After the holidays, my second-graders will embark on a unit of study in non-fiction reading and writing...this re-energizes my reading workshop in big ways! I find that kids stop asking me if they can 'change their level' and are instead engrossed in 'topics'...they now ask me if I knew how many miles away the sun is, how many times the human heart beats in an average lifetime...Mini-lessons revolve around 'how' to read non-fiction, the features of non-fiction texts, taking notes, forming 'interest groups' around topics. We write instructional narratives and 'all-about' books and launch into a sub-unit on biographies. By the time we come out of the non-fiction unit, all my students will have 'moveed up' levels simply because they have been SO ENGAGED in their reading...great way to get over that 'post-holiday, winter slump'...try it!
After the holidays, my second-graders will embark on a unit of study in non-fiction reading and writing...this re-energizes my reading workshop in big ways! I find that kids stop asking me if they can 'change their level' and are instead engrossed in 'topics'...they now ask me if I knew how many miles away the sun is, how many times the human heart beats in an average lifetime...Mini-lessons revolve around 'how' to read non-fiction, the features of non-fiction texts, taking notes, forming 'interest groups' around topics. We write instructional narratives and 'all-about' books and launch into a sub-unit on biographies. By the time we come out of the non-fiction unit, all my students will have 'moveed up' levels simply because they have been SO ENGAGED in their reading...great way to get over that 'post-holiday, winter slump'...try it!