Rules for Reading Workshop

 

Charlee Nall

 

 

Time Required: Around 20 minutes depending on class.

 

Materials Needed: Handout to the students listing the rules and why the class will be doing the reading workshop. You will also need a handout of a reading log for the students to fill out during reading workshop and a handout on how the reading journal should be written. You will also need three books to read sections of in order to get the students interested in the concept of reading.

 

Objectives:

 

NCTE standard 4: “Students adjust their use of spoken, written, and visual language (conventions, style, and vocabulary) to communicate effectively with a variety of audiences and for different purposes.”

 

NCSCS Competency Goal One: “The learner will use language to express individual perspectives drawn from personal or related experience”

 

1.02: Explore expressive materials that are read, heard, and viewed by generating a learning long or journal.”

 

Competency Goal Five: “The learner will respond to various literary genres using interpretive and evaluative processes.”

 

5.01: “Increase fluency, comprehension, and insight through a meaningful and comprehensive reading program by using effective reading strategies to match type of text. Reading self selected literature and other materials selected by the teacher.”

 

 

Grade Level: This is appropriate for all middle grades 6-8.

 

Purpose and Scope:  The purpose of this minilesson is to help students learn the procedure of participating in a reading workshop. You should use this minilesson at the beginning of the year or the first time you want to start using writing workshop.  Hopefully after this workshop students will understand what will be expected of them during reading workshop.

 

Lesson Activity:  This lesson will consist of the teacher giving rules for reading workshop. Students need guidance and need to know what is expected of them, so giving rules is a good idea. The teacher will also give out a reading log and will require a reading journal. The teacher will also read sections of selected books so that students will be interested in starting reading workshop.

 

Script: Hello everyone! I am very excited about today’s lesson because we are going to be starting reading workshop today! I believe that reading is important to learning and can also be very enjoyable.

 

I have a few handouts with the rules of reading workshop; I am going to hand it out now and then explain it to you and answer questions.

 

Today we will be choosing books that are of interest to us and we will have two weeks to complete the book. During those two weeks you will be writing in a journal about what you are reading. The questions you must answer are on your handout for during reading journaling. Once you have read the book you will write a letter to me using the format on the handout. Your journal will be taken up once a week for grading. I will be grading closely so please use proper grammar. I have given you a handout on what is expected.

 

I have also handed out a “Reading Log”, you need to staple this to the front of your reading journal.

 

Now I will read sections from three of the several books you can choose from. (Read sections of popular books).

 

Now that you have had a small taste of what is in store for you during reading workshop it is now time for us to choose our books for the next two weeks. Remember that you must have your book approved by me, you can choose a book from the room or you can go to the library. Any questions?

 

Rules for the Reading Journal

 

All Journal Entries should have:

 

-         Your name

-         The date

-         Some sort of greeting (Dear Miss Nall)

-         Paragraph one answers one of the questions below

-         Paragraph two answers one of the questions below

-         Paragraph three has a short summary of what is going on in the book

-         Some sort of closing (Sincerely, love etc)

 

During Reading: While reading you should write a daily journal while you are reading your selected book. That journal should answer two of the following questions.

 

  1. What are the conflicts in the book so far? What do you predict will happen? Why do you think this?
  2. Tell five ways the main character is like or unlike you and why. (Please put in paragraph form).
  3. What confuses you about this book?
  4. Copy a sentence, quote, or passage from the book. How does this part move you? Why?
  5. What do you think about the book so far? Do you like it or dislike it? Why?
  6. Describe a character that you dislike. Why do you dislike him or her?
  7. Describe your favorite character in the book. Why do you like him or her?

 

You also need to write a vocabulary list from your selected book. You must have two words defined per day.

 

After you Read:  After you read the book you have selected, write a journal about the book answering two of the questions below.

 

  1. What are the best parts of the book? Why?
  2. What are the worst parts of the book? Why?
  3. What is the lesson or theme in this book? What does it tell you about life?
  4. How does your book end? Write an alternate ending for the book.
  5. Describe the main character in the book.
  6. What memories does this book bring back for you?
  7. What did this book make you feel? Did you laugh, cry, or shout

 

Rules for Reading Workshop

 

A Standard Round: (Other rounds may be different, you will get new rules for those).

 

  1. You MUST read a minimum of one book per two weeks of reading workshop.
  2. You must make a vocabulary list from your book. You need to make a new list of words every two weeks. (per book)
  3. You must fill out your reading log. You must read at least 130 minutes per week.
  4. All novels must be approved by me before you start reading.
  5. You must write a reading journal to me every other day.

Dear Students,

 

            I am very excited about starting reading workshop this year. We will be reading some wonderful works of our choice together. I hope that you will learn a lot from reading workshop and you have a good time reading these books. This is our time to read the books that are of interest to us. In your journals we will talk about our reading. You will write me a letter and I will respond. I hope because of this workshop we can all learn to enjoy reading more. Happy reading!

 

Sincerely,

 

Miss Nall

 

 

 

Reading Log

 

Title                                        Minutes               Parent Signature