An Observation

This week the only choice students have had is Read to Self and completing different tasks on their Independent Reading Contract, and while this seems to be going ok I have noticed that I have been bothered with the "Can I go to the bathroom?" questions quite a few times during reading this week, and usually that NEVER happens, partly I think because they know when they get in their spot and get started, they should not need to get up. At one point today when a student asked I responded by asking if they really needed to go, or if they were just bored... they smiled a little and said they really had to go, but I have other thoughts.... I am looking forward to getting back to our usual routine, I hope the students are too!

Less Choices Today!

As I attempt to help twenty five 4th graders create their Christmas present for their families I also decided to change up Reading Workshop... after Day 1 I am already wanting to go back to the way we usually do things in Reading Workshop. I miss our familar routines. I feel like this will provide some good insight into the way the students actually feel about Reading Workshop, I just hope it doesn't make for a stressful two weeks before Christmas.

Our Christmas project requires some small group teacher supervision, and Reading Workshop usually provides a quiet enviornment where this can happen, so we will be multi tasking during Reaidng Workshop for the next two weeks. While I am helping student choose letters that go together, sand, paint, and modge podge their work the students will also be completing an Independent Reading Contract, while also taking part in the Read to Self choice. Today was Day 1 and I already had students asking me if Read to Someone was a choice today. After students got working they did great, I think it is good for them all to have some quality Read to Self time! We will see how this continues... 9 days of Read to Self, while also completing some independent activities that relate to their reading. Here it goes!

Our CHRISTMAS Project: On an unrelated note I thought I would take a moment to share our Christmas Project Idea, as we consider it to be a fairly inexpensive, but cute project. Each child makes a wooden sign with a holiday word on it, like the crafty type signs you sometimes see in stores. We buy the wood from the bin at Menards and then cut it down to size. Then using my Cricut and holdiay scrapbook paper we cut out letters and give students the choice of what word they would like to put on their board: Merry, Hope, Joy, Jolly, Peace, Noel. Students mix and match the different letters and styles to create their word, then they paint their board, and Modge Podge the letters on. I will try to post some photos after we are a little more underway.

A week with ALL the choices… and limited interruptions!

This past week was probably the last “normal” week until after the holidays and I took time to enjoy it before all the hussle and bussle begins.

 This week students had all 6 choices available to them everyday, and while I have not taken a look at this week’s logging sheets I can say based off of my observations that most students accomplished a variety of choices throughout the week.

Word Work/Spelling was offered for the second time this week and the students really seem to enjoy the Wikki Stix and the Stamps, just as my observations had shown in the previous week. I am not fully satisfied with this choice yet, although in some very unofficial data I did notice a lot of high spelling test scores this week, on a pretty typical list of words. While student really seem to enjoy these hands on ways of practicing their spelling words, I want to tie in a little more vocabulary and use of spelling skills and strategies. In these week’s survey I did as the question, How do you feel about the Word Work/Spelling choice? and I found that the results varied. There were 5 the Loved it! 11 that Like it! 4 that said Ho Hum… and 5 that Don’t Like it! This was one of the largest spreads I have seen for a choice, and I feel that my “high” spellers found this choice boring and not challenging, and those that struggle with spelling a little more found it as a good way to practice. This choice is one that I am definitely still thinking about… how can I improve it and make it better?

Some of the other data this week showed that most students continue to have a positive attitude towards reading, and enjoy the choices being offered. I was bummed to see another one fall into the Don’t like it! but it is just another challenge to overcome, another reader to inspire!

How do you feel about Reading Workshop in 4th Grade?
Love it! 7	Like it. 14	Ho Hum… 3	Don’t like it! 1
How do you feel about having choices each day in Reading Workshop?
Love it! 11	Like it. 13	Ho Hum… 1	Don’t like it! 0

 I was particularly happy to see that students are enjoying the choices, on the survey after they answered this question I asked them to explain their choice. Many of the things students wrote down involved the fact that they like to have the choice. Some of the responses I got as to why they like having choices were:

“It is fun, so you can do something different everyday!”

“It is OK, it is nice to be able to choose a choice.”

“I like it because not every day is the same.”

“Well, it is fun switching it up every once and awhile.”

Overall, as the numbers show, the responses towards having choices were positive! J It definitely makes me feel like choices  are a good fit in our Reading Workshop, something the seems to motivate these 4^th graders!

Next week will be different, from now until Christmas there will be no choices in Reading Workshop, well… kind of. Students will be getting an Independent Reading Contract that they will need to complete while doing the Read to Self choice. Along with this contract students will have 4 choices in the areas of Reading, Writing, Skill, and Art for which they will have to choose an activity and relate it to their I PICK book. I am interested to see how this goes and if students miss having their “regular choices” during Reading Workshop, I feel this will be a good opportunity for data comparison with my Action Research topic!

Happy December everyone! Good luck with all that there is to get done before BREAK!

Choice #7: The FINAL Choice - Word Work/Spelling

This week was another short week for the students, and I was finally able to introduce our FINAL Reading Workshop Choice: Word Work/Spelling. As I have expressed before this is the choice that I was most hesitant about... being that I did not know exactly what would make this a benifical choice for my 4th graders. The main focus of this choice during this first week was practice with Spelling Words, although I feel that I would like to incoperate some more vocabulary into this choice in the future. These were the observations I made regarding Word Work/Spelling during Reading Workshop Choice Time this week:

Whiteboard: Practice writing your spelling words in print or cursive on a small whiteboard. After you have written each word you may then draw words to go with each spelling word. If you do not know what a word means, look a dictionary to look it up. A few students choice this option throughout the week and it seemed to be an ok way to practice spelling words. One student told me, after completing this choice, that if you got almost all the words right on your spelling pretest then this is not a great choice because it is too easy.

Wikki Stix: Practice your spelling words by writing them with Wikki Stix. Do not cut or break the Wikki Stix, find ways to use them as they are. This was a popular choice with students. I had enough Wiki sticks for 3 students to do this each choice time. As students started this we found that using their clipboards provided a good surface for them to work on and allowed them to still work in their Book Nook spots. I found this to be a good way for students to practice their spelling words, and after they made the word they could trace it with their finger - allowing for more kiethestic like practice.

Grammar: Read the directions of the folder and complete the corresponding activity. If there is a sheet you need to fill out with the activity please attach it to your logging sheet. This choice was not popular with the studnets this week, as many were more interested in "fun" and "different ways to practice their spelling words.

Vocabulary: Look up this week’s vocabulary words using the glossary in your reading hardcover book. After you write the definition using words you may then draw small picture to show what the word means. Most students do this during Morning Work time, so the number of students completing this during chocie time was limited.

BONUS: Occasionally there will be another option for Spelling/Word Work. Look for a note card on the back of this sheet for more information about this option. This week the additonal choice was using letter stamps to stamp out the spelling words and this was a hit with the 4th graders! I only have 3 sets of letter stamps, so only 3 students could be doing this per choice time. However, this was so popular I feel that I may need to make it a regualr choice for Word Work/Spelling.

The theme of this week's words was frequently misspelled words, but in the future when there are more specific letter sound themes to our words I would have the students underline the sounds and or pattern when they are practicing their words on the whiteboard, with Wikki Stix, or with Letter Stamps. Patterns are something I feel more students need work with, in regards to spelling so I see this as another way to focus on that spelling strategy.

Overall I would say this first week of Word Work/Spelling was successful, of my 25 students I think about 18 were able to try it out this week. I look forward to asking some Word Work/Spelling questions on my next student survey to get a better idea of thier thoughts.

Also this week during Reading Workshop students practiced and performed Reader's Theater plays. We considered this to be our fluency practice for the week so Read to Someone was not a choice this week. Students LOVED doing the Reader's Theater plays, but were bummed that Read to Someone was not a choice. It was reaffirming to know that they do enjoy having the choice to Read to Someone, but also a good change of pace to have them practice their fluency in a different way and spend some time on other choices they may not do as much.

                                          Word Work/Spelling with Wikki Stix

                                         Word Work/ Spelling with Letter Stamps

Two five day weeks and then a four day week lead us into Christmas Break... and with a lot of extra things going on I am sure some of our Reading Workshop time will be affected, however I am looking forward to seeing all of our choices in action over the next three weeks and taking some time to reflect with my students about what they like and dislike about our Reading Workshop time in 4th grade.

Going forward I am looking at the organization of our Reading Workshop choices. I am asking myself questions like: How can I better organzie who does Listen to Reading and Word Work/Spelling - because these choices have limited spots and/or supplies? How do I make sure those that REALLY need it get to specific choices? How can I keep better track of student choices? I am also thinkign about how I can continue to keep students motivated during Reading Workshop now that all of the choices have been introduced.

And the Journey Continues...

Reading Workshop continues to be a valuable part of our day each and every day, although this time of year begins creates some challenges in “juggling” our schedule. We have already had to start making adjustments for testing, field trips, conference prep and it will continue with Christmas Program preparation, Christmas gift making, the Geography Bee… and the list will go on. Unfortunately I feel that my reading and writing block is the portion of our day that is often shorted as other things get busy. But regardless of all that… the journey continues!

We have been practicing and taking part in all 6 choices mentioned so far in this blog on a daily basis; however I must admit the one we have yet to make a part of our daily routine is Word Work/Spelling. I am just a little unsure of this choice and how exactly I should offer it to the students. I am not sure if I want to focus on spelling words or vocabulary, or both! My plan is to start with the following options on Monday and see how it goes… that is part of what this journey is about, giving things a try and seeing what works!

Word Work/Spelling

If you are choosing to complete this choice in reading today you may choose from the following options:

1. Whiteboard: Practice writing your spelling words in print or cursive on a small whiteboard. After you have written each word you may then draw words to go with each spelling word. If you do not know what a word means, look a dictionary to look it up.
2. Wikki Stix: Practice your spelling words by writing them with Wikki Stix. Do not cut or break the Wikki Stix, find ways to use them as they are.
3. Grammar: Read the directions of the folder and complete the corresponding activity. If there is a sheet you need to fill out with the activity please attach it to your logging sheet.
4. Vocabulary: Look up this week’s vocabulary words using the glossary in your reading hardcover book. After you write the definition using words you may then draw small picture to show what the word means.
5. BONUS: Occasionally there will be another option for Spelling/Word Work. Look for a note card on the back of this sheet for more information about this option.

If you finish one of these options you must still stay in the Word Work/Spelling choice for the duration of this choice time, make sure you are prepared for more than one option if needed. 

If anyone has any ideas of how to offer this choice please let me know!

In my most recent survey I was able to see the affects of a student’s ability to choose what they read vs. being told what to read. The research has shown that students are much more motivated to read when given the choice of what they can read, so in my most recent survey I decided to ask students their feelings towards reading stories from our Reading Hardcover (textbook) book vs. their I PICK book on a scale of Love it! Like it. Ho Hum. and Don’t like it! The results were as follows:

How do you feel about reading stories from the Reading Hardcover book?
Love it! 1	Like it. 9	Ho Hum… 10	Don’t like it! 5
How do you feel about reading your I PICK book?
Love it! 17	Like it. 7	Ho Hum… 1	Don’t like it! 0

Although this is the first time I have asked this question in a survey I do feel that the results strongly show that my students greatly prefer reading a book of their choice compared to being told what story to read. While I am unable to give them their choice 100% of the time due to the requirements of our curriculum I do find this data to be reaffirming. I feel that it shows that what I am doing in allowing students choice in what they read during a portion of our Reading Workshop time is what the students want!

As I have with most surveys I also asked the students: How do you feel about Reading Workshop in 4^th grade? The results for are shown below:

Week of September 26th – 30th	8 Love it!	12 Like it!	4 Ho Hum	1 Don’t like it!
Week of October 10th – 14th	10 Love it!	10 Like it!	4 Ho Hum	1 Don’t like it!
Week of October 24th – 28th	11 Love it!	12 Like it!	2 Ho Hum	0 Don’t like it!
Week of November 14th – 18th	Love it! 8	Like it. 14	Ho Hum… 3	Don’t like it! 0

I am happy to see there are still 0 in the Don’t like it! category, however there has been a shift in the other numbers. I am not surprised to see these numbers changing, as it seems that as things are done more often the novelty can wear off and therefore attitudes may not been as positive. I will be interested to see if these numbers change again after introducing another new choice this week and creating a little more variety in the choices after a few weeks of the same choices with nothing new introduced.

I have continued to enjoy our Reading Workshop time and I feel that the students are truly enjoying and growing as readers through  the choices they have available. Last week I had 3 boys in my class approach me to ask me if they could start a Book Club, as the 3 of them and 2 other students had all just gotten the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid book. I was intrigued by what they were asking and thrilled to see their excitement. We talked a little bit more about it and how it would possible work, as we have talked a lot about Read to Someone being a choice for just 2 people to do together. We decided they could try it, meeting during choice time 2 days a week as long as they are on task and not disturbing to others. The boys were thrilled! They could not stop talking about how they were the “inventors of the Book Club” – as if it were a brand new concept! J  I have sat in on their meetings and they are very good about taking turns reading and listening to one another, but my favorite part has been watching them stop and discuss, asking each other THICK questions! It has been a lot of fun to see their excitement about reading, especially because one of these 3 boys has had a “less than positive” attitude towards reading in the past. They hope to continue this Book Club idea with a new book from the December book order, I am interested in seeing where this idea takes them, and how long it continues. I am proud of them for taking this on, and in a way adding their own new choice in to Reading Workshop.

Mid Action Research Thoughts...

First quarter ended last Friday! Nine weeks of offering choices to my students in Reading Workshop has been completed, and at this point I am happy with the way that things have been going. Looking back on the past nine weeks we have slowly added choices, with the sixth and final choice being added this week. It has been a slow process, but I think that is part of what has helped the student’s learn the routines and expectations of Reading Workshop with choices.

When I started my Action Research in September my plan was to look at how implementing student choice during reading would affect my fourth graders’ comprehension and attitude towards reading. As the year got underway I realized that obtaining data on both comprehension and attitude was taking on a little more than I could handle, at which point I shifted my focus to specifically looking at how my fourth graders’ attitudes towards reading would be affected by having choice in Reading Workshop. That is not to say that I am not looking at their comprehension, however, I am just not looking at it in my data collection as closely as I am looking at attitude.

To collect data on students’ attitudes towards reading I have given a variety of short surveys to the students asking them to gauge their feelings on a scale of love it, like it, ho-hum, and don’t like it. I started the year off by giving a twenty question survey about students’ attitudes towards reading, both recreationally and academically. The shorter surveys that I have continued to give throughout the year have some of the same questions, which allows me compare how the students’ responses have changed over time.

The question I have asked most often to this point is How do you feel about Reading Workshop so far in 4^th grade? because I feel that this questions says a lot about students’ attitudes towards reading. What my results have shown so far has been reaffirming to me as I continue on my Action Research journey.

Week of September 26th – 30th	8 Love it!	12 Like it!	4 Ho Hum	1 Don’t like it!
Week of October 10th – 14th	10 Love it!	10 Like it!	4 Ho Hum	1 Don’t like it!
Week of October 24th – 28th	11 Love it!	12 Like it!	2 Ho Hum	0 Don’t like it!

The most positive thing I took out of my most recent survey was that there was a 0 in the “Don’t like it!” category. J If I can get all of my students to “like” Reading Workshop in some way, they I will consider my efforts a success. Creating students who like and enjoy reading is a huge step in helping to create successful lifelong readers.

My concern at this point is that as we continue our routine of having choices in Reading Workshop students will tire of the way we do things. Right now having choices such as this is new, exciting, and different. In February it will be the norm, and I am curious to see their attitudes then. This week we will add our final choice and from there we will perfect our routine, and in perfecting our routine students should benefit from having even more quality time with each choice, allowing them to truly become better readers!

I look forward to seeing how Reading Workshop will continue for us, today we had to switch Reading Workshop and Writing Workshop around and when it was finally time for Reading Workshop one student vocalized his thoughts, saying, “Yes! Finally it is time for my favorite part of the day!” It made me smile! Looking forward with my Action Research I am thinking about taking a week off of choices in the future, just to gauge my students’ reactions to having no choices in reading, to see if it is something that truly motivates them. Just a thought for later…For now, we will continue with our choices in Reading Workshop!

Choice #6: Work on Writing

The Work on Writing choice is in full swing, and as I expected there were many smiles about this new choice! I have learned from my class this year that they love to write...well, they love to write when they can write about what they want, which is part of how our Writing Workshop is run. For many the idea of getting more time to work on their Writing Workshop story was viewed as a positive thing. Many students are often asking for more time in Writing Workshop, or if we can just keep going with Writing Workshop and skip whatever is next. So giving them a choice in which they can spend more time writing is great! This is a choice that helps students not only become better readers, but better writers as well. It allows them work with words in a different way, it allows them to tell their own story, in which they will often have to reread and reconfigure their words so that what they are trying to say makes sense to other readers.

I was not at all surprised to find that when asked "How do you feel about the Work on Writing Choice?" 10 students stated that they Love it! and 12 that they Like it. There was 1 students who had a Ho-Hum response and two others that said they Don't like it! but the majority of the class seems to be embracing this choice. Of those that do not like this choice one stated that they feel they have enough time during writing to write while another simply said, "I don't like to write." My concern with this choice is that students will choose to complete this choice too often, while I see the value in having this as a choice in Reading Workshop, I also see the value in spending time with a good I PICK book. I am giving it a little more time to see how things play out, and then thinking about possibly putting some limits on how often you can Work on Writing during Reading Workshop.

While my class loves to write... about things of their choice... they are not loving the Write about Reading choice. (see Choice #5) This choice by far has had the most mixed response from my students. When asked how they feel about Write about Reading, 3 showed that they Love it!, 11 that they Like it, 5 that feel Ho-Hum about it, and 6 that Don't like it! While there is still over half the class on the positive side of this questions, it is the biggest challenge that I have faced yet! The students have only had to turn in one journal entry so far, with next week being the second turn in week. I did watch a few students excitedly open their folders to my letter back to them, so I am hoping that is some sort of motivation as we continue with this process. After reviewing the survey results and some of the reasoning given by the students about their dislike of this choice I noticed a few students saying that they should not be spending reading time writing, as this will not help them become a better reader. (although they sure don't seem to mind being able to Work on Writing) I feel that maybe I did not present the Write about Reading choice in the best way that I could, looking back it was over a period of time when I was sick and prior to MEA, when a break is so needed. I think that after this next round of journals I am going to take a week to go back to this choice and discuss the importance of Writing about Reading and helps us as readers think more about what we are reading... it is a way of showing that Reading is Thinking! As we are really starting to get into our Reading Workshop routine (which feels like it has taken awhile, but introducing choices is something new for me so I think that it is good that I am taking my time) I finally feel like there are more days when we can offer more choices in one reading block period. Today I had a student ask me if we would have time for more than one choice today, because he was hoping to do both a reading and a writing choice. This was cool to hear... they are thinking about their choices prior to Reading Workshop. :) My hope is to be able to start getting more than one choice in most days!

The next choice I will be implementing is Word Work/Spelling, this is the last choice that will become a part of our Reading Workshop routine, and it is not by chance that it is last. This is the one that I am most unsure about. I know that my students could use some additional practice with spelling and vocabulary, I am just not sure of the most effective way to do this... stay tuned to find out!

As I continue to document what I am doing in my classroom this blog is a way for me to keep track of how I am putting my research into action. I have spent a lot of time researching ways to motivate students in the classroom, specifically in reading, and through my research I have have decided on student choice. The link below leads to a Prezi that presents some of the research that I have found most valuable throughout this process. http://prezi.com/soivglb7undl/present/?auth_key=1yxflej&follow=sebrac10@smumn.edu

Choice #5: Write About Reading

The most recent choice we have added to our Reading Workshop time is Writing About Reading, a choice in which students write letters to me about the current I PICK book they are reading, these letters are written in their Reading Workshop folders and I use these letters as a way of holding students accountable for what they are reading during their independent reading. The focus of the letters is not to summarize the facts of what they have read, but to show their thinking about what they have read. The letter they write include a short summary of what they have read most recently read, responses to reading workshop questions that encourage students to show their thinking about what they have read, and answers to questions that I have recently asked the student about their reading. The initial response to this choice has been, at most mediocre. It seems that most students have written some sort of Reading Workshop Letter in previous years and do not have overly positive feelings towards this. This will present some challenges for me as I strive to make this a choice that students enjoy. In my Week 8 Reflection survey for my collection of data I will be asking students about their feeling towards the Writing About Reading choice and will then have a better understanding of students’ true feelings towards this choice.

One way that I hope to keep students engaged in this choice is through my responses back to them about what they are reading. I strive to use my responses to student’s letters as a time to connect with them about what they are reading as well as time to connect with them on a more personal level. My goal is through prompt responses and showing my own effort being put forth that students will be motivated in their own writing as well.

Student’s letters are due approximately once every other week, and with 25 students I have 5 journals due each day. The students were given a color folder where different Reading Workshop materials are kept, including a place where they write their letters, their color represents the day in which their journal is due. I am currently 3 days into the first week of journal being due and so far their letters have been good, some stronger than others, some showing their thinking with good details, some trying to get away with as few words as possible. But for now I am happy that all letters are being handed in on time with some sort of letter written. We will work on continuing to improve the quality of these letters as we move forward.  

We are currently established in four choice activities during Reading Workshop: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, and Write About Reading. (the reason that this post is titled Choice #5 is because I have also introduced the choice of what students choose to read for their independent reading book selections) One shift I have seen with these choices is that Read to Someone is not as popular as it once was, which has eased some of my concerns about this choice. I think part of this shift comes from the new responsibility of having to Write About Reading, students are finding that they need to use some of their Reading Workshop time to work independently on their letter so that it is ready on their due date. I do have some students who are continuously choosing to Read to Someone, and while I do feel this is a good choice, I also do not think it is one that they should be doing every day. We currently only have one block of time per Reading Workshop period in which students can make a choice. As we establish routines I am hoping that we can shift this to two choice blocks per Reading Workshop period. (at least a few times a week) I am finding time to be one of my greatest challenges.

Next up is Working on Writing a choice in which students will be able to use their time to work on and reread their own writing pieces that they are producing during Writing Workshop.

Choice #4: Listen to Reading

We have made an I-Chart, modeled, and practiced the Listen to Reading choice for two weeks now and it is now a choice for students each day. The way this works in our classroom is that I have 4 student computers in the classroom that can all play CDs, I purchased headphones for each of these computers and it now serves as a wonderful Listen to Reading center.

                                I-Chart for Listen to Reading Choice

I was not sure how this choice would go over in 4th grade as it seems like something that may be better suited for younger grades, but I do believe that for some students their comprehension of the story will increase by listening to it being read. The stories that the students listen to during Listen to Reading are the stories for our basal series. Each week (most weeks) we have a focus story from our textbook, and since the curriculum set also came with each of these stories on CD it has worked out great! When the stuent makes the choie to Listen to Reading on Monday or Tuesday they are able to listen to the story as they read it for the first time. If they choose to Listen to Reading on Wednesday or Thursday they should have already read the story independently, and we have started/finsished reaidng it together as well so it is more of a review or rereading. If a studnet chooses to Listen to Reading on a Friday they can choose to listen to any of the stories from our textbook that we have read together so far this year. A few of the downsides I am seeing with this choice are that only 4 students can listen to reading at a time and that I am very limited in what students can listen to. The upside is that students seem to be liking it! I think because it is something different it peaks some of their interest as well. There are some studnets in the class that I feel would benifit more from listening to the weekly story than others and as we are continuing to introduce choices I am continuing to work on ways to make sure each student is making choices that help them become better readers. As we continue with this process I hope to be able to better differentiate these choices with students. Right now on the top of their weekly logging sheet students are told certain choices that they "must do" each week, and for everyone they are the same. My hope is to soon have certain choices that certain students must complete each week. I feel this is one way that I can ensure that some of my lower readers are able to get to the Listen to Reading choice.

                                       Listen to Reading Choice

The management of this choice (unlike Read to Someone) has been minimal, the students are very on task when they are doing the Listen to Reading choice and I just have to check in at the start to make sure they are able to get started right away and check on them from time to time to make sure they are not doing anything else on the computer. I like the Listen to Reading choice! :)

In some of my most recent data collection when I asked the stuedents what their favoarite Reading Workshop choice was up to this point and of my 25 students 12 prefer Read to Self, while 9 like Read to Someone, and 4 like Listen to Reading best. I am happy to see a spread of opinions, reaffirming that choice is good because not everyone loves just one choice. One of my struggling readers did say they like Listen to Reading best and I smilied when I read his reason why, "because iI am getting it better!" I am thrilled that he realzies this choice increases his comprehension! Then there is my "I Hate to Read" student who said Listen to Reading was the favorite choice "because it involves less reading." At least he is reading, and involves just as much reading, it just may not seem like it to him! :)

When asked on a scale of Love it! Like it! Ho Hum! and Don't like it! how they feel about having choices in Reading Workshop 16 students Love it! and 9 Like it! with no one saying Ho Hum! or Don't like it! I feel like what I am doing is working, it is keeping there attitudes towards reading positive.

Choice #3: Read to Someone

This is a choice that I was nervous about introducing, but after a little over a week of modeling and practicing I am ok with the way things are going. We have spent A LOT of time talking about how to complete the Read to Someone choice correctly, we created an I-Chart, modeled, practiced, and reflected. I was thrilled when during our reflections one of the things that students disliked the most about the choice was that the room wasn’t as quiet! A quiet environment for reading is clearly something that is important to them, and that is great! Now we just have to work on making the Read to Someone choice a little quieter. I do believe that part of the problem was that we were all practicing the Read to Someone choice and with that many people reading aloud to someone it is bound to be a little louder. On Friday students were given the choice between Read to Self and Read to Someone, approximately half of the class chose to Read to Someone and the overall environment was much quieter than it had been in days prior when everyone was practicing Read to Someone.

                                         Read to Someone I-Chart

Last week was the first week that we also had a “Story of the Week” from our basal series. We are working on the routines of what this mean during Reading Workshop, and since I am making changing in how I have done things in the past this is also a learning time for me. As of right now our weekly implementation of the weekly story looks like this:

Monday: Introduce story and vocabulary for the week, do teacher read aloud from the reading book with focus on a specific reading strategy.

Tuesday: Review vocab. and weekly reading strategy.

MUST DO CHOICE: (on Monday and/or Tuesday) All students must read the weekly story by the end of Reading Workshop on Tuesday – they can choose Read to Self, Read to Someone, or soon Listen to Reading.

Wednesday: Read Part 1 of the weekly story together in an interactive format, this week was a story about a dogsled race so we flipped over our tables and made them into dogsleds. J

Thursday: Read Part 2 of weekly story together.

Friday: Comprehension Quiz (sometimes given earlier in the week)

Choice Time is also given each day, right now students are given the choice of  Read to Self  or Read to Someone, as not all choices have been introduced yet.

It was a busy week with the introduction of Read to Someone and the weekly reading basal story, but overall I thought the week went well. On Friday I gave the students a  quick survey in which I asked them on a scale of : Love it! Like it! Ho-Hum! or Don’t Like It! about there feelings on different areas of Reading Workshop. When asked the questions, “How do you feel about having choices in Reading Workshop?” With 24 students (out of 25) taking the survey I had 11 say they “Love it!”, 11 say the “Like it” and 2 say “Ho-Hum”. When asked, “How do you feel about Reading Workshop so far in 4^th grade?” I had 8 say they “Love it!”, 11 say they “Like it”, 4 say “Ho-Hum”, and 1 say “Don’t like it!” These results were good and made me happy about the decisions I have made so far, although I would love to see more readers “Loving it!” There were 5 questions total and I had minimal “Don’t Like It” responses, which I find to be a positive as well!

                                     Read to Someone Choice

At the end of the week I started to introduce the Listen to Reading chart, and as I turned the chart paper around one student said, “I bet we will need to make an I-Chart for this!” They are catching on! I am excited to see how Listen to Reading goes this week as it will be a choice. I have 4 computers in my classroom that students will be able to use to listen to this week’s reading story. We have discussed how this might look and how it will be decided as to who gets to use the computers, but we are still working on putting a plan into place. There are some students that I know would benefit from listening to the weekly story, so I will be working on a way to make sure they are given the chance to do so. I am looking to another week in Reading Workshop! J

Choice #2: Choice in What You Read

This week we are continuing to practice our Read to Self Choice, and making great strides! My hope is for students to have comfortably mastered this choice before I introduce the next choice, Read to Someone. While students have mastered many of the I-Chart expectations of Read to Self one of my additional concerns has been what they are choosing to read.  I truly believe that it is important to give students choice in what they read, while also making sure that what they are reading is appropriate for their age and reading level. In our classroom we still use our basal textbook, focusing on a different story each week, and while this story is deemed “at their level” it doesn’t fit all the levels of readers in my classroom, and it definitely does not always spark their interest. However, the basal is not something that I can give up, it is something that I am expected to use in my classroom, and therefore I am placing great focus on the choices students do have in what they read, trying to enable to choose good independent reading book that truly fit them.

I have worked to help students make good choices in what they read through two different focus lessons, both of which compare choosing a book to shopping of some sort! One lesson focused on finding a “just right” book versus one that is “easy” or “challenging”. I first read a picture book entitled Goldilocks and the Three Hares and then used that to compare books that are too easy, too challenging, or just right. We continued by making a chart that listed different qualities of each of these types of books, and ended with a shopping comparison. Using Wild hockey jerseys I had one that was too small (a Build-A-Bear shirt), one that was too big (an adult jersey), and one that was just right (a youth jersey). I had students try on these jerseys and as they modeled we compared the fit of these different size jerseys to the fit of a good “just right” book.

Shopping for "Just Right" Books

 Easy - Challenging - Just Right

A few days later I expanded on the idea of choosing a “just right” book to picking  the right “just right” book to fit all your needs. For this lesson I used the I PICK strategy, as introduced by “the sisters” in the Daily 5. In the strategy the acronym stands for I= I chose a book P= Purpose, what is my purpose in reading this book? I = Interest – Why am I interested in this book? C= Comprehend – Do I understand what I am reading? And K= Know – do I know most of the words I am reading. As an introduction to this strategy I used a comparison of shoes. I started by reading a picture book called Shoe-La-La and the brought a bag of shoes I had collected from around my house. We first looked at the purpose of each shoe and what interests it did and did not express about me. We then compared this to books, I would not wear my sandals when I play kickball just like how I would not read a comic book if my purpose was to research for a paper. We noted that I did not have any golf shoes in my bag, but I did have soccer cleats, that showed my interest. This is similar to choosing a book that interests you, you don’t want to read something that is not interesting to just like you would not own golf shoes if golf was not interesting you.

We continued the conversation to Comprehend and Know by looking at one of my husband’s shoes that was in the bag. When I put it on and tired to walk around in it I had difficulty walking, similar to a book I don’t understand or can not read most of the words in. We continued to make connections to shoes as we talked about how picking the best “just right” book was going to be different for everyone. I then had two students with very different size tennis shoes on attempt to switch shoes, the shoes showed similar purpose and interest, but clearly would affect the students ability to perform, similar to how choose a book that you do not understnad or know most of the words in can affect your reading.The following day students were given a copy of the I PICK strategy along with an assignment that required them to go through all four steps of the I PICK strategy in picking out a book within the next week. I am eager to read their responses and see what “just right” books they have chosen to read.

Teaching the I PICK Lesson

Today in class we began to discuss the next Reading Workshop Choice: Read to Someone. This is the one that I am most nervous about because it requires students to work well with one another and stay focused on their reading. This is one that we will practice a lot! The students lit up with excitement at the mention of being able to choose to read to someone else during reading time! We first talked about and modeled how to sit EEKK (elbow, elbow, knee, knee) with the person you are reading with and then brainstormed our ideas for the I-Chart, and they seemed to get it. There ideas for the chart showed me that they realized this is not about hanging out with a friend, this is about reading!  Their ideas led right to the conclusion I was hoping for, that reading to someone will help us get better at reading out loud and make us better readers! I am looking forward to seeing how the introduction of this newest choice goes and hoping they continue to use the power of choice to choose good “just right” books!