Fourth Grade Launching Strong Reading Habits Unit 1 8/1/2015flintelacurriculum.weebly.com/uploads/4/4/3/1/44310935/g4unit1rlp.pdf · Readers have four years of reading workshop structures

Reading Unit of Study Fourth grade: Launching Strong Reading Habits, Unit 1

Copyright© 2010-2017 by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Districts and Oakland Schools

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Fourth Grade Launching Strong Reading Habits

Unit 1 8/1/2015


Copyright© 2010-2017 by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Districts and Oakland Schools

Table of Contents

Background Section

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 1

Background Information .............................................................................................................................................................. 2

Sample Unit Section

Resources and Materials Needed ................................................................................................................................................ 3

Why a Script? ............................................................................................................................................................................... 5

Overview of Sessions – Teaching and Learning Points ................................................................................................................ 6

Routines and Rituals .................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Read Aloud with Accountable Talk (Interactive Read Aloud) ...................................................................................................... 9

Lesson Plans ............................................................................................................................................................................... 13

Resource Materials Section

See Separate Packet


1 Copyright© 2010-2017 by the Michigan Association of Intermediate School Districts and Oakland Schools

Abstract Fourth graders are welcomed into their reading workshop with an invitation to show off their knowledge, talent and energy for reading. These readers are reading P/Q reading levels or higher and will have to think about the kind of reader they are and want to be as they establish themselves inside their new reading community.

Concept 1 will ask Fourth graders to think of the habits they bring to reading and the habits they want to create to strengthen their reading and make their reading community and their own personal reading growth the best it can be. Creating long term and short term personal reading goals, choosing just right text, and assisting the reading community meet and exceed classroom stamina goals will show readers the habits necessary for success. This concept also demonstrates for readers the need to read at a pace which allows for the greatest number of pages to be read, while still seeing the text in mind and understanding all that has been read. Concept 2 asks readers to understand that every bit of text they read is important to their understanding. Readers will enhance their strategies to clear confusion by stopping, rereading, and taking the time to figure out unfamiliar words while still envisioning the text and keeping their appropriate pace. Readers will think about their attitudes towards reading and the teaching hopes to influence a growth mindset where readers come to the work seeing its importance and the need to read many books across their days and weeks. Concept 3 organizes readers into like-level partnerships. Readers reading the same or about the same levels, will be paired for thinking and conversation. Part of this thinking uses readers’ previous work with retelling to lift comprehension and conversation by teaching readers to summarize with the author’s message in mind. Readers learn to care for their partner by coming prepared to partnerships, listening well, and keeping an open mind. They will come to see that a reading partner is an important person in life, as partners help each other gain reading stamina and focus. Partners will not read aloud to each other except to prove a point or take their partner back to a page to clear confusion. Choral, echo and reading page by page together aloud are abandoned to allow readers more time for thinking and talking. At these levels, it is more important that readers learn to read silently to themselves during independent reading and read aloud only when needed in partnership, given their conversation or plans. Partners will push each other to think about strong habits needed to be strong readers. Looking at reading logs, sharing books read and noticing changes in each other over time will help partnerships bond; building a strong working relationship that will move into the next unit of study. The unit, like all units, ends with a celebration in session 16. Empowering readers to reflect on ways they have changed as readers in short time is suggested. There certainly could be other ways to celebrate based on the culture built within the reading community and teachers should feel free to celebrate in different ways based on their insights of readers.

Differentiating by reviewing the K-3 units, may be helpful dependent on levels of readers.



Background Information

This unit assumes that fourth grade readers have been working inside a reading workshop for four years previously. The need to teach procedures and routines will be slight or nonexistent, especially in a well aligned school system. These fourth graders should have prepared bags of books near the end of third grade to use in their first unit of study in fourth grade. This can be set up with your third grade teaching team. It is nice if readers themselves think about who they are as readers and prepare their own bags of just right reading materials. If this was not done, teachers can still prepare bags based on the levels of text the third grade team assessed in May/June. Bags of books, mixed genre, length, leveled, picture books, informational should be prepared for readers for the very first lesson in this unit. Books are critical to the reading workshop. Quantity matters. Crates of books, matching your fourth grade readers’ levels, prepared and available on table tops for quick shopping, should be present. If readers have made jumps in levels over the summer or experienced summer slide, lower levels of text inside these crates of books will make for easy shopping, too. These crates represent a leveled classroom library, but until the teacher has the time to assess current levels and see if there is need to teach a bit on shopping procedures, it is helpful to work from a makeshift library of sorts. Readers can simply exchange books read from crates you have prepared (which means their selection is limited and guided by what is known about the unit and the readers). Readers have four years of reading workshop structures and units of study as foundations stepping into this year. Use what they know and move forward. Teachers may want to take the time to review the Kindergarten – Third grade units for their own professional knowledge. This is helpful to have in mind what was accomplished across those units as teachers plan ahead for fourth graders. Of course, there will be readers below and above grade level. Looking into units of study below and above grade level is always a smart idea for differentiating instructional moves and setting individual goals. If, however, teachers find the need to review or teach needed management and routine, these lessons should be added intermittently throughout the unit in order to keep the study targeted on reading habits. Readers will start the first week with bags from third grade, but as reading levels are learned, teachers will want to use table top crates or leveled libraries to help point readers in new directions. Reader’s bags of books will change several times across the unit of study. Although there is not a shopping mini lesson, if mid-unit, teachers find that they know levels of text and readers shopped in third grade, there is no reason to keep the library closed. Teach a “just right” book lesson coupled with shopping procedures and open the library. This can easily be done with small groups of readers who are ready. Remind readers of what they already know about shopping for their own books. Teacher guidance can still play a role here, as readers learn the books of their new library and grow accustom to reading for long stretches each and every day. This unit, like all reading workshop units, relies heavily on the text read aloud during the read aloud with accountable talk (interactive read aloud) part of each day. It is assumed that teachers will, at a minimum, read aloud and allow time to think and talk about that text at least once every day. This first unit also assumes that many teachers will actually take the opportunity to read text aloud more than once across each day, and therefore, has referenced numerous texts considering diversity of faces, levels of readers and student interest. If the quantity of read aloud text referenced appears too numerous for the minutes within the day teachers have allocated for reading aloud, the number of books can be diminished. Teachers will reference fewer books within and across mini lessons. Teachers should also keep in mind that any text read aloud in any content area prior to a mini lesson could be appropriate to demonstrate the reading skill or strategy instructional objective. As with each and every unit, follow the needs and strengths of the readers. Some lessons may not be necessary for certain populations of readers. In other cases, one session may need three sessions in smaller bits for a different population of readers. This unit aims to guide a thoughtful teacher as they make decisions based on their knowledge and expertise. The lesson sequence of the unit assumes teachers will add or delete days based on the knowledge and experience of readers.



Resources and Materials Needed

See Resource Packet Unit 1

http://readingandwritingproject.com/resources/classroom-libraries/current-classroom-libraries.html

Fountas and Pinnell Levels DRA Levels Number of Books

A-C level readers A- 4 10-15 books

D-K level readers 6-20 6-10+ books

L-N level readers 24-30 5-8 books, chapter, informational, and favorites

O-Q level readers 34+ 2 chapter books, informational, and favorites

R-T 40 2 chapter books, informational, and favorites

U-W 50-60 2 chapter books, informational, and favorites

X-Z 70-80 2 chapter books, informational, and favorites

Fourth grade readers from a school where Reading Workshop is aligned K-4 will have many routines and procedures in place on the first day of school. Teachers will want to establish the routines and procedures quickly for shopping, which should be done outside of the reading workshop block of time (before or after lunch, library day, before the AM bell, after the PM bell, during snack, or when students are finished with a test or an assignment are suggested times). An anchor chart can help remind readers of this procedure.

RESEARCH ON READING RATE: The rate at which readers read matters. If a reader reads Level M text (Magic Tree House) at 100/WMP they will only need two 30 minute reading sessions to complete one book. If they read closer to 200/WMP they will read one Level M book in one 30 minute session. Dependent on reading rate, these readers would complete either 2.5 books in a five day week or 5 books across the 5 day week, respectively. Help readers set goals based on their reading rate to progress through many books. Reading logs help show reading rate, set goals, and show goals met over time.

GRADE WPM GRADE WPM

1 60-90 6 195-200

2 85-120 7 215-245

3 115-140 8 235-270

4 140-170 9 250-270

5 170-195 12 250-300

Harris and Sipay (1990) Calkins Workshop (2008)

Title Level Approximate # of Words Reading Rate # of Minutes per Book

Horrible Harry L 4500 100 WPM/200 WPM 45 Min/25Min

Magic Tree House M 6000 100WPM/200 WPM 60 Min/30 Min

Stone Fox P 12000 100 WPM/200 WPM 4 Hrs/2 Hrs

Hundred Penny Box Q 6000 100 WPM/200 WPM 60 Min/30 Min

Hatchet R 50000 100 WPM/200 WPM 8 Hrs/4 Hrs

Missing May W 24500 100 WPM/200 WPM 4 Hrs/ 2 Hrs

Allington (2000) *These are suggestions based on practices utilized by workshop teachers, which meet objectives outlined by the Common Core Standards. Teachers should organize as they see fit, given their resources.

http://readingandwritingproject.com/resources/classroom-libraries/current-classroom-libraries.html



More Resources and Materials Needed Teacher Resources

Gallon-size plastic bag for every reader

Plastic bag for every reader filled with books from third grade May-June levels: Leveled books, classics, favorites, series, read-aloud books, informational titles (Third graders should have filled a bag of books to send to fourth grade teacher)

Pens or pencils for readers, stored in bags

Post-its/sticky notes stored in bags

Readers Notebooks-composition or spiral

Pocket Folders –hold logs, book list, conference notes etc.

Abundance of chart paper

Abundance of assorted colors and sizes of paper for individual or small group charts

Abundance of post-it/sticky notes in all kinds of shapes and sizes

Easel

Meeting area

Markers

Professional Resources

Calkins, L. (2001). The Art of Teaching Reading. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.

Goldberg, G. & Serravallo, J. (2007). Conferring with Readers: Supporting Each Student’s Growth & Independence. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Serravallo, J. (2010). Teaching Reading in Small Groups: Differentiated Instruction for Building Strategic, Independent Readers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Calkins, L. & Tolan K. (2010). Units of Study for Teaching Reading: A Curriculum for the Reading Workshop, Grades 3-5, Book 1: Building a Reading Life. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Calkins, L. (2011). A Curricular Plan for the Reading Workshop, Grade 3. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

None of the suggested book titles in these lessons are needed if you have titles that match the suggested books’ genres and characteristics. In other words, there are thousands of books that would work during demonstrations and throughout your mini- lesson. The titles in these lessons are all suggestions to help you make choices beyond our recommendations.



Why a script? The following unit has been written in script form to help guide and support teachers in implementing effective reading instruction; routines, procedures, strategies and specific instructional vocabulary. In other words, the script serves as a “reading coach” for teachers. Teachers, whether new to the teaching profession or new to reading workshop, or new to some common core standards, may benefit from having detailed lesson plans. The goal is that in time teachers will no longer need a script per se because they will have had time to study and gain procedural knowledge for many of the common core units of study. Also, many teachers feel a script serves as a guide for guest/substitute teachers or student teachers. Please view these scripts as a framework from which to work – rewrite, revise, and reshape them to fit your teaching style, your students, and your needs. Additional lesson information: Balanced Literacy Program (BLP) – A Balanced Literacy Program which is necessary to support literacy acquisition includes: reading and writing workshop, word study, read-aloud with accountable talk, small group, shared reading and writing, and interactive writing. Teachers should make every effort to include all components of a balanced literacy program into their language arts block. Reading and Writing workshop are only one part of a balanced literacy program. The MAISA unit framework is based on a workshop approach. Therefore, teachers will also need to include the other components to support student learning. Mini-lesson- A mini-lesson is a short (5-10 minute) focused lesson where the teacher directly instructs on a skill, strategy or habit students will need to use in independent work. A mini-lesson has a set architecture. Independent Reading and Conferring – Following the mini-lesson, students will be sent off to read independently. During independent reading time teachers will confer with individuals or small groups of students. Mid-workshop Teaching Point – The purpose of a mid-workshop teaching point is to speak to the whole class, often halfway into the work time. Teachers may relay an observation from a conference, extend or reinforce the teaching point, highlight a particular example of good work, or steer children around a peer problem. Add or modify mid-workshop teaching points based on students’ needs. Partnership Work- Partnership work is an essential component of the reading workshop structure. In addition to private reading, partnerships allow

time each day for students to read and talk together, as well as provide support for stamina. Each session includes suggestions for

possible partnership work. Add or modify based on students’ needs.

Share Component – Each lesson includes a possible share option. Teachers may modify based on students’ needs. Other share options may include:

follow-up on a mini-lesson to reinforce and/or clarify the teaching point; problem solve to build community; review to recall prior

learning and build repertoire of strategies; preview tomorrow’s mini lesson; or celebrate learning via the work of a few students or

partner/whole class share (source: Teachers College Reading and Writing Project).



Overview of Sessions – Teaching and Learning Points Alter this unit based on students’ needs, resources available, and your teaching style. Add and subtract according to what works for you and your students. Concept I: Readers have strong habits inside a reading life Session 1 Readers create strong habits to make their reading the best it can be Session 2 Readers create goals for their reading that are important and realistic Session 3 Readers choose just-right books so they can be strong readers Session 4 Readers determine a goal for words/pages read Session 5 Readers pay attention to the pace of their reading to read as much as they can Session 6 Readers see the story in their mind as they read to understand what they have read Concept II Readers know text is important Session 7 Readers stop, reread and think to clear up confusion Session 8 Readers take the time to figure out unfamiliar words and keep on reading Session 9 Readers see a movie in their mind to keep track of what is happening in their text Session 10 Readers choose their attitude towards reading Session 11 Readers keep a stack of books beside them Concept III Readers read with and learn from other readers Session 12 Readers share their reading habits with other readers Session 13 Readers talk to their partners about the books they have read Session 14 Readers summarize the text and think about the author’s message to talk with others Session 15 Readers listen to others with open minds Session 16 Celebration: Readers reflect on ways they’ve they have changed as readers



Routines and Rituals: Building a Community of Independent Readers Reading workshops are structured in predictable, consistent ways so that the infrastructure of any one workshop is almost the same throughout the year and throughout a child’s elementary school experience (Calkins, 2005). One means of developing a community of independent readers is to implement routines and rituals that are consistent within and across grade levels. A few lessons in each launching unit are devoted to the management of a reading classroom. However, depending on student need and experience, additional lessons on management may be needed. Also, it is assumed that many of these routines and rituals go across curricular areas so they will be addressed and taught throughout the school day and not just in reading workshop. This shift in focus allows more mini lessons to be devoted to supporting students in cycling through the reading process and acquiring a toolbox of reading strategies. The following are a collection of routines and rituals teachers may want to review. Select based on students’ needs.

Routines Opening Routine

Mini-Lessons

Sending children off to work

Independent work time

Closing Routine or Share

Partnerships

Opening Routine – Beginning Each Day’s Reading Instruction Meeting area/ Room arrangement

Signal for students to meet for reading workshop

What to bring to meeting area

Partnerships at meeting area

Mini-lessons – The Fuel for Continued Growth Student expectations as they participate in a mini lesson

Partnership guidelines

How students sit during a mini-lesson and share

Sending Children Off to Work – Transition from Mini-lesson to Work Time Expectation to “go off” and get started working

Dismissal options

Independent Work Time – Students Working on their Own Assigned reading spots

Getting started

Students work initially without teacher guidance and/or conference

Nature of Children’s Work – Reading focus

Role of Mini-lesson

Conversations in Reading Workshop: productive talk, silent reading time & whole-class intervals for partnership talks

Signal for noise volume

Mid-Workshop Teaching Point

Flexible reading groups (strategy or guided reading)

Teacher conferences

Productivity – early in the year, later in the year (expectations)

What to do if you need assistance – Example: “Three before me” (Students must ask three students before asking the teacher.)



Routines and Rituals: Building a Community of Independent Readers, Continued

Closing Routine – Managing the Share Session Signal to meet

Share session at meeting Area

Celebration of Growth

Partnership Routine – Being an Effective Partner

It is recommended that several mid-workshop teaching points focus on teaching students how to build effective partnerships.

Turning and Talking – discussing something with a partner per teacher’s guidance

Who goes first?

Compliments can be helpful when they are specific

Constructive suggestions – people can be sensitive about their work, so it’s best to ask questions or give suggestions in a gentle way

One helpful way to listen (or read) a partner’s work is to see if everything is clear and makes sense

How partners can help us when we are stuck

Effective questions to ask partners

If your partner has a suggestion, it may be worth trying (value the input/role of partnerships)

Appropriate times to meet with your partner, where to meet with your partner, why to meet with your partner



Read Aloud with Accountable Talk (Interactive Read Aloud)

Read -aloud with accountable talk is a critical component of a balanced literacy program. The purpose of read-aloud with accountable talk is to model the work that readers do to comprehend books and to nurture ideas and theories about stories, characters and text. During this interactive demonstration, the teacher has purposely selected text and flagged pages with the intention to teach a specific skill or strategy. The teacher is reading so children can concentrate on using strategies for comprehension and having accountable conversation about the text. Students are asked to engage with the text by responding to one another or through jotting notes about their thinking. The teacher scaffolds children with the kinds of conversation they are expected to have with their partner during independent and partner reading. This demonstration foreshadows the reading work that will be done in future mini-lessons and units of study. In other words, what is practiced and demonstrated in mini lesson should have been modeled and practiced in read aloud before becoming mini lesson content. Since read-aloud is done outside of Reading Workshop the following planning continuum provides teachers with a map to possible foci within read -aloud. This planning continuum aims to support teachers with upcoming strategies that will be taught in mini-lessons and future units of study.

Suggested Books for Read Aloud and Mini Lesson Use: All books within the Fourth Grade Launching Unit are first read aloud outside of the mini lesson and reading workshop block. Text will be referred to inside the mini lesson once it has been read aloud. A thoughtful teacher will attempt to select text from multiple categories, considering the faces and interests of their students. Start and finish books at a pace that allows for many books to be read aloud across September so that readers have varied opportunities for comprehension work and keen engagement. This will also ensure teachers have many texts to reference throughout this unit and future units. Books were chosen based on the following criteria*:

Short in length

Plot and problems/issues of characters might be of interest to reader based on age/experiences

Themes relatable to reader based on age/experiences

Character development sophisticated enough to study and reference in Unit 2 Character Study *These criteria and suggested text can be used to choose alternative text throughout the unit based on teacher/school resources. Books in BOLD print are referenced in mini lessons throughout the unit to serve as examples. Digital Text

The Play That Changed Lives for the Better The Olivet Eagles football team at Olivet Middle School in Olivet, Michigan, decided to run a play and intentionally not score, all without their coaches knowing to support a fellow teammate Runtime: 3:07 Added: November 5, 2013 http://inspiremykids.com/2013/play-changed-lives-better/

Picture Books –The use of short stories/picture books aides in teaching complex strategy work in quick time due to fewer words to read.

The Memory String by Eve Bunting

Better Than You by Trudy Ludwig

Those Shoes By Maribeth Boelts

The Summer my Father was Ten by Pat Brisson

Fly Away Home by Eve Bunting

Collections of Short Stories

Every Living Thing: Boar Out There by Cynthia Rylant

In the Land of Lawn Weenies and Other Warped and Creepy Tales by David Lubar

http://inspiremykids.com/2013/play-changed-lives-better/



Short Chapter Books (50-120 pages)

Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner

Kindred Souls by Patricia MacLachlain Informational Text

Any short informational text related to content area studies or readers’ interest should be utilized within the read aloud and can be utilized/referenced in numerous mini lessons (Sessions 7-11) or reversely, the mini lesson teaching point referenced in read aloud with the informational text

Inspire My Kids: http://inspiremykids.com

Sports Illustrated for Kids’ Blog and News www.sikids.com

National Geographic for Kids http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

PBS News http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/daily-news-story/?topic_id=781&utm_source=FeatureWellB&utm_medium=Text&utm_campaign=Homepage

Wonderopolis http://wonderopolis.com

NewsELA http://Newsela.com

Chapter Books-Begin reading at least one story with strong character development near the end of Launching Unit in order to utilize and reference in Fourth grade Character Study Unit 2

The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo-Referenced in Unit 2 Fourth Grade Character Study

The One and Only Ivan by K.A. Applegate

Don’t Make Me Smile by Barbara Park

Edward’s Eyes by Kate DiCamilo

http://inspiremykids.com/

http://www.sikids.com/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/daily-news-story/?topic_id=781&utm_source=FeatureWellB&utm_medium=Text&utm_campaign=Homepage

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/daily-news-story/?topic_id=781&utm_source=FeatureWellB&utm_medium=Text&utm_campaign=Homepage

http://wonderopolis.com/

http://newsela.com/



Reading Aloud and Reading Workshop Focuses Across the Year

September October November

Unit of Study Readers Launch a Reading Life Utilize narrative and

informational text. Turn to narrative, strong character text

final week

Readers Study Characters Utilize narrative, strong character books, initially. Turn to nonfiction

expository, narrative nonfiction and hybrid nonfiction final week

Nonfiction Reading: Using Text Structures to comprehend

expository, narrative and hybrid nonfiction

Utilize nonfiction expository, narrative nonfiction and hybrid

nonfiction

Read Aloud Books

Short (picture books/chapter books/short stories)

Plot and problems/issues of characters might be of interest to reader based on age/experiences

Themes relatable to reader based on age/experiences

Character development sophisticated enough to study and reference in Unit 2 Character Study

Books like The Memory String by Eve Bunting and Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson

Characters with personality quirks, habits, motivations, troubles and actions.

Characters that allow readers to walk in the character’s shoes; characters complex enough for readers to envision and predict as if the character.

Characters that help readers learn lessons they can apply to their own life experiences

Books like The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo-

The One and Only Ivan by K.A. Applegate

Edwards Eyes by Patricia MacLachlan

Text formatted with short sections of meaningful information

Topics and content of interest to readers based on age/experiences

Two different text representing each category; expository, narrative and hybrid nonfiction

Books like Marine Creatures by Kerry Nagle, Chocolate By Hershey: A Story About Milton S. Hershey Betty Burford and One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies

Read Aloud Focus (Each suggestion may build across days and books)

Readers see the story in their mind as they read keeping track of characters, problems or issues, events, and resolutions/solutions

Readers stop, reread and think to clear up confusion

Readers take the time to figure out unfamiliar words and keep on reading so that meaning isn’t interrupted

Readers see a movie in their mind to keep track of what is happening in their text

Readers refer to details and examples when making inferences

Readers summarize sections of text and paraphrase important information throughout the text as they recount

Readers determine the author’s message

Readers summarize the text choosing details with the

Readers get caught up in the world of the story by envisioning as if they are the character.

Readers imagine and infer the world of the story.

Readers create scenes as in movies and TV shows to see how the character looks, moves, sounds and behaves.

Readers think about what kind of character the person is

Readers pay attention to the actions of the character and see those actions as a window into understanding more about that character

Readers ask questions like: “What does the character want?”, “What obstacles are in their way?”. “How does he/she respond to those obstacles?”

Readers consider what the character will do next and let these predictions lead them to theories about characters. Example: Prediction: “Rob will be able to talk

Readers do a lot of thinking about the title and subtitles before they begin reading

Readers make predictions based on titles, subtitles, text features what the text will be about or tell

Readers summarize small parts of reading before moving on

Readers become experts on topics-teaching others the information.

Readers talk to others to slow down their thinking about a topic.

Readers ask, “I wonder why?”, “Did you notice?”, “what else can I add to these ideas?”

Readers know that reading narrative nonfiction is like reading a story.

Just as readers get to know characters in books, readers of nonfiction get to know the

author’s message in mind to Sistine about his mom” Theory: topic.-Seeing the topic like



Readers discuss how pictures create mood, aspects of character or setting on book covers and picture book pages

Readers compare and contrast author’s message, themes (Example: Overcoming Hardship and Care for Another using Locomotion, Stone Fox, Those Shoes, and “The Play That Changed Lives for the Better” or Family and Loss using Kindred Souls and The Memory String and How a 14-year old turned shooting baskets into $100K for troops)

Readers listen to partners and say something back to their partner about what was said. (staying on topic)

Readers keep on open mind by considering others ideas.

Readers pose and respond to specific questions to clarify using text details

Readers participate in whole class conversations

Readers link their remarks to the comments of others

Readers continue a conversation through multiple exchanges

Readers follow expectations for talking with others (soft voice, eyes on speaker)

Readers ask and answer questions to seek or give help.

Readers ask and answer questions to clarify understanding.

Readers summarize details from the text

Readers paraphrase portions of text when speaking to others

“Sistine helps Rob heal by helping him open up about his mom”.

Readers read like a detective growing ideas about what lessons the characters teach

Reading like a detective readers watch for recurring details to say what the author wants the reader to notice, which helps understand the character more deeply. Example: closed suitcase, cage, rash…taken together what do they say about the character

Readers use the lessons characters teach to think about author’s message and themes

Readers grow many ideas about characters vs. one idea

the main character

Readers pay attention to the most important details by considering the plot of the narrative information

Readers use pictures in their minds to help make sense of confusing parts or words

Readers make sense of narrative nonfiction by stringing together facts and thinking about the big idea that holds them together



Lesson Plan

Session 1

Concept Readers have strong habits inside a reading life

Teaching Point Readers create strong habits to make their reading the best it can be

Materials

● Each reader has a bag of leveled books previously packed by the reader as a third grader. (Bags passed from third grade to fourth grade) OR crates of books on table tops of mixed levels, lengths and genre accessible to all readers.

● Post-its on tables

● Pencils/pens on tables

● Reading Logs on tables

● Teacher’s conferring notes (clipboard/binder/tablet) Assessment checklist utilized throughout unit (Resource Packet)

Teacher may want books/text as props to hold up based on teacher’s examples of WEAK HABITS and STRONG HABITS

Teacher may want books/text as props to hold up based on teacher’s examples of WEAK HABITS and STRONG HABITS

Timer for tracking independent reading minutes

Reading Stamina Chart -Resource Packet

Reading Log-Resource Packet

Jot Lot Chart -Resource Packet

Tips Partnerships meet the first day of school. You might have students just turn and talk to someone near to them or have students partner up with a different person each day until you establish reading levels based on your informal assessment of listening to readers read.

Plan to note observations of strong reading habits during independent reading.

Plan to hold COMPLIMENT conferences with as many readers as possible either one-on-one, in small groups or at tables. Compliment the reading habits observed that will strengthen the reading workshop environment each and every day (silent reading, staying in reading place, reading, reading, reading, jotting, logging, ignoring distractions etc…).

You are ushering readers into a working reading workshop based on four previous years of workshop routines and procedures.

If readers have not had workshop routines and procedures previously, watching and listening to how readers settle into books in crates on tables is a close second option. Additional support are found in the Background Information and Routines and Procedures sections of this unit.

Plan to read aloud Better Than You by Trudy Ludwig today or before session 6.

Connection ● Readers, this will be a year when we can all make reading the best that it can be. For me, there have been times when reading has made me feel frustrated and bored. There have also been times when reading has been the best thing in the world.

● This year, we’re going to work together to make our classroom into a place where our reading is the best that it can be.

● Today I want to teach you that readers create strong reading habits to make their reading the best it can be.

Teaching Share a ONE or TWO QUICK specific times in your life when reading was frustrating because of WEAK habits (Examples: trying to read a book that was way too hard, reading a book you couldn’t understand, choosing a book that wasn’t interesting to you or reading a little and then not finding time to read again for a long stretch of time)

List specific times in your life when reading was the best for you because of STRONG reading habits. Plan to list many across your fingers as if you are counting all the strong habits (reading for a long stretch of time,



lost in the book as if you were the character, finding time to read every day so the story was fresh in your mind, choosing books you knew you would enjoy, choosing books you knew you could understand, sticking with a book even though it was a little bit tricky)

Explain that it is important for readers to think about the times when their reading habits were strong

Readers, we need to create strong habits in our reading lives to make reading the best that it can be.

Active Engagement

● Readers, you were listening to me share some of my STRONG reading habits. I want you to think for a moment as to whether you have some of those same STRONG reading habits I mentioned or different STRONG reading habits. You might even think about STRONG reading habits you’d like to have or that you know others have…

● List across your own fingers without saying a word, the STRONG reading habits you are thinking of. ● Now turn and tell someone near you some of the STRONG habits you were thinking of ● Listen in to readers and coach partners as they turn to talk or prompt pairs, if needed as readers are

talking. ● Readers please bring your listing to a close… ● Readers create strong habits to make their reading the best it can be and I heard you talking about habits

you know to be STRONG! ● I heard…(list across your fingers different strong habit ideas overheard from listening to students)

Link ● Readers, today, you get to show me some of the reading habits you brought with you to Fourth grade. I know one of those STRONG habits was reading for at least 30 minutes every day when you were in the third grade. I talked with your teachers!

● So, I am going to set my timer for 30 minutes. You will have 30 minutes to get into your bag of books you packed for yourself from last year. Take your time looking through them, decide which one to read first and as you are reading, I will be watching for the other STRONG habits you have brought with you as a Fourth grade reader. I will be watching you and taking notes. I’m so excited to see what STRONG readers you are.

Mid Workshop Teaching Point

● Readers, I am noticing so many STRONG habits here in this reading workshop. Your voices are turned off. You are reading inside your head so no one can hear you. You have been reading already for 15 minutes and I have been able to conference with readers without interruption!

● These are all STRONG habits that I will want you to continue using each and every day.

Partnerships ● Just as readers have STRONG habits they use when they are reading by themselves…they also have STRONG habits when they are talking with a partner about their reading. You will have a set reading partner in a few days but for now, just partner up with someone nearby and tell them about the STRONG habits you brought with you into your Fourth grade reading today.

● As you talk, I will be watching to see the STRONG habits you bring to your reading partnership talks and taking notes.

● Partners Meet ● Readers, before you come back to our meeting place for our SHARE TIME I’d like you to use a post-it to jot. ● Please put your name on it. ● Now, I want you to think about one habit you know you have that makes reading the very best for you OR

one habit you need others to have so that reading is the very best for you. You might say… I always… or I need… and then finish that thought with an important habit for you or our community of readers. On your way to the meeting area you can post your note on our JOT LOT CHART.

After the Workshop Share

● Readers, OH! I wrote so many positive notes today! You showed me what strong habits you have by the way you stayed in your reading place, and the way you focused yourself to read and read and read. You have come to Fourth grade with so many STRONG habits already!

● I can start our reading stamina chart at ____ mins. of focused reading for today. Reading for long stretches is one of our strong habits…we will want to increase this time each day.

● I can’t wait to read your ideas as to what makes you a strong reader and also help you create more strong reading habits!

● Readers create strong habits to make their reading the best it can be ● COLLECT and SAVE logs if readers naturally began logging based on previous practices. Logs will be



introduced for Level L/M and above readers in session 2 during strategy groups.



Lesson Plan

Session 2

Concept Readers have strong habits inside a reading life

Teaching Point Readers create goals for their reading that are important and realistic.

Materials


● Teacher’s conferring notes (clipboard/binder/tablet) Assessment checklist utilized throughout unit (Resource Packet)

● Teacher may want books/text as props to hold up based on teacher’s examples of WEAK HABITS and STRONG HABITS

● 1 or 2 Teacher selected Fourth grade appropriate text to introduce in a “Book Buzz” during the Share Time.




Reading Survey – Resource Packet

Books I Want to Read List-Resource Packet

Book Buzz Sign Up –Resource Packet

LIST CHART created from readers ideas posted on JOT LOT on habits needed to make reading the best it can be

Two pocket folder for each reader containing reading log and post-its (If a reader began logging in session 1 that log was collected and saved to use in folder)

“Book Buzz” sign up paper -Resource packet

Tips Prepare reading folders for each reader. Each folder contains a copy of the Reading Log, Reading Survey, List of Books I’d Like to Read (Resource Packet) and a stack of post-its.

Plan to meet with small groups of readers to introduce the steps to logging using the reading log to readers reading levels L/M and above. Strategy groups and/or table conferences are appropriate structures for this. This can be done across today and tomorrow and if needed throughout the rest of the week as you get to know your readers.

Reading logs are not appropriate for readers reading below level L/M text. Look to the K-2 Launching Units of Study for suggestions on tracking text read over time for lower level readers.

Plan to read aloud The Memory String, today or before session 9.

Teachers do not call on individual students in the mini-lesson. Instead during active engagement plan to listen to partner talk or watch the way a student works through the task and highlight for the class what was exemplar about the talk or process. When nothing seems exemplar during active engagement attempt some quick coaching and highlight the work in that coaching moment.

Connection ● Readers, yesterday you shared so many important habits needed for making our reading community, our reading workshop time each day, and your reading life, the best that it can be.

● I took your ideas from the JOT LOT and made this list of habits you said were important to making reading the best it could be for you. You said…(read a few ideas that were new ideas from habits shared or noticed yesterday)

● Today, I want to teach you that another important habit, strong readers possess, is the action of goal setting. Readers create goals that are important and realistic.

● Readers, life-long readers, are a lot like athletes. Athletes set goals for how far they will run and how fast. They set goals for how many laps they can swim based on how many they swam the day before. They set goals to run in 10 marathons across THIS year because last year they ran in 9. They say things like “I’m going to hit 5 homeruns this year…because last year I hit 4. This is an important goal to me because it means more points for my team…and I think I can hit one more homerun if I really work at it.” Athletes, like readers, set goals for themselves to make themselves stronger.



● Today I want to show you how readers create goals for themselves that are important and realistic.

Teach ● You are going to listen to me as I talk to myself. I am going to talk to myself about the reading goals I have for myself. I am a lifelong learner and reader and I always have numerous reading goals that are important and realistic.

● I will want to make my goals important to my reading life but also REAL…meaning that I REALLY believe I can reach my goal. So watch and listen as I think about creating important and realistic goals.

● Teachers have a stack of personal books on their lap, of different sizes, topics and genre (at least 3) Demonstrate looking through titles, and thinking about the kind of reader you have been in the past and the kind of reader you hope to be. As you look and talk about your stack of books make goal statements like “I want to be the kind of reader who…” or “I think I can be the kind of reader who…” (Examples: I want to finish this chapter book in a week. I want to read this professional book so I can talk with my teaching partners, I think I can read this new book on ____ even though someone told me it was tricky...my goal will be to read it and take notes so that I’m not confused).

● Readers, do you hear how I am talking to myself about what I think I can do as a reader with my time in my life and what I hope to accomplish in my reading life. I used the words “I want to …because… and I think I can …because….”

● You heard me making realistic goals that I think are important to my life.

Active Engagement

● Now I want you to think about your own reading life. I want you to think about the kind of reader you have been, the kinds of books you have read in the past…and I want you to think about the kind of reader you want to be or hope to be. Think for a minute about that. When you have a goal in mind…just hold that one idea in your hand (closed fist) like this. I want you to think about the kinds of books you would like to read. Are there books you hope to read? If so, hold that idea in your other hand (closed fist) like this. You now have two ideas in your hands. You really are thinking about two goals for yourself. The kind of reader you would like to be and the kinds of books you would like to read.

● If you would like to tell someone close by your goal or the kinds of books you’d like to read you can turn and talk to someone. If you’d like to keep your goal in your hand…to yourself that’s fine, just be a listener for someone else. Turn and talk or listen.

Link ● Readers, here in our reading workshop we are thinking about realistic and important goals for ourselves. Today before you begin your reading, I’m going to ask you to tell me a little about yourself as a reader so that I can help you set important realistic and important goals for yourself. That’s part of my job as your reading teacher.

● You have a “Reading Survey” (show folder and survey) that has boxes for your thinking…a goal you have for yourself, books you’d like to read, and have read. The thinking you share with me here on this survey will help to create realistic and important goals for your reading life.

● In addition to creating your own individual goals for your reading life, we will want to create realistic and important goals for our reading community. One of those goals is to increase the amount of reading you do each and every day. I noted that yesterday our class read for ____ mins. on our Reading Stamina chart. So today, I am hopeful we can increase those minutes even if it’s just five minutes more. I will be watching and noting how you are helping the class reach this important community goal of MORE reading minutes. I’m hopeful we will see more minutes added to our stamina chart. We will also want to keep track of that reading on our reading, which I plan to explain during our SHARE TIME today. You can leave the log in the folder until then or you can begin logging your reading if it something you already know how to do.


● Readers, thank you for quickly sharing your thinking with me on your reading survey, you can leave that near your reading spot until I come around to talk with you. We are going to share some of our survey thinking with partners, also.

● Notice and name readers who are helping to reach the community reading goal of “more reading minutes.”

Partnerships Announce minutes read today. Add to stamina chart. And remind readers to log in minuets read on log.

Remind readers to bring their survey with them to talk with a partner/someone nearby about their thinking on the survey.



Continue to listen in and coach partners with the Listening and Speaking CCSS in mind during partnership talks.


● Please come to the share time with your reading folder and pencil. Readers, many of you noticed that your reading folders also held a paper titled “Books I Want to Read”. This paper is for you to keep track of books you are interested in reading.

● You may hear from a classmate that the book they are reading is a MUST read…and you want to make sure you don’t forget about it seeing that you are already reading a book…so this list will help you keep track of that book and other books you see and hear about.

● Another community goal we’ll have is to share as much as we can about our reading lives. We’ll share the books we are reading…I’d like to start this goal of “BUZZING “ about a couple books I read over the summer that I think some of you will love. You may want to add them to your “Books I Want to Read List”

● Share quickly the gist of the story without spoiling them. Explain the kinds of readers who might be interested in this text.

● Readers, my hope is that you, too, will help me “BUZZ” about the books you read. If you think a book is so fantastic that others should hear a little about it and think about reading it…you can add your name and the book title to this list titled “BOOK BUZZ” that will hang in our classroom library.



Lesson Plan

Session 3

Concept Readers have strong habits inside a reading life.

Teaching Point Readers choose just-right books so they can be strong readers.

Materials


● Teacher’s conferring notes (clipboard/binder/tablet)

● 3 books or text that matches Fourth grade readers’ books for the demonstration.





Two pocket folder for each reader containing reading log and post-its (If a reader began logging in session 1 that log was collected and saved to use in folder)

Tips ● Try to make today the last day to meet with readers about how to log in.

● After the workshop Share Time is critical and complex throughout the units of study. Share time is an additional instructional time and it has been used as such each and every day. Skipping Share time will compromise the depth of work throughout the unit seeing that many times it is an additional teaching point or an additional opportunity to practice with lifted complexity.

● If you haven’t already begun to read a short chapter book, plan to begin to read Locomotion or a book similar to the titles listed in the Read Aloud section beginning on PG. 9 of the unit. Locomotion is referenced in session 13.

Connection ● I was thinking about you guys last night and I realized that something that would help you meet your own reading goals and help us achieve our class goals would be for you to have a lot of reading success when you are reading on your own.

● You will be successful if you are not fussing over lots of words, stopping and stopping to think and work on making sense of the story. You want to read text that is just right for you.

● When we read just right text it allows us to read many pages smoothly understanding what we’ve read. ● Today I want to teach you how to recognize the kinds of books that are just right for you so you can be a

strong reader.

Teach ● I’m going to pretend to be a Fourth grader so that I can show you how to decide if books are just right for you. Watch me. After I’m finished being a Fourth grader recognizing books that are just right for me, I’m going to ask you to list across your fingers how I decided if books were just right for me.

● Demonstrate; with book in hand, ways readers act and how they recognize when books are too easy for them. (reading very quickly, no work to do, only fast reading, knowing every word)

● That seemed really easy for me….because…. ● Demonstrate; with book in hand, ways readers act and how they recognize when books are too hard for

them. (Too many hard words, hard to understand, slow reading, no expression, stuck) ● That seemed really hard for me…because… ● Demonstrate; with book in hand, ways readers act and how they recognize when books are just right for

them. (Knows most of the words, understand the story, fast reading but also some slower reading to solve, mostly smooth, little stopping expression, enjoy book.

● That seemed just right…



Active Engagement

● What did you notice about my reading and thinking that made that last demonstration a just right book for me? How did I sound? How did I act? Think for a moment…turn and talk to the person next to you and explain what you saw and heard as I recognized that I was reading a just right text.

● As I listened to you I heard you say_____

Link ● Today, I’m going to ask you to find a book from your collections that you know is just right for you. On a post-it, just quickly list why you feel the book is just right for you. You may be reading and realize that you are reading smoothly, so you will write smoothly like this (Demo on post it). As you continue reading, you realize that you solved a word quickly…so you can add to your post-it “solved word” (Demo)

● Just write one or two words that explains how you know your book is just right for you, or too easy or too hard. If the book is too easy or too hard… you will want to make sure you keep reading through your collection to see if you have a just right book.

● You will share your thinking during our partner meetings.


● After a conference with a reader, explain to the class, what helped that reader determine if the book was just right for them or too hard or too easy based on your conversation with that student.

● If a reader realizes none of the books are just right for them, use this as an example of being thoughtful and brave. This reader may need to find new books based on how they’ve grown over the summer.

Partnerships Remind readers to pair up with someone nearby and share what their thinking was about the books in their collections.


● Readers, today I would like you to talk with a partner about how you felt as you read. Did you feel the books you’ve chosen are just-right for you?

● Do you feel they are too hard? ● Too easy? ● Listen in and note the way readers feel about their reading and books.



Lesson Plan

Session 4


Teaching Point Readers determine a goal for words/pages read.

Materials



● Teacher selected book for demonstration.

● Timer for Demo





Two pocket folder for each reader containing reading log and post-its

Tips This lesson could be more appropriate in small strategy groups based on the levels of readers in your class. For example, it is not suggested to time readers and set goals for pages read if readers are reading below a third grade level (Level J).

Teacher text could be on the document camera or smart board so readers can see the amount of text you read in a minute. But a book in your lap will work, as well.

Teachers always have the option of typing a short story/picture book to add complexity for fourth grade readers with the absence of pictures. This instructional move also focuses readers purely on the text and allows readers to write in the margins, highlight and share the same title as partners. Some teaching teams create a bank or library of typed short story or text to share within the grade level.

Connection ● Readers, remember yesterday I talked with you about how we were going to be like runners today. Instead of seeing what distance we can run in one minute…we are going to see how much of a page or pages we can read in one minute. This is going to help us see about how many pages we can read during our independent reading time.

● Today I want to teach you that readers determine a goal for themselves based on the number of pages they can read.

Teach ● Readers, you will use this goal to push yourself to read as much as you possibly can each and every day. ● Watch me. I’m going to show you what we are going to do once we go back to our seats with our just right

books. ● I have my just right book here and a timer that has a minute set on it. I’m going to read in my head, to

myself, until the timer beeps. Once the timer beeps…in just one minute, then I’m going to put my finger there until I can place a post-it under that word.

● Watch, because I will want you to explain to a partner what you saw me do and why. Here I go. Start timer and begin reading. Reading in your head, just as you expect readers to do.

● Oh, done, I better put my finger here under this word…I need a post it there. ● I see I read________(part of the page or __#of pages) ● Now I need to think about my goal…well…most days, we have had 30 minutes for reading so if I multiply

30 by ____part of page or #of page I know now that I can read ____ in 30 minutes. ● I’m going to write that goal at the top of my reading log. “I can read ___ pages in 30 Mins” ● However, this is not a race. I don’t want to read too quickly or my mind will not be able to think about the

words and what is happening in the book. Let me show you what the reading in my head sounded like. (Model reading about a paragraph of text using fluent, phrased, expressive, and appropriately paced



reading.) ● Readers, this is important because now, every day, I should read very close to this many pages or more

pages, if we are given more reading time.

Active Engagement

● Readers I want you to do two things now, I want you to talk with a partner about what you saw me do AND I want you to explain why it is important that we do it.

● Listen in to readers and be ready to share some of what you hear that will help readers understand the WHAT and the WHY.

Link ● Readers, today our reading time will look a little different just for a few minutes. I’m going to ask you to return to your desk/table with your reading collection. Pull out ONE just right book and ONE post it. We are going to do just what you saw me doing but we’ll do it all together.

● Once we have timed ourselves for one minuet we will write the number of pages we think we could read in 30 minutes. At the top of your log you will write like I did on my log…your goal statement.

● Once you have helped the class time themselves and place the post-it, you may need to confer with individuals to help them with the calculating of total number of pages. Let readers know that you will be around to help them and it’s important just to hold the place with a post-it

● Readers will then independent read, trying to read to their goal.


● Readers, we have been reading for 10 minutes, you might want to look and think about how many pages you’ve been able to read in 10 minutes…are you making it towards your goal?

● You want to stay focused reading but also make sure you are stopping to think, and solve problems so that you understand the story.

Partnerships Partners should share what they have learned about themselves as readers and what goals they have made for themselves based on the timing of reading.


Readers, we’ve been thinking and learning about how readers make all kinds of reading goals that are important and realistic. The work we did today with timing ourselves and calculating how many pages/books we’d read across 30 minutes helps us build this work.

Runners time themselves so that they can run at least that well every day or more than that…

We want to be strong readers and this is another strategy that helps us.



Lesson Plan

Session 5


Teaching Point Readers pay attention to the pace of their reading to read as much as they can.

Materials



● A teacher selected book for demonstration and post-its

● Prepare chart titled “Readers Pay Attention to Pace” and three premade large (6x4 post-its) with the tips already written and icons drawn.


Reading Stamina Chart (Resource Packet)

Jot Lot Chart (Resource Packet)



Tips ● Today, during read aloud with accountable talk read the book Better than You by Trudy Ludwig (or picture book with a message that matters) –Use Read Aloud progression for targets instead of book’s discussion questions. This book is referenced in session 6 mini lesson.

● Resource Packet contains picture book stories typed absent of pictures for lifted complexity, use on smart board or document camera and to place in readers hands during conferences.

● Session 16 is the end of the unit and suggests a unit celebration. If you plan to include light refreshments as a part of the celebration or you intend to alter the suggested celebration to include parents or staff, prepare to inform people of needed supplies and/or dates.

Connection ● Readers, over the last couple days we’ve been learning how to recognize just right books and then how to read in such a way that has us pushing ourselves to read as much as we can with the reading minutes we are given each day.

● Today I want to teach you that readers pay attention to the pace of their reading to read as much as they can each time they sit down to read.

Teach ● One way readers pay attention to the pace is (place the prepare post-it with each tip as you state the tip): 1. Readers follow the words with their eyes while reading (on post-it) Demonstrate how a beginning

reader reads by pointing to the words, whispering the words to self or uses a bookmark or post-it to follow words then show how an experienced reader only uses their eyes, only brings up their finger if they are stuck and reads in their head. Readers, when we read with our eyes moving quickly we are able to pick up the pace of our reading.

2. Read smoothly so I don’t have to look back so often Demonstrate how a beginning reader might read by rereading a few words, double-checking and then checking again if it makes sense, going back and rereading words, phrases. Readers, if we can smooth our reading we will pick up the pace of our reading.

3. Readers read with feeling (on post-it) Demonstrate how beginning readers read by reading in a monotone choppy way. Then demonstrate how experienced readers read with feeling or expression. Readers, when we read with feeling the text we are reading moves a long, our pace picks up, in a smooth way that helps us understand what we have read.

Readers, (list across fingers) one way to pick up the pace is to follow the words with your eyes,



another way to pick up the pace is to listen to yourself inside your head and make sure you are reading smoothly and the last way I share, was to read with feeling. Three little tips for you to try as you push yourself to read more and more each day.

Active Engagement

● Think for a minute to yourself…which one of these tips do you think you can try in your own reading today.

● Turn and tell the person near you which tip or tips do you think will help you pay attention your pace as you are reading?

Link ● Readers remember, whenever you read, it helps to follow these tips so you pay attention to the pace of your reading and read as much as you can. Keep these tips in mind as you are reading. Your goal is to try and read at least to your goal pages or beyond and these tips may help you do that. If you find that you are able to use one of these tips, just flag that page or book where you either, read with your eyes, read smooth, or with feeling. We will share those books and pages with partners.


● Find readers, as you confer, who have flagged pages and talk to the class about why the pages were flagged and to continue to think about picking up the pace.

Partnerships Readers share their flagged pages and talk about what tips they tried.


● Share one or two readers’ processes or flags to help summarize and reinforce picking up the pace,



Lesson Plan

Session 6


Teaching Point Readers see the story in their mind as they read to understand what they have read.

Materials



● Better Than You by Trudy Ludwig or picture book previously read with a message that matters (PG 3-4 and 6)

A teacher selected book for demonstration and post-its





Tips ● Texts/books referenced in the mini lesson are read aloud previously (before they are used in the mini lesson) 95% of the time. Short, new text (100 words or less) may prove useful in some mini lessons dependent on teaching point.

● Session 12 will assume teachers have enough information on levels of readers to pair long-term partnerships based on like reading levels. Informal assessment in trade book reading or more formal assessment with assessment instruments will inform teachers of reading levels for paired partnerships.

● Plan to read aloud Boar Out There, from Every Living Thing by Cynthia Rylant today or before session 13.

Connection ● Yesterday we learned some tips for picking up the pace of our reading, but then I started to worry as I met with some of you that maybe you were trying to read really fast without actually thinking about what you are reading. Reading isn’t just turning the pages saying the words…NO! Reading is using those words to make meaning. We have to know what is happening or what those words are telling us. Sometimes we read too fast and forget to really pay attention to what the words are saying. And paying attention is SO IMPORTANT!

● Today I want to teach you that readers see the story in their minds so that they understand what they have read.

Teach ● I’m going to read a little portion of the book we read yesterday, Better Than You. After I’ve read the words on the page, I’m going to stop just for a few seconds and think about what is really happening in the story, I’m going to make myself see the story in my mind, as if it were happening here in front of me…

● Read PG 3-4. I’ve read the page…now let me think a minute…what is really happening here…what do I see from those words? Think aloud about what is happening. Say words that help readers see that you are seeing more than what the words say… (I see a boy, jumping, sweating, trying again and again to get this lay-up move… …he finally does it…he’s really proud of himself and he wants to show his neighbor he can do it…and I also see the neighbor Tyler, as soon as Jake shows him his lay-up he snatches the ball and shows how he can hook the ball over his head…now I see Jake…his face is disappointed…) I’m going to flag this page with my post-it so I can talk with my partner about what I saw as I read.

● Readers, did you see and hear how I read the words, but then I tried to see the story in my mind. I used the words to help me see the story…what was happening…not just black marks (the words) on the page. I understand more than what they words say when I take the time to see the story in my mind.

● Now it is your turn to try this.



Active Engagement

● I will read page 6. (May want to make page five visible for readers). As I read the words, I want you to practice seeing the story. What is actually happening here on page five? Use the words to see in your mind what is happening in this story. Try to use many words to talk to each other about what is in your mind given these words.

● Read PG 6. Ask readers to think for themselves about the words read and/or seen and then talk with a partner as to what they see in their minds. What do you understand having heard those words? What do you understand as you see those words in your mind? Turn and talk.

● Teachers move around gathering to listen in and coach talk if needed

Link ● Readers, remember that whenever we read, we need to remember to see the story or text in our minds to help us understand what we are reading.

● Today as you read, use a post-it to flag pages where you have read and taken the time to see the text in your mind. You will have a chance to share these portions of the text with a partner. You will read that bit of your text to your partner like I did and then tell your partner what it is you see and understand.


● Readers, if you haven’t flagged a page where you were reading and seeing the words of the text or story please make sure you do so. Emma flagged this page in her book because she said after she read____ she saw_____. See how she understands more as she sees the text in her mind? Keep reading.

Partnerships Tell readers minutes read and remind to log pages.

Have partners share the parts of their books where they flagged pages based on reading and seeing to understand more.


Highlight 1-2 readers who demonstrated this strategy as observed during a conference or strategy group.

Teacher recaps what the reader read and saw and how it helped the reader gain understanding.



Lesson Plan

Session 7

Concept Readers know text is important.

Teaching Point Readers stop, reread and think to clear up confusion.

Materials



● Better than You by Trudy Ludwig (PG 8 OR 14) or picture book previously read with a message that matters

A teacher selected book for demonstration and post-its





Tips Connection could instead be a personal story with personal text in hand that shows what you were reading and what you were confused about. This alternative helps show readers will always find confusion no matter the age.

This concept requires readers to use their strategies to fully understand the text they are reading. If readers require more time and practice with accuracy and comprehension beyond these minilessons plan to meet with these readers in small groups through strategy lessons and guided reading lessons as needed. Watch the short video, The Play that Changed Lives for the Better http://inspiremykids.com/2013/play-changed-lives-better/(3 Minutes) as you would read text just for enjoyment outside of the Reading Workshop block any time today.

Watch and include stopping places for The Play that Changed Lives for the Better again tomorrow for Read Aloud with Accountable Talk. The digital text is narrative nonfiction. It tells a story. There are characters, setting, problem and solution. This digital text will be utilized again in Session 9. (The use and comprehension of digital technologies is woven throughout the CCSS) Teaching focus: Who is the main character? Setting? Supporting Characters? Problem/Issue/Goal? How does the music/scenes/people affect your feelings for the topic? Mood? What does the producer want you to know? What theories can we grow about these characters…They are the kind of people who…

The Play that Changed Lives for the Better: http://inspiremykids.com/2013/play-changed-lives-better/ is a special short video, there are many out there…if you are inclined to substitute it with one of your own choosing that is also encouraged.

Connection ● Readers, sometimes we can be reading along, reading smoothly, seeing the text in our minds and all of a sudden we realize that we do not understand what is happening…we do not understand what we have read. As readers, there are going to be many times when the words cause confusion for us. It happens with beginning readers and experienced readers. Beginning readers might be confused and decide to just keep reading….but experienced readers know that it is important to clear up their confusion before they read on. Experienced readers know that every bit of text they read is important.

● Today I want to teach you that readers stop and reread to clear up confusion.





Teach ● Strong readers listen to themselves, even when the reading is inside our heads, and when something doesn’t seem right, something is confusing; we stop and reread to clear up the confusion. We cannot read on if there is a problem with our understanding.

● I want you to watch me and listen as I read, become confused, stop and reread and think to see if I can clear up my confusion. Pay attention because I will have you try this after.

● Read Better than You PG 8 OR 14. After reading, act confused about “I really don’t get holed up in your room”… or “my favorite way to get rid of the blues is to play the blues” think about what the words are saying…reread and think until you have demonstrated how to clear up confusion.

● Readers you are strong readers with strong habits if you stop, reread and think when you come to parts of text that cause confusion.

Active Engagement

● I want you to think about the kind of reader you want to be. Do you want to be like beginning readers who do not stop to problem solve when parts are confusing or do you want to be an experienced reader who knows it is important to stop, reread and think to clear up confusion?

● Turn and talk to a partner about the kind of reader you hope to be if you come to a confusing part of your reading.

Link ● Readers, today you learned that readers deal with confusing parts by stopping, rereading and thinking. Readers do not skip over confusing parts without first trying to figure them out or clear them up.

● Today, if you find that you are dealing with something confusing, I’d like you to flag that page, so you can talk about it with a partner. You can also be flagging pages where you did some extra thinking to make sure you were seeing the text from the words or even pages where you felt like you picked up the pace to read a little smoother and faster. All of these places for flagging have come from our previous lessons and can be part of your work and talk with a partner.


● Highlight a reader who has dealt with a confusing part and recap their process for clearing it up.

Partnerships Remind readers to share flagged pages and talk about the work they are doing inside their reading.


● Readers, you may know other ways to solve confusing parts when reading…I want you to think about that…do you know other strategies to try if you are stuck with a confusing part….

● Turn and talk to a partner about some other strategies you have for solving confusing parts. ● Teacher should be coaching talk and listening in. Teacher could take note of strategies overheard to

chart known strategies as a reminder for the community.



Lesson Plan

Session 8


Teaching Point Readers take the time to figure out unfamiliar words and keep on reading.


● 1 or 2 teacher selected informational text that are two - three paragraphs in length with a few difficult words to decode/pronounce/understand for demonstration and Share time


● Post-its for Demonstration





Tips Routinely mini-lessons will utilize text for demonstration and active engagement. Short text, typically previously read is suggested. Today’s lesson will utilize text not previously read until the lesson but the text selected should be short (no more than two paragraphs) and on a topic of interest to Fourth graders.

Plan to read aloud Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts today or before session 14.

Connection ● Yesterday we worked on clearing confusion when our understanding breaks down. Sometimes when we read, we can become confused by a word we do not recognize. In those moments we need to remember that all readers encounter words that may be unfamiliar to them and that strong experienced readers create habits for problem solving these unfamiliar words. They solve these words because they know that all the text they’ll read is important to their understanding.

● Today I want to show how readers take the time to figure out unfamiliar words and keep on reading.

Teach ● Strong readers do not skip over or mumble tricky or unfamiliar words and they certainly don’t just keep reading! Yikes! Strong readers also never pretend they know a word when they really don’t know it.

● I want to show you some ways strong readers figure out tricky words so that you will take the time to problem solve these unfamiliar words when you are reading them.

● Project text using document camera or smart board or rewrite text on large chart to be shared ● Read two or three sentences that include a tricky word for Fourth graders but STOP when you get to the

tricky word. ● If you know this word, please keep it to yourself so that I can demonstrate for you…I want you to pay

attention to the actions I take and the thinking I do because you will talk about what I did when I’m finished reading.

● Demonstrate (as if you were a Fourth grader bravely solving and reading) with the two or three words within the text: 1. Breaking the word apart from left to right and blending back together 2. Reading the entire sentence and thinking about what would make sense 3. Rereading that part a couple times with the way you think the word sounds 4. Writing the words on a post-it so you can talk with someone about them and show them the work you

did

Readers, you watched and listened to me trying to solve a problem. My problem was that I didn’t know how to pronounce these words and I wasn’t sure of their meaning either at times. They were tricky words. But I didn’t mumble over them or pretend I knew them, did I? I was a strong reader and word solver. I took the time to solve them the best I could.



Active Engagement

● Readers, you were watching and listening to me. I asked you to watch my actions and listen to my thinking…now turn and talk to a partner about what you saw me doing to solve my tricky words.

● Listen in and coach the talk as needed with the Speaking and Listening CCSS standards in mind.

Link ● I heard Jacob and Eli say that they saw me put my finger under the word, I heard Sam and Perri say that I looked for parts I knew and tried to say the word the way I thought it should sound, I heard Moriah and Kaylie say that I read ahead and then I reread the sentence and actually they said I did a lot of rereading.

● Readers, you noticed that I didn’t give up on these words and I tried my best to say them and understand what they meant.

● I’d like you to do this work today if you get stuck on a word. But also, please write it on a post-it note just like I did and flag that page so that you can show a reading partner the words you worked on solving.


● Highlight a couple readers who have used strategies to solve tricky words. Encourage readers to be strong readers who solve unknown words.

Partnerships Tell readers how many minutes they have read and have them log reading.

Remind readers to share tricky words they solved by sharing their post-its and rereading the portion of text the words come from.


● Readers, part of my demonstration today included work with not only solving the words within your text but also understanding the words we solved. Sometimes, I read words and can pronounce or say them just fine, but I don’t really know what they mean. When this happens we have to be the same strong readers, and see if we can sort of figure out what the word means.

● Text on document camera or viewable by students. We can do this by reading forward (finger moving forward across text) and sometimes reading all around that word (Finger circling section of text)…we can also write the word down (Hold up post-it) and ask a partner or look it up in a dictionary or on dictionary.com at a later time. (Readers are expected to read without distraction during independent reading, explain expectations for coming back to unknown words if partner and dictionary resources are needed)

● Watch me as I read a little more of this article and show you how I solve words and what they mean when I’m not really sure of what they mean but I can say them…all text is important and it’s really critical we take the time to think about tricky parts and not just skip over them. This is a strong reading habit.

● Demonstrate problem solving to understand the meaning of a word or two.



Lesson Plan

Session 9


Teaching Point Readers see a movie in their mind to keep track of what is happening in their text.

Materials



● A teacher selected book for demonstration and post-its

● The Play that Changed Lives for the Better http://inspiremykids.com/2013/play-changed-lives-better/

The Memory String by Eve Bunting (PG 21) or picture book previously read with a message that matters





Tips ● Teachers will not share the pictures on the pages of text used today. Use the text like a novel without pictures. Hold the book towards you and allow the words only to linger in reader’s minds and yours. Or use the typed copies in the resource packet.

● The lesson uses digital text. It does not require that digital text be used. Digital text is a memorable and engaging way to access and cement thinking for the objective. If you choose to forgo the digital text use two pages from The Memory String. One page to demonstrate and one to allow for active engagement. Teachers could also choose to use informational text in the active engagement or the link to connect with the informational digital text.

● Plan to begin reading Tiger Rising by Kate Dicamillo or similar text for character study within the next week. This book will be referenced throughout Unit 2 Character Study.

Connection ● Readers, one way we can make sure that we make every word and scene important in the text we are reading is to see a movie in our mind as we are reading.

● When I am at a movie, I see what is happening in the scene: the faces of the characters, the music is playing in the background, the lighting might be dark and scary or light streams in and the music and scene is joyful…there is a lot going on in that scene at the movie. What I see and hear makes me think and feel different things about what is happening, doesn’t it?

● Today I want to teach you that readers see a movie in their minds as they read to help them keep track of what is happening in their text.

Teach We’ve spent some time with the short video clip The Play that Changed Lives for the Better: over the last couple days. http://inspiremykids.com/2013/play-changed-lives-better/

● I’m going to play that short story again today during my demonstration. We’ll watch a little and then I plan to stop the film and tell you what I am thinking as I watch. This is the same thinking we do when we are reading. Our thinking is running alongside our reading and in this case our viewing. Do you have thinking running alongside your reading? You should!

● Teachers should plan to stop the film at least two times across the 3 min film for demonstration and active engagement. The entire story dos not need to be used here. Play, stop, think, based on what you see, hear, and feel from the film.

● For Example: Play and stop at : 1:13 sec. “I’m going to count across my fingers all that I can see hear and feel and think from this part…I hear a typical school with lots of students talking I see boys wearing their football jersey…they are smiling when they talk to the reporter…the man narrating sounds happy at times





surprised …I think these kids felt sneaky but happy about what they did based on what they are saying and their faces…Readers, do you notice how I am pushing myself to hear and see and feel and think what is happening here based the picture and what I hear and see and feel and think?

Active Engagement

● Now it is your turn to try this. Push yourself to see, hear, feel and think about what is happening here. When I stop the clip. I will want you to talk with a partner by counting across your fingers what you hear, see, feel and think.

● Forward to 2:00 minutes and watch to the end. ● Listen in and coach as readers list across their fingers

Link ● List across fingers…Readers, I heard Joey say …I heard Kate say that she felt proud to see what kids could do

● These readers were pushing themselves to really see, hear, feel and think about the story. ● This is what we need to do with the words from any text we are reading. We need to read, seeing the

movie in our minds…seeing, hearing, feeling and thinking with the words of the text in mind. ● Remember PG 21 from The Memory String, watch and listen to how I read, quickly, and then do this same

work we did with our movie story ● Read paragraph one and two do NOT show picture ● Readers, I see a girl desperately looking for her lost button…she is so upset about not finding it that she

can’t even finish her sentence…soft sad music plays in my mind…it is reminding her of her mom…I see her stepmom and dad getting closer to her and then her dad hugging her tightly…he doesn’t say a word…I hear silence and little sobs…because he knows that nothing he says is going to replace that button and that memory for her…the soft sad music gets softer and the scene fads out to the next event. I almost feel my own tears starting…

● Readers, today, if you are reading, informational text or a narrative story and are able to push your thinking in this way to really see, hear, feel and think about a scene in your book, I’d like you to flag that page so that you can list for a partner what the movie looked and sounded like based on your reading.


● Highlight a reader’s work where they have created the movie in their mind. Read the short text excerpt and recap their thinking “movie style” so that readers hear another example of how this strategy looks in reading work.

Partnerships Remind readers to log in with minutes and pages each day before partnership time.

Partners should meet and read the text that made them really see a movie in their mind and talk about what they were seeing, hearing, feeling and thinking.

Teachers are meeting with partner conferences or strategy groups.


● Readers, I have saved another page of The Memory String for you to create a movie in your mind. ● I’m going to read Page 28 two times and I’d like you to push your thinking….what music do you hear, other

sounds? What do you see, what do you feel and think? I’m going to ask you to think about it on your own and then list on a post-it what you hear, see, feel and think.

● Put your name on that post –it and leave it on our jot lot please ● Teachers can use post-its on jot lot to assess if strategy groups are needed or additional minilessons



Lesson Plan

Session 10


Teaching Point Readers choose their attitude towards reading.

Materials



● Teacher personal text props: something you don’t mind reading, something you find hard to get to or don’t like reading but must, something you love to read.

A Fourth grade appropriate book to BUZZ about during Share Time.





Tips ● This lesson uses an Example/Explain instructional strategy instead of demonstration. Make sure you have personal text as props to help with the examples.

● Session 11 establishes shopping days for readers. Established partnerships should shop on the same day and time so to choose at least one like title. Now is the time to establish long term partnerships so that Session 11 shopping lists are organized by days and partners.

● Session 12 will assume teachers have enough information on levels of readers to pair long-term partnerships based on like reading levels. Informal assessment in trade book reading or more formal assessment with assessment instrument will inform teachers of reading levels for paired partnerships.

● Session 12 requires the use of a reading partner in the demonstration. Either help prep a student reader to act as your partner or ask a staff member or parent volunteer to step into the partner role?

Connection ● Readers, when my son was a little boy he loved to be read to…he would ask me to read to him over and over again until I was almost sleeping and reading at the same time at bed time. As he got older and he was learning to read for himself…reading wasn’t easy for him. He began to become a real GRUMP around reading. He complained about practicing his reading and never wanted to read. He’s older now and finds reading easier than before and I’d say he even likes to read because he chooses to read each night before he turns out his light. I don’t even have to ask him to do it!

● But there was a time when I had to tell him the same thing I’m going to tell you. ● Today I want to teach you that readers choose the attitudes or feelings they will have towards reading.

Teach ● Readers, there are times in my life when I am so excited to read…(show your text and explain why you love it)

● There are times when I don’t mind reading but it’s not my favorite…(show your text and explain why you don’t mind reading it but also don’t love reading it)

● And there are times when I really have to force myself to read (show your text and explain why you have to force yourself to read it)

● Readers, these are all different examples of the kinds of text that cause me to have feelings towards reading...sometimes I bring a really positive attitude to my reading and sometimes I bring a grumpy attitude to my reading.

● When I’m feeling grumpy about my reading ….I tell myself to snap out of it…I can change my feelings and attitudes at any time…and I know it is important to bring the right attitude to everything I read so that I will get the most out of reading. Even when I’m reading____ and I don’t really love reading it…I tell myself that



it is important that I read it because it makes me a stronger reader and it helps me__________.

Active Engagement

● Readers, I want you to think about your own reading attitude for a moment. Do you come to reading workshop excited to get your books open? Do you come with a love for reading and solving words? OR do you come and you’re a bit grumpy about all of it? Do you think you could change your feelings? Do you think you could change your attitude towards reading if you thought about how important reading is to your life? Think to yourself about this. What is your attitude your feelings about reading? We’re just thinking to ourselves.

Link ● Readers, today as you are reading, I want you to spy on yourself….are you bring positive attitudes and feelings to your reading? Do you feel like a hard worker, do you feel smart, or happy to be reading? Or do you feel grumpy? Bored? Like you just can’t read anymore? I’d like you to tell me how you feel about reading…On a post-it you might say I feel ____ about reading because_____ and then I make sure you put your name on it and post your note to our JOT LOT. It’s important that I help you develop a positive attitude towards reading.

● As you continue to read, you can also flag words you are working on and parts of the text that have you really seeing and understanding what you have read.


● Readers, I was talking with Megan and boy oh boy…does she have a positive attitude towards her reading…(talk about your conversation and how you knew this reader was bringing a positive attitude to her reading)

Partnerships Readers today I’d like you to tell a partner what you are reading and whether it is helping you have a positive attitude or feelings or if it is causing you to be a bit grumpy. You can also share any other work you have done in your reading.


● Readers, a while ago, we talked and learned about just right books…but whether a books is too easy, hard or just right isn’t the only way to tell if a book is just right for you. You also have to like reading it. You have to have an interest in the story or topic. When we love a book we are reading we can help create a “buzz” about books by telling others about the book.

● Readers can give a little summary of the book, read a little out loud to others and tell people why you think the book is so special.

● Watch me…(demonstrate buzzing about a book you love by giving a summary, reading a little and tell people why you think it is special)

● Readers, this is something I’d like you to start doing. When we share books we love, we create more love around books by doing so. We help other readers find books that matter to them. We have the “Book Buzz” sign up and I’m going to ask ____ to buzz about her book tomorrow afternoon. We will begin to hear from readers every week as long as I see names on the “Book Buzz” sign-up sheet.



Lesson Plan

Session 11


Teaching Point Readers keep a stack of books beside them.

Materials


● Two pocket folder for each reader containing reading log and post-its

Teacher’s conferring notes (clipboard/binder/tablet)


Reading Stamina Chart-Resource Packet

Shopping List-Resource Packet

Ways We Choose Books- Resource Packet

Tips ● This lesson requires that teachers have thought about ways readers will shop for books inside the classroom library a minimum of once a week. Many teachers designate shopping days for smaller groups of readers. Readers shop before/during morning bell, after lunch, or during clean-up before the dismissal bell. Readers do not shop during the independent reading workshop block of time. The expectations described in this lesson do not have to be each teacher’s expectations. But each teacher needs their own list of expectations for creating a stack of books.

● Many teachers assign a shopping list for each reader guiding the choices of books when readers go to shop. The list will list quantity and text type appropriate for the reader given the unit of study work.

● Book stacks/bags also contain a balance of informational text, possibly text on class studies (if appropriate), poetry etc…

● If teachers have a wide range of readers, this lesson may be better suited in small strategy groups based on “like level” readers.

Connection ● Readers, when readers understand how important text is to their thinking and life…they start to be the kinds of readers who always want a stack of books beside them. They never want to have a moment when they say, “Hey, I don’t know what I’m going to read.”

● Today I want to teach you that readers keep a stack of books beside them so that they always have reading to go to.

Teach ● You started your year with a stack of books that you packed for yourselves when you were leaving third grade…so having a stack of books beside you is something you’ve been doing since Kindergarten. In our classroom this year, you will continue to shop for a stack of books that matches your reading level, that interests you, and that may even allow you to try a challenge at times.

● Explain your expectations for shopping for books. Think about quantities based on reading levels. Show readers any charts or shopping lists that will guide them as they shop of their given day.

● I want you to watch me as I use the shopping list I received from my Fourth grade teacher and think about creating a stack of books for myself. Watch carefully, because I want you to be able to talk about what you saw me doing once I am finished. Demonstrate being a Fourth grade reader shopping for your stack of books based on your reading level, interests, authors, series, blurb, illustrations, just-right, recommendations, “books I want to read” list and expectations from the teacher. Allow readers to see that you select one challenge book that maybe a level higher than your just right level and you also select a book from a level below to help build fluency. The largest quantity of books should be at the reader’s just right reading band. Show how new books go into private bags and books read go back in appropriate crates. Demonstrate thinking as you select books based on the expectations. Choose books, read the



blurb, look at the level and think about you as a Fourth grade a reader. ● Readers do you see how I was shopping for my stack of books based on what I was interested in reading

but also guided by what my teacher thought would help me be the strongest reader?

Active Engagement

● Readers, turn to a partner and list, what you saw me doing to shop for my stack of books. ● Listen in and coach

Link ● Readers, I heard so many of you noticing the way I was shopping for my stack of books. I heard _____ ● I’m going to give you your shopping list. It will have your shopping day listed at the top along with a list of

books and quantities, numbers of books you can shop for. As you read today, think about the kind of reading you are doing and like to do. If you have comments or questions about the list I have given you, please flag your list with a post-it and I will make every attempt to come talk with you about your shopping list during independent reading.


● Highlight a conference you had where a reader had questions about their list. Talk about the reasons lists are different from one reader to another and how we are all different readers working towards different goals.

Partnerships Have partners share their shopping lists and comment on the kinds of books or titles they hope to shop for.

Teacher is always conferring with partners and/ meeting with strategy groups.


● Readers, as I learn more about you as readers. Your shopping lists will change. As you grow to be stronger readers, your shopping lists will change. As your studies move from one unit to another unit…our shopping lists will change…our lists tell us a little about ourselves as readers, but it’s important that you know that your lists will always be changing as you change…or we change as a community.

● If you ever have questions or comments about your lists, I want you to make sure we have a conversation. ● This chart details the demonstration I showed you earlier. Each bullet is something I thought about while

doing my shopping and making my stack. We will hang it near the library so when you are shopping you can look back at it.



Lesson Plan

Session 12

Concept Readers read with and learn from other readers.

Teaching Point Readers share their reading habits with other readers.

Materials






Partner Interview Guide (Resource Packet)

Ask reader/staff member to help with the demonstration by acting as teacher’s reading partner (prep child so that the demonstration runs smoothly and the child is not timid about playing the role of your partner)

Tips ● Prior to this lesson pair each reader with a reader reading at the SAME reading level to remain partners for an extended time. Think about conversation skills and dispositions, also, once reading level is matched.

● Partner relationships will grow and shape readers experiences as readers throughout the year. Ideally, partners are reading at least one like title, progressing through that book together. This allows for the greatest depth in conversion and comprehension.

● Ideally, assign a book to each partnership based on their reading level/interest if resources are available. In time, partners will shop for one book with the same title always on their shopping day.

● Some teachers designate each child either partner A or partner B in the partnership for efficient delivery of directions and turn taking during the minilesson and share time. Our future lessons utilize this detail.

● Session 13 requires the use of a student partner or staff member. Prep selected partner so demonstration runs smooth.

Connection ● Readers, some of my most memorable reading has taken place while reading with other readers. We were not reading out loud to each other. NO! In fact, we did all our own reading, but what I remember is the conversations we had based on that reading. Having people to talk to about our reading can help us be strong, strong readers.

● Today I want to teach you that once you have a reading partner to talk to, one of the first things readers can do is share their reading habits with that partner.

Teach ● I asked Rigel to act as my reading partner for this demonstration. Thank you Rigel. Rigel brought his bag of books and his reading folder to our partnership meeting place. We had to decide where we would meet each day so that our teacher would know where to find us. As partners, you will always find us here.

● Well, we are learning that readers can share their reading habits with other readers…so Rigel…what do you know about yourself as a reader? When do you like to read? What do you like to read? Show me some of the books you are reading. Oh, let’s look at your reading log…do you read a lot during our reading minutes? Are you reading at home, too…oh yes…your reading log shows that you are. Do you want to know about my reading habits? OK…what do you want to know?

Active Engagement

Readers, I am going to tell you who your reading partner is. I want only smiles and friendly faces as I tell you these partnerships. I thought about your partner for a long time. I thought about a person who would help make you a stronger reader…so this person may not be your very best friend, but remember we are all friends here. Once I tell you your partnership will you please move next to each other here on the carpet and say hello to each other? Just decide to either move to your partners spot or have them come to you.



Link ● Readers, you already showed me that you know a few things about having a reading partner. This is not new for you. I love how I saw Alex smile when he heard Sarah’s name as his reading partner. I love how Jack and Will’s partnership made room for Anna and Drew’s partnership to meet next to each other. I love how I didn’t hear any whining or complaining…that’s because you know this person will be your partner in order to help make you a stronger reader.

● During partnership time today, you are going to have the chance to meet with your partner, your bags of books, your logs and folders to hear about your partner as a reader.

● In fact, we are going to have partnership time first today and independent reading second so that you can move right into talking with your partner and getting to know them.

● You have two jobs as partners. Job one is to find a place around the room where you and your partner would like to meet each day to talk as partners. The place you pick will be your partnership spot each and every day. Job two interview your partner to get to know them a bit. You can pick up a partner interview guide if you would like a few question ideas to help you get your partnership talking. Many of the questions you heard Rigel and I use are from this interview guide.

● You have 2 minutes to pick a partnership spot…the timer is started now.

Mid Workshop ● Readers let me tell you about ____ and ____ partnership meeting… ● Look into the Listening and Speaking CCSS. Recap meetings where partners exhibited appropriate skill and

strategy in talking with their partner. ● Share some of the insights learned from one partner to another (My partner reads more than I do, I read

more at home, we both like…)

Independent Reading

● Readers will begin independent reading after partnership time today.

After the workshop Share

● Readers, please come to our meeting area seated next to your partner. Starting today, and each and every day, I’d like partnerships to sit together during our minilesson and our share time. That way, you will have even more time to talk to each other. This will be an additional strong habit we have as part of our reading community.

● I need you as a partnership to decide who wants to be known as partner A and who wants to be known as partner B…it is only for our use in partnerships to help us move quickly with directions and turn taking. Some of the time partner A will go first…but other times partner B will go first. It helps me as your teacher make sure I am giving equal work and talk time to each of you…helping you to be a stronger reader and speaker and listener.

● Also, I am handing out a book to each partnership. You and your partner will always try to shop for one title that is the same. This time I chose the book based on your levels of reading the next time you go shopping the two of you can decide on a book as long as we have a pair of them.

● The time we spend talking with our partner matters a lot! No matter if we are talking to our partner during partnership time or mini-lesson or share time, we can learn from our partner and practice talking and thinking to make ourselves stronger readers. I’d like you to take a minute and decide with your partner how many pages you will read of this new book tomorrow during independent reading…that way you will know what to read and be ready to talk when it is partnership time.



Lesson Plan

Session 13


Teaching Point Readers talk to their partners about the books they have read.

Materials




● Locomotion by Jacquline Woodson

Every Living Thing: Boar Out There by Cynthia Rylant



Ask a student to act as your partner today or another staff member. Prep partner so the demonstration runs smooth. The partner should be prepared and unintimidated to ask you questions and talk about the book, Locomotion, or other recent read aloud.

Tips If reading partners are not in like titles, they can still talk about the book they are reading and about the work they are doing inside that book. Know that the depth of conversation will be compromised when readers are reading unlike titles.

This connection uses questioning as a way to grab reader’s attention. It is assumed that the teacher will question and either, answer the questions themselves or keep talking. Questioning individual readers while the class waits to hear answers from students is not part of mini lesson practice.

Teachers will need a reading partner for session 15 demonstration. Plan in advance to ask a reader in class or a staff member to assist with the demonstration.

Connection ● Readers, I think one of the best parts of reading a book is what you do after you’ve read it…YOU FIND SOMEONE TO TALK TO ABOUT IT! It’s a lot like going to see a movie…what do you do after? (Go out to eat? MAYBE!) But I bet…you probably ask people if they’ve seen it…or you tell people they should see it…and when you find someone that has seen it…what do you do? You talk about all the funny parts, or the scariest part or the parts that were confusing…

● Today I want to teach you that readers talk to their partners about the books they’ve read.

Teach ● I asked Reagan to help me with the demonstration. Reagan and I are going to pretend we are reading partners. Watch us as we talk to each other about the books we’ve read.

● To Reagan: Reagan, have you read Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson? Oh Yeah, of course you have…our teacher has been reading it to us… What do you think about that story? Allow student to answer To Reagan: At first…I was so confused…because of how the book is written in poetry…each poem tells a little more about Lonnie, but at first I really didn’t know what was going on in that story…how about you? What do you think about Lonnie the main character?

● Carry on a conversation about a recent read aloud, like Locomotion. Allow wait time for your partner to answer…but also wait for them to ask you something if you have prepped them to do so.

● Readers, did you notice how my partner and I talked about the book we both had read. This is why I gave each of you in a partnership the same titled book. I want you to read and talk about this book when it is partnership time. Let’s practice.

Active Engagement

● Now, seeing that you are sitting next to your reading partner, you are ready to do some talking, too. ● We have read and thought a lot about the book Locomotion during read aloud…turn to face your partner,

looking them in the eye…build a conversation Locomotion. Let’s have Partner A begin the conversation.



Partner B, make sure you are listening so that you can ask questions if you need more information from your partner.

● Coach in and listen

Link ● Readers, I want you to spend time independently reading your partnership book first today. I want you to remember all the things we have been working on…making a movie in our minds, solving tricky parts, etc…flag pages or jot a note when you are working …if you think “OH MY…I need to show this to my partner!” then you are already doing the work of thinking about how you will talk to your partner during partnership time.


● Highlight readers who have done work that can easily be shared with their partner. Encourage readers to think of their partners, and what they want to talk about, as they read to themselves.

Partnerships Remind readers to meet with all of their reading materials in their designated partner spot.

Teachers confer and coach with partners, with the Speaking and Listening CCSS in mind, as well as reading process work.

Teachers meet with small groups (two partnerships together) for strategy lessons.


● Readers, as I was listening in to your partnerships, I was thinking that it might be helpful to remind you that retelling, something you have been doing since kindergarten…is always a way for readers to think more about the text they are reading. Now that you have a partner, you can retell that same story you are reading together. This helps us have the story in mind as we talk about it.

● Let’s try some retelling now. ● I’m going to begin retelling Boar Out There from Cynthia Rylant’s, Every Living Thing, and then I’m going

to ask partners to take turns with more of the retelling…I’ll say…ok partner B now you retell the next part. and then I’ll say, GO partner A, tell the next part and partner A will have to add the next part to the retelling…Ready? I will retell the first pages

● Only practice one or two times with partners ● Readers, retelling is something else you can do with your partner when you are meeting before or after

other ideas you have for your partnership.



Lesson Plan

Session 14


Teaching Point Readers summarize their text and think about the author’s message to talk with other readers

Materials

Each reader has a bag of leveled books previously packed by the reader as a third grader. (Bags passed from third grade to fourth grade) OR crates of books on table tops of mixed levels, lengths and genre accessible to all readers.




Those Shoes by Maribeth Boelts

Better than You by Trudy Ludwig


Reading Stamina Chart Resource Packet

Steps for Summarizing a Story-Resource Packet

Written, large on chart paper or on document camera or smart board, summary of a read aloud book previously read to the class. Make author’s message at the end a different color. Example: Jeremy wanted a new pair shoes like the ones all the kids were wearing, but his grandma did not have the money for them. So Jeremy and his grandma go to thrift shops and finally find a pair of the shoes she can afford. Even though the shoes are too small for Jeremy he buys them and wears them and they hurt his feet horribly. Jeremy stops wearing them. Then, Jeremy notices his friend Antonio has small feet and is wearing shoes with tape holding them together. In the end, Jeremy decides that if he can’t wear his special shoes, Antonio should have them and he gives them to Antonio. People who read this book learn that things, like fancy shoes, aren’t as important as helping someone else.

Tips ● Today’s lesson is asking readers to use summarize as a step up from retelling. This work is complex and new. It is in an effort to grow conversation and connect important story events with the author’s message, in addition to meet CCSS grade level expectations. If you have been reading aloud and targeting these skills as a class through read aloud with accountable talk, and shared and guided experiences readers will have an easier time transferring the expectation.

● It will be important to continue to share and guide this work in read aloud with accountable talk and guided reading work in small groups.

● The word retell is widely used by teachers. The CCSS refers to the term recount in a similar way. This unit has used retell and here aims to lift and shift or build from retelling to have readers only recount the important events that help explain the author’s message.

● If you feel that more days are needed in order to grow this work, add mini lessons/days. However, summarizing will be important work throughout the year.

Connection ● Readers, as I was thinking about you and the work we’ve been doing with our partnerships, I realized that you have been practicing retelling stories since you were in kindergarten.

● I thought to myself, “these are Fourth graders…they want to be strong, stronger readers…what is it that they need to make them stronger?”

● What I realized as I thought about you retelling…is that readers don’t always start retelling from the beginning of the story and tell every single detail. As you become a stronger reader, you summarize, or recount (count across fingers) and only tell the important parts that hold the real meaning of the story together or the author’s message.

● I made a chart to help guide our thinking about this called WAYS TO RETELL AND SUMMARIZE ● This might sound confusing …well…today I’m going to show you how readers summarize their text while

thinking about the author’s message so that you can add this to your partnerships talk.



Teach ● Let’s say I wanted to talk to you as if you were my partner…all of you are going to be my partner. I want to talk about Those Shoes because we have both read it…

● Remember…listen…This is going to sound like a retelling…but I’m going to leave a lot of the details out and only tell you the important parts that I think help tell the author’s message.

● Share your charted summary. As you read count each sentence on a finger. ● Readers, do you notice on my chart, where I wrote my thinking about the author’s message a different

color? I did this so you would not forget that a summary includes what is most important about the text or the author’s message….and really…we are choosing the most important events based on what we think people will learn from reading the book. It was important for me to tell you what the character wanted. How he got it. His problems. And how he solved them. In the end, we can learn from Jeremy, can’t we? You are reading books we can learn from, too.

● Do you notice how I told the main points of the story in 6 or 7 sentences even though the text has many, many, more sentences?

● I could tell you this summary across my fingers without running out of fingers. If I was to retell the story I would have to include many more details and I would run out of fingers.

Active Engagement

● Now I’d like you to turn to your partner. Partner (A) I’d like you to try to summarize The Memory String or Better than You. Partner (B) you will add the author’s message, or what you believe people can learn from this story, once your partner has listed the last event. Let’s not forget that there may be many ideas people can learn from these stories and characters and not just one idea. For example, people might also learn from Those Shoes that People can care about each other…because first Mr. Alfrey cared about Jeremy’s shoes, THEN Grandma cared about Jeremy’s shoes, and lastly, Jeremy cared about Antonio’s shoes. Let’s give this a try.

● See if you can count your statements across fingers. ● Listen in. Coach. Take note. Readers do not need the time to give complete summaries but enough time

to see if your lesson is helping the work to begin.

Link ● Readers, we are working on saying as much as we can about the books we are reading. We do not want to be the kind of readers who just quickly run through retelling our story page by page without thinking about how all the parts fit together. When we summarize by adding in only the important information it helps listeners understand the entire story.

● Today, as you are reading your books, I’d like you to stop after reading a bit, flag that page, and then think about what information from the pages before you would add to a summary. (DEMO flagging page and summarizing the first part of a text for one of the books). Your page might only be said in one sentence. I only used six sentences to tell you a summary of an entire story. A summary will be short but will have all the important parts that help us learn from the story.


● Highlight a reader who flagged a page, summarized and used the author’s message or possible message based on where they are in their book. Recap the reader’s process for the class.

Partnerships Remind partners of all the ways that can be working together, including attempting to summarize and adding in information that is important from beginning to end with the author’s message.


● Readers, I asked you to bring a post-it and pencil to share today, because I’d like you to think about one or two ideas you have for what partners can do together during our partnership meetings.

● You might start by writing (quickly write for readers) “Partners work together by….” and I’d like you to tell me on your post-it your ideas for how partners work together.

● You’ve had reading partners since you were in kindergarten and before we go any further with our work I’d like to see some of your OWN ideas. Please put your name on your post-it and place it on our Jot-lot on your way back your seats.



Lesson Plan

Session 15


Teaching Point Readers listen to others with open minds.

Materials

Each reader has a bag of leveled books previously packed by the reader as a third grader. (Bags passed from third grade to fourth grade) OR crates of books on table tops of mixed levels, lengths and genre accessible to all readers.




Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson



Ask a student or staff member to help with the demonstration by being your reading partner. Prep them with what is expected before the lesson. Partner should have 5 ideas, opinions, thoughts, feelings The Memory String or another read aloud the class has heard.

OPEN MIND AND CLOSED MIND printed on chart with quick icon to refer to in lesson.

CHART: WAYS PARTNERS WORK TOGETHER created from readers ideas on JOT LOT from session 14.

Tips ● The TEACH and ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT are woven together today due to the longer time spent with CONNECTION.

● Chart: WAYS PARTNERS WORK TOGETHER…Share Time references a chart the teacher has made from collecting ideas off the jot lot on ways partners work together. The teacher should feel free to add ideas that have been taught or should be previous grade level expectations if the class would be served by having them charted as a reminder.

Connection ● Readers, have you ever heard someone say to you or someone else…”Keep on open mind about this!” or “You are so closed minded!”?

● I know when I was growing up, my parents had a CLOSED MIND when I asked them if I could ride my bike all the way to my friend Sarah’s house…it was on the other side of town and part of my ride would be without sidewalks, which meant I’d have to ride alongside the road. My parents were CLOSED MINDED…they were not going to even think about what I wanted. I was not going to change their mind.

● But when I asked my parents if I could spend the night at Sarah’s even on a school night…they had an OPEN MIND…they would think about it…they would ask if my homework was finished and if my room was tidy…sometimes they would say no I couldn’t but many times they said YES I could. They had an OPEN MIND about the sleepovers. People can have OPEN MINDS AND CLOSED MINDS…depends on the ideas…

● These are two expressions used to describe how someone is thinking about an idea. ● If you have an open mind, it means that your mind is turned on and you are thinking about an idea…if you

have a closed mind…it means that your mind is turned off and you are not thinking about that idea. ● Today I want to teach you that readers listen to others with an OPEN mind.



Teach/ Active Engagement

● When we talk about our reading with others…it is important that we listen with an open mind. We don’t want to listen all (Demo) scrunched up, arms folded, grumpy face, mind turned off…closed minded…we want to listen with an open mind, arms unfolded, pleasant face, kindness inside (gesture), our minds turned on… knowing that there are hundreds of ideas to listen to and to be made by other readers in our class.

● It’s important that as readers and listeners we hear all the ideas we can…so that those ideas can grow as we talk through our conversations.

● I want you to watch as Joe and I act as reading partners. Joe is going to share an idea he has about Locomotion. I’m going to be the listener. As you are watching, I want you to think to yourself…is MRS. ____ listening with an Open Mind or a Closed Mind.

● If you think I am listening with an open mind…then I’d like you to show me two open hands, like two big waiting high fives…if you think I am being a listener with a closed mind, then I want you to show me two closed hands, fists. Closed fists will tell me you see me being closed minded. Open- show gesture and closed- show gesture

● Joe should begin my saying something he thinks, feels, or knows about Locomotion… ● The teacher will respond with either CLOSED MINDED behaviors and language (arms crossed, grumpy face,

“I don’t think so”…”NO that’s not right” “No…that’s not right”) or OPEN MINDED behaviors (Pleasant look on face, arms in lap, “OH…Why do you think that?”, “Tell me more about that…” “I’ve never thought about that, huh, let me think a minute, I’ll have to go back and read that part.”

Link ● Readers, I know we were giggling a bit when you heard me with that closed mind…it looks funny to see your teacher acting closed minded when a partner is talking about the reading they have done…but it looks just as funny when any reader turns off their mind and doesn’t listen with an open mind…I guess it doesn’t look funny…sometimes I think it looks sad…really…because I think to myself “doesn’t that reader want to think about all the different ideas that are possible…

● Readers, we will move forward talking with our partners as listeners with open minds. I’m going to ask you to meet with your partner first today, so I can listen to you talk about the books in your bags. I’m going to be watching for OPEN MINDED listeners and making some notes as I listen to you.

Partnerships ● Meet before independent reading today. Working to look and respond with an open mind.


Highlight a partnership that used body language or words that showed listening with an open mind.


● Readers, I read your post-its last night that you shared with me. You had so many ideas for the ways that readers should work together. No one had posted Partners should work together with an open mind…so I decided I would make that today’s lesson.

● But I took many of your ideas, and some the ideas we have talked about in the last few days and charted them here for us so that we could be reminded of ways to work with our partners.

● This chart is so much of our shared thinking…so much of our open minds…you had brilliant ideas to share with me and I’ve had some to share with you…and now many of those ideas are here. Take a minute and read the chart over with your partner to help you build on to ideas you already had.



Lesson Plan

Session 16


Teaching Point Readers reflect on ways they have changed as readers.

Materials




● All read alouds, thus far, gathered

● Premade post-its 4x6 inch containing a way a fourth grade reader has changed from the beginning of the year until now. (Examples: Reads entire 30 min., chooses “just-right” books, tried a chapter book). Use the ways your readers have changed as a springboard, if necessary.

Tips ● This session is a celebration and end to the first unit of study. There are certainly many ways to celebrate all that has occurred in these first few weeks.

Connection Readers, you have learned a lot about yourself as a reader over the last few weeks. Maybe you thought you were the kind of reader who could only read for ten minutes before finding it hard to keep going…and NOW…maybe you are realizing that you are the kind of reader who is getting lost in your books, reading and reading for the entire time.

We change. We grow. Each and every day we are alive is another opportunity to be a little better than the day before, isn’t it?

When we look at our reflection in a mirror…we see maybe that our hair has grown longer or we’ve grown taller…these are things we can see by looking at our reflection. But today I want us to look at ourselves as readers…we don’t have a mirror…but if we did…what kind of readers would you see?

Today I want to teach and celebrate with you! I want to teach you that readers reflect on ways they have changed. This will help you see ways you have grown already as a reader.

Teach

● We will first work on our own to reflect and then we will meet with our partners to talk about what we notice about ourselves as readers. Watch me pretend to be a Fourth grader, reflecting on ways I have changed as a reader. I’m going to use (holding up) my reading log, my box of books and either my post-its or notebook to list ways I’ve changed since the beginning of the year. For the lesson, I’m going to list on the chart paper so you can see what I have thought about.

● Think aloud about the kind of reader you were coming into Fourth grade and the kind of reader you see yourself as now. Think aloud about what has been challenging but ways you see you have tried to change and become a stronger reader. Attach post-its or list the ways you’ve reflected on as changes in yourself as a reader.

● Use read aloud books to talk about comprehension work you have strengthened or how your attitude has changed about certain kinds of books.

● Readers, I hope you were listening to me reflect on ways I have changed as a reader. I was looking at my log and I realized it told me a lot about myself…I looked and thought about my books in my box and the books on my log…I hadn’t realized I had read so many books already until I took the time to reflect on ways I’ve changed.

Active Engagement

● Now I want you to think for a moment…think about a way you have changed as a reader. Just last June you were a third grade reader and now you are a fourth grade reader…how have you changed? When you



have at least one idea as to a way you have changed just put your thumb in front of your heart like this…. ● Turn and tell your partner what you were reflecting about…

Link ● I heard Corey say that she has… and I heard… ● Readers, today when you go back to your places for independent reading, I’d like you to spend time

reflecting on ways you have changed as a reader. Make some notes and jot down your list of ways you have changed, so that you can talk with your partner about your changes.

● Remember to use you log…your books…and any feelings or noticings you have about yourself as a reader.


● Share ways readers have used their reading tools and artifacts to uncover ways they have changed.

Partnerships Have partners share their reflections.

Encourage readers to listen really well to their partner’s reflection, reminding them that we can learn from other’s reflections…maybe we hadn’t thought of a change in ourselves that our partner thought of.

Highlight partners that might notice changes in each other, too.


● Ask readers to bring a post-it and pencil to the meeting area. ● Readers, I heard so many of you reflecting and noticing ways you have changed as readers. ● When you reflect…you may realize that you have grown in a way that has you feeling really strong as a

reader…but you also may reflect and realize you still have some work to do to be even stronger…remember…we grow and change every day because we are people who are learners…I’d like you to reflect for a moment and think about one way you’d like to be even a stronger reader. What do you need to do? What do you need? What is a new goal for you to work toward?

● Please write your name on your post-it and the reflection you have to become even stronger and then we will have our celebration snack, ending our launching unit.

● Your reflections will help me teach and coach each one of you toward these new goals.

Documents

Fourth Grade Launching Strong Reading Habits Unit 1 8/1/2015flintelacurriculum.weebly.com/uploads/4/4/3/1/44310935/g4unit1rlp.pdf · Readers have four years of reading workshop structures