Let's Just Forget About April . . .

I think I can safely say April was a wipeout. I spent the first third of the month in Japan with my husband (wonderful trip!) and the next two thirds trying to play catch up with the ever mounting pile of stuff being thrown on us at school.

Reader's Workshop wise, the month's been a bit of a bust. A lot of the time I feel like I'm just going through the motions, dragging the students along with me as we face NAPLAN - national testing - (or in my case, maybe not), the looming threat of auditors and the revamping of our report cards to a point where I feel like I'm assessing more than I teach.

Even Reader's Workshop has taken on a slightly desperate air as we try to fit in reading around assemblies, assessment and other interuptions. Book talks have disappeared (just when they were getting good), mini lessons are all about test preparation (and even then they are rushed), and some of the passion is beginning to drip away.

But, there are some silver linings to this black, thunder filled cloud. Read alouds have been wonderful. I just finished reading Anything But Typical to the students, which made them think, predict, ponder and understand better than any book I've ever read out loud. We've discovered a new book series, which has a waiting list a mile long (and the students can tell you exactly who's next on the list). We have some extra students in the class on Fridays, during sport time, and they've also discovered the bookshelves. And one way or another, NAPLAN will be over in less than 2 weeks time, and we can settle in for some really fun reading for the rest of the year.

May is going to be the turning point, and I will endevour to post here more often. Of course, I might need a nudge every now and then to get moving, so I'm going to ask you to assist there - what would you like to know about Reader's Workshop, reading, my classroom etc? Leave me a comment!