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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Linky: Must Haves for Reading Workshop




I'm linking up with another Lindsay from My Life as a Third Grade Teacher to share my Must Haves for Reader's Workshop. She's asking us to share what items we cannot live without for our Reading and/or Writing Workshops. These are items that either you or your students use on a daily basis.



Here are my Must Haves:

-My number one must have, simply cannot live without, is my classroom library. It's stocked with TONS of texts on various levels and include a variety of genres. The books on the shelves to the left are all of our fiction texts, grouped by genre. A majority of my books are leveled according to Fountas & Pinnell guided reading levels. This comes in handy when introducing Just Right books. The top shelves house my book club texts, including titles like Bud, Not Buddy and Found. (See my post about book clubs here.) The shelves on the right are all non-fiction texts, grouped by topic. These come in handy when studying non-fiction text features and for our inquiry circles. Top shelf here holds my mentor texts-which I'd like to group by strategy. I have a few beach chairs for the kiddos to use during Independent Reading, and am adding a few new pillows. 




- Another must have- ANCHOR CHARTS! These "anchor" our learning so we can always go back and refer to them. Typically they relate to strategy work, but also include topics like book club expectations and how to choose a just right book. I've seen where teachers have taken pictures of their anchor charts and combined them in a binder. Any other ideas on storing and referring to your anchor charts??
- These Book Bins are from 4th Grade Frolics. I just bought some baskets like these from the Dollar Tree (don't you just LOVE that place!?) and am in the process of making bins for my kiddos. These will hold their Just Right books, sticky notes, bookmarks, writer's notebook, and a pencil. Don't worry, I'll post pix as soon as I get them ready! :)







-And speaking of sticky notes, I wish I had invented them! We must go through thousands of them in a school year! Students track their thinking as they read and place the sticky note in their text. After a chunk of text, they select a few samples of their best thinking, and record in their writer's notebooks. They push the thought more, synthesizing new ideas. I also use them  to model a strategy with think aloud or as a starting point in an individual conference.



What are your top Must Haves? Go link up with Lindsay and share your list!



3 comments:

  1. Hi Lindsay! Thanks so much for linking up. I am soooo jealous of all your book shelf space. I am a big fan of anchor charts too!!

    Lindsay
    My Life as a Third Grade Teacher

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  2. Love your library space! Beautiful!

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  3. I have to say, the library is my favorite place too! Thanks y'all!

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