READING & WRITING WORKSHOP
At Escola Americana do Rio de Janeiro (EARJ) I taught using Lucy Calkin's Reading and Writing Workshop. This program is designed to allow students to develop reading and writing skills at their own pace. Mini lessons teaching specific skills and strategies are taught each day and then students have a chance to practice the skills they have learned during their independent or small group work time. Students are encouraged to read and write for sustained periods of time, providing them with a lot of practice each day. One of the goals of the program is to teach students to help themselves. I taught them strategies for when they come to a word they do not know how to read or spell. I also taught them how to revise their own writing and to review their thinking as they read a text. I have seen that this program builds very strong readers and writers.
My students are paired up with a reading and writing partner for each unit of study. During mini lessons and read alouds, students work in these pairs to talk and discuss questions that I pose to them. It gives them time to express their thinking to someone else and to hear from another perspective.
At the end of each unit, we celebrate our accomplishments. Sometimes this involves inviting the students' parents to the classroom to show them their work, and sometimes it means sharing their work with other students at the school. Students feel a sense of pride in their work when they share with others.
EARJ only recently adopted both of these programs, so my team and I have worked hard to synthesize each lesson into a more manageable resource to teach from. This is an example of one of the lessons from the second writing unit that I have condensed.
Second grade:
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Small moments & narrative writing
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Lab reports and science books
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Writing about reading
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Poetry
Third grade:
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Personal narratives
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Informational texts
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Persuasive speeches and letters
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Fairy tales
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Realistic fiction
Partner reading and writing
Writing celebration
Conferencing
Each week, I give four mini lessons in reading and in writing. During independent work time, I conference with students individually and in small groups, depending on their needs. This allows me to work specifically with each child at least once per week.
Lesson Plans
Writing units I have taught:
Read Alouds
I make time in every day for a read aloud. I choose a book that is relevant to the topic we are learning and one that can help us practice a reading skill or admire a writing technique. During the read aloud, I model my own thinking. I also pose questions to the students to get them thinking about the skill or strategy we are learning. They turn and talk with their partner about it and sometimes with the whole class.
