Reader's Workshop Weekly Roundup: Week Two

Yay! Survived the second week of school and Day 8 number changes! (In Qld our enrolements are checked on the 8th day of school to see whether you gain or lose a teacher. Numerous changes follow in classes after Day 8, and for the last 3 years, I've been affected by those changes. Very happy not to be changed this year!)

I was away Thursday at a post-operative appointment, but other than that the week went by calmly. Most of the students are right into their books (or their third, fourth or fifth books) and there's a lot of wanting books that haven't been read yet. Book talks are going well as I move through my pile of new books, and Thursday included the first student book talks (apparently one student was very enthusiastic about The Hunger Games). Love, Aubrey also looks like it's going to be a huge hit.

Monday's mini lesson was the best - I found video of a really bad and a really good book talk and we talked about the difference in them. For the rest of the week I wasn't as organised, which is something I really want to improve on, so those mini lessons fell a little flat.

On Friday, the students wrote their first book letters. They wrote about their personal experiences with the book they had read (though some had to use a book they were half way through or read last year) - as set out here. I think the example letter was particularly good, and a lot of kids followed that basic format. Overall it was a real success and I was thrilled with their responses, particularly their summaries.

Goals for next week - to be more organised in mini lessons and work on talking about books and reading more effectively.