Readers Build Good Habits
Unit 1
Kindergarten
August/September
Overview
The beginning of the year in kindergarten is unlike the beginning of the school year for any other grade level. Kindergarten teachers have the unique and incredibly important responsibility of welcoming children into the world of school and into the life of the classroom. Kindergarten teachers tend to spend much of the early weeks of school helping children feel comfortable in the classroom, understand procedures and routines, and learn ways of relating to others. This first unit of study in Kindergarten sets the stage for the year ahead in reading, and does the important work of laying the foundation for all the work that will follow throughout the year. During this month, you’ll want to create an environment during workshop characterized by high expectations and joy. To do this, you will want to make clear to students the routines and expectations for reading workshop, especially around issues of noise level, quiet transitions, and purposefulness during reading time.
Most of the teaching during this unit tends to fall into one of these broad categories:
· Readers understand and use the routines, procedures, and expectations of reading workshop.
· Readers read and talk well with a reading partner.
· Readers read for meaning, even if they are not yet reading the words by inferring, activating prior knowledge, making connections and questioning.
How might this unit go?
In many kindergarten classrooms in August, reading workshop begins with the briefest of mini lessons so that children aren’t held in the meeting area for too long. Although these quick mini lessons tend to follow the architecture of a typical mini lesson and offer one clearly demonstrated teaching point to support children’s reading, teachers will also make clear the expectations for behavior and focus during whole class lessons, such as keeping eyes and mind on the teacher, how to sit in a group without distracting each other, and how and when to participate in lessons. Kindergarten teachers are teaching habits of mind, as well as the habits of good readers during this unit.
After the lesson, the children will go off to their reading spots (which at the beginning of the year will be at a table for management purposes) and choose books from table baskets. During this reading time, the children often go back and forth between looking at books on their own and sharing and talking about their book with a neighbor.
After a short period of reading time (about 5-10 minutes, or until the children begin losing focus), the teacher gathers the class back to the meeting area for a teaching share time. Again, the teacher reinforces the expectations for behavior during the whole group lessons while also sharing something that happened during reading time. During August, teachers tend to share things that children are doing well or ways that children have built upon what they have been taught in whole class lessons. For example, it is common for a teacher to share ways children have talked about books during the reading time. Sometimes, however, teachers find it useful to use the teaching share time as an opportunity to fix problems with workshop routines and procedures, such as a high noise level or too much traffic during reading time, etc.
Besides understanding the procedures and routines of the reading workshop, the bulk of the work in August is to help all children know what to do with books, even if for now, children are mostly lingering over the pictures. As children continue to read and reread books over the course of this unit, some children will pretend to read books they have heard, some may sing their way through texts they have heard before and some might be able to read beginning books conventionally.
Your teaching will emerge from what you see readers doing. You might demonstrate how you hold the book and turn the pages. You might share something like, “When I read, I look at the cover and think what the book will be about.” Another way of teaching might be, “Sometimes when I am finished reading, my ideas don’t make sense. I say to myself, ‘What?’ and I go back and reread to better understand what I read.” (Of course, the word ‘read’ is used liberally in this instance because most kindergarten children are inventing stories to accompany texts). Other mini lessons might teach children how readers choose books when they have lots of options, such as looking at the cover or flipping through the pages and thinking “Is this something I’d be interested in?”
Another set of mini lessons during this unit teaches children how to read together. After teaching children how to cooperate with a partner (sitting side-by-side, holding the book in the middle, taking turns choosing books, etc.), a teacher might begin to teach children different ways they can read together and different things they might talk about with each other. Children will learn how to talk about their favorite part or the most important page in a book.
Reading Workshop
Reading workshop follows a predictable format each day:
Mini lesson
Reading Time
Teaching share
The workshop begins with the children gathered at the meeting area for a mini lesson. The mini lesson lasts no longer than 10 minutes and follows a predictable format. The mini lesson has 4 parts; connect, teach, active engagement and link. It begins with a connection, when the teacher connects today’s teaching with the work the students have been doing. Next, during the teach portion of the mini lesson, the teacher clearly states the teaching point by saying something like, “Today I’m going to teach you how to...” Then the teacher demonstrates the teaching point in a way that shows children exactly what they are expected to do or try in their own reading. After the teaching point is demonstrated, the children have an opportunity to try it themselves while they are still gathered in the meeting area. This brief try-it is called active engagement. Finally, during the link, the teacher concludes the mini lesson by linking today’s lesson to the children’s ongoing reading work.
After the mini lesson, the teacher sends the children out of the meeting area and to their reading spots (seat at their table) for their independent reading work. This offers the children an opportunity to read using the skills, strategies and habits that have been taught. .
During work time, the teacher circulates among the students to provide individualized direct instruction through conferring (see Conferring section for description). During the earliest weeks, the teacher may conduct reading assessments during reading time, noticing reading behaviors and skills the children may already possess.
Often during reading workshop, the teacher will briefly interrupt the reading time (Mid-workshop Interruption) by reminding the children of the skill or strategy that had been taught, or adding on to the teaching of the mini lesson. This interruption is not more than five minutes, and then children are expected to return to their work, and the teacher continues to confer with readers or assess readers.
After the children’s work time, the teacher reconvenes the class in the gathering area where she leads a teaching share. During the teaching share, the teacher may re-teach the mini lesson using another demonstration. She also might clarify the teaching point from the mini lesson, share students’ good work, or offer a preview of the next day’s mini lesson.
Below is a possible structure for Reading Workshop:
Mini lesson 7-10 minutes
Time with Table Top Books 5-15 minutes
Teaching Share Time 3-5 minutes
Assessment
It’s important to gather information on young readers throughout the literacy block by
observing and note taking during shared reading, read aloud, interactive writing, and writing workshop.
During this first unit of study in kindergarten, teachers assess readers in a variety of ways. In addition to alphabet knowledge, many teachers assess print concepts (i.e., left to right, voice to print matching) to gain a better understanding of their students as readers. Refer to PIAP for further assessment information.
If a child is not yet focusing on the text:
· a teacher may ask the child to “read” a familiar story in order to determine the child’s sense of story, and/or knowledge of how books go.
· a teacher may informally interview the child about the kinds of books the child is interested in and the kinds of literacy experiences the child has had in the past.
· a teacher may watch the child’s level of engagement with texts, both familiar and unfamiliar.
· a teacher may assess the child’s knowledge of concepts about print and book handling.
· a teacher may “co-read” a book with a child and then ask the child to retell the story.
If a child shows early proficiency with print:
· a teacher will look at the child’s writing and listen to the child read their writing to determine their understanding of letter/sound relationships and voice to print matching.
· a teacher may ask the child to retell the story listening for story elements.
· a teacher may do running records in order to determine the independent reading of that child.
Classroom Library
(Organizing Materials)
At the beginning of the year, children are not really using the classroom library to find books. In this first unit of study, teachers put baskets of books on each table. These baskets contain a variety of books pulled from the classroom collection. These table top baskets typically contain several nonfiction texts, picture books, a leveled book or two and concept books, such as ABC books or counting books. They might also contain familiar books (e.g., Brown, Bear, Brown Bear) as well as other texts that the teacher thinks the children will find interesting. It helps to have a dozen or so books in the table top baskets so children have variety and choice. Many teachers rotate the baskets among the tables so that all of the baskets circulate among all of the children. Because the children will be encouraged to use the pictures to help them “read” the books, it is helpful if the books have been carefully selected to ensure beginning success. For example, Olivia is a great story to read aloud, but the pictures do not provide enough detail for a child to look at the pictures and try to figure out what is happening. In contrast, a book such as The Kissing Hand or Come Along, Daisy has plenty of detail for children to begin to think about what is happening in the picture.
We strongly suggest that children look for books in these tabletop baskets instead of shopping in the classroom library during the first unit of study in order to limit the management problems that may arise if children are getting books from the library right away. However, the teacher can begin to build the classroom library with the children during this first unit and throughout the year. Many teachers begin by using the classroom library shelves to house the table top baskets. Then, during reading workshop, a table captain or other helper can retrieve the baskets from the library shelf and bring them to the tables. At the end of workshop, the same helpers can return the baskets to the shelf.
In addition, the teacher can begin to plant the idea of gathering books around a topic and housing them in a basket in the library. For example, many teachers read aloud nursery rhyme books at the beginning of the year. By the third or fourth day of school, the teacher might say, “You know we have a lot of nursery rhyme books in our class. I think we’re going to need a special place to keep them.” By some chance, the teacher happens to have an empty basket labeled “nursery rhymes” and in go the books. In this way, we begin to teach the children about categorizing and also begin to teach them how the library works. Because the children feel as if they are creating the library, they are much more responsible for getting books back where they belong. The teacher may slowly add a few more baskets containing books commonly read at the beginning of kindergarten. Below is an illustration of how the library might look after the first few weeks of school.
Conferring
Conferring is a way to gather information about a child and what he is doing as a reader. It also provides time for the teacher to differentiate instruction. While children are reading, teachers will confer. However, during this first unit, teachers are also teaching procedures and routines. It is not unlikely for a teacher to walk up to a table and highlight what a child is doing loud enough for the rest of the table to hear. For example, a teacher might say, “Wow! Readers, look how Kameron is looking for a book. See how he is looking at the front of the book and thinking, does this look like a good book for me? Readers do that when they are trying to find a book. They look at the cover and think, does this book look like a book I might like? I know the rest of you are going to do this work too.”
In this first unit, teachers might also use the structure of a compliment conference as they talk with individual children and table groups. Individual compliment conferences are short, about 2 minutes, and involve researching the reader and giving a compliment. In a compliment conference, you reinforce a strategy the reader is beginning to use.
Compliment Conference(partner reading)
Example and Why
Give a specific example of when
the reader used the strategy and state why the strategy is important. / Destiny, I noticed that you put your book in the middle between you and Susan. Readers do this all the time when they are working with a partner so both readers can see the pictures and words and enjoy the story.
Restate Steps
Restate the steps of the strategy in a
way that transfers to all books. / Destiny, I want you to remember to keep using this partner strategy: put the book in the middle so both readers can see the pictures and words. Great work, keep it up!
Structure of Individual-Compliment Conferences
· Research the reader through observation and conversation looking for strengths.
· Choose a strategy that the child is beginning to approximate that you want to reinforce.
· Give an example of when the reader used the strategy.
· Tell the reader why this strategy is helpful.
· Restate the steps of the strategy in a way that transfers to all books and explain the context for when the strategy will be useful again
Compliment Conference
(rereading when confused)
Example and Why
Give a specific example of when the reader used the strategy and state why the strategy is important. / Lacey, I am so proud of the way you were reading your book. I noticed that when you were reading this paragraph where Junie B. was talking to her teacher, who she calls Mrs. you got confused. But you didn’t just keep reading. Instead you went back and reread that part again so that you could figure out who was speaking and what they were saying to each other. It is always a good idea to stop and reread places that are confusing. Readers like you know that reading needs to make sense, and, when it doesn’t make sense, you need to go back and try again.
Restate Steps
Restate the steps of the strategy
in a way that transfers to all books and explain the context for the when the strategy will be useful again. / Lacey, I really want you to remember to keep using this strategy: to notice when something does not make sense or gets confusing, to stop and reread that section, and to make sure you understand the section before moving on. Great job and keep it up!
Read Aloud