there was always the problem of kids who get done so quickly and others getting off-track and end up not getting anything done. I also couldn't keep up with changing them out weekly. It made every Monday just too crazy.


Then I read the CAFE and Daily 5 books. I LOVE those books. There is so much I learned and it really made me look at how I teach and set up reading workshop. As much as I love daily 5, I found it wasn't quite what I needed either (by itself at least). I know what you're thinking-I probably wasn't doing it right if it didn't work for me. I'm not saying it didn't work, it's just that I found some of my kiddos getting bored and they MISSED the centers.  It sounds crazy, but they just loved to do those activities.


Soooooo, I've come up with a combination of the two. It sounds complicated, but it's really not once you get going. My kids are on auto-pilot by this point in the year. They are engaged, they are learning, and they are reading and writing like crazy!


You've probably seen my center menus if you've been following me for a while. Each month, students get a new menu, full of literacy centers. This is just a portion of reading workshop. Every day, students do a center from their menu AND activities similar to Daily 5 (but I don't call it that to the students because we don't do all five). Having a menu helps the kids to stay organized, have a sense of accomplishment, and track their progress. They are excited to see how many they've completed, and motivated to complete the ones that are left. I've been doing the menus for a while, but incorporating Daily 5 is new for me. This is how I do it:

Reading Workshop


The short version:

• Whole class mini lesson: 5-15 minutes
• Rotation 1:   15ish minutes
• Rotation 2:   15ish minutes
• Rotation 3:   15ish minutes
• Sharing: 5 minutes (usually, but not every day)

The long explanation:

I begin each reading workshop with a whole class mini-lesson. This lasts anywhere between 5 and 15 minutes, depending on the day. At this time I:

• introduce or review a strategy 
• Introduce, create or review an anchor chart
• Model strategies
• Give reminders regarding independent work time/ centers (things I've noticed from the previous days that may need reminders or that need reteaching.)
• Read aloud (modeling and applying strategies)

Rotations: After my mini-lesson, the kids are ready to get started! They check the reading board. 

You can download these labels here.

The main parts of my Reading Workshop:

1. Centers
2. Guided Reading
3. Free (Literacy) Choice: This is sort of like Daily 5. Notice how I have several different options for the blank rotation spaces. You could put Free Choice, which would mean they can choose between Read to Self, iPad, writing, etc. OR you could choose for them by putting a specific card on there (writing, ipad, read to self, seat work, etc.) The difference between this and centers is that centers are pre-made specific activities. Free Choice means they write in their journals or read a book of their choice or listen to a book on ipad. 

• This poster shows you that I have 4 groups (blue, yellow, purple, green) and 3 rotations. (My real poster has student pictures attached with velcro on the colors.
• Everything on my poster in my classroom is attached with velcro, so I can easily change it (including their faces)

They take their book boxes everywhere! In the book boxes are:

• books
• writing notebooks
• pencil
• center menu and center folder

(Sorry for the bad picture!)

 I put their numbers on the front. Beneath their number is the velcro strip for their picture.

 

Why book boxes?

Since they have their book boxes, they have fewer reasons to wonder around the room. They are expected to clean up a center when they are done, but then they have everything they need in their book box. Since everyone does only one center a day, they don't need to put it back right when they are done. They can clean up, and stay where they are until the the next rotation. They have their book boxes, so they can read or write while they wait for the next rotation. This is the main thing I got from the Daily 5 books. I LOVE using book boxes. It truly helps with the commotion. 

Menus:

• They choose which center to do each day. 
• For some sweeties, this is too much to choose from. For those kids, I choose for them, or I may narrow it down by saying "today you need to do something from the word work section".
• They get their centers from these folder holders:

• Folder covers match the pic on the menu. 

• Folder covers have a label to show which holder it came from
• They take the folder to a place to work (don't forget-they have their book boxes too)

• Max: 2 kids per center (but this is a privilege. If they are too noisy the day before, then only 1 person per center and no "buddies"). Many, many days I choose to have no buddies, so only one kid per center.

Transitions:

• I ring a bell to show that it's time for a new rotation (I give a 3 minute warning too). 
• We get 2-3 minutes to clean up and switch. 
• They make sure they've colored in their menus to show which center they completed. If they didn't finish, they color it in half way to remind them to finish it later. 
• They put unfinished centers on one side of their center folder and the finished centers can be turned in or put on another side of the folder.