Block 1: Establishing the Literacy Block 8/27-9/5 2 Weeks (7 days) TEKS 2.3C, 2.12A, 2.19C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig.19 A, F Week Time Frame Lessons Focus 1 8/27 8/29 1-3 Text-to-Self Connections, Reading Response, Reader s Notebook 2 9/2 9/5 4-7 Text-to-Self Connections, Reading Response, Choosing Just Right Books, Independent Reading * The focus of Block 1 is establishing routines and procedures for whole group and independent reading. You will introduce turn and talk as a conversation activity, begin working on deeper text-to-self connections, set up a Reader s Notebook, and establish routines for independent reading. We do not provide specific instructions for setting up centers in your classroom. There are a variety of options and resources available, and you will need to decide what works for you, and most importantly your students. Centers provide an opportunity for your students to practice what they have learned in whole group word study, reading, and writing. Unfortunately, these minutes often get filled with busy work and worksheets, rather than purposeful activities that further our students as readers and writers. The daily lessons will provide some partnered and independent practice activities based on the 2 nd grade standards. Hopefully, this will give you some ideas concerning the types of responses and activities that are purposeful for your students. Remember, centers are an opportunity for students to practice and further their learning of skills and strategies we have introduced and worked on together in whole group lessons. You will likely begin guided reading following the first six weeks of school. Prior to starting guided reading groups, use the 60 to 80 minutes in your schedule to set-up, introduce, and establish centers in your classroom. It is not possible to effectively pull small groups until you have these routines in place.
Block 1: Establishing the Literacy Block Lesson TEKS & Objective/Product Procedure 1 TEKS: 2.3C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A,F Focus: Active Listening and Discussing, Textto-Self Connections Obj: We will listen attentively, ask relevant questions, and make personal connections to our own experiences. Product: I will share text-to-self connections with my partner. Text: Gloria Who Might be my Best Friend Journeys, Unit 5, pg. 221 Approach: IRA Resources/Materials: Anchor: Making Connections 2 TEKS: 2.19C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A,F Obj: We will make text-to-self connections and write them down. Product: I will listen attentively and make text-to-self connections to a story. 3 TEKS: 2.28A, 2.28B Obj: We will create a Reader s Notebook. Product: I will set up my Reader s Notebook by following instructions. Focus: Active Listening and Discussing, Textto-Self Connections Text: Gloria Who Might be my Best Friend Journeys, Unit 5, pg. 221 Approach: Minilesson Resources/Materials: Anchor: Making Connections Focus: Reader s Notebook Text: (none needed) Approach: Minilesson Resources/Materials: One spiral or composition notebook per student & one for teacher Table of Contents sheets (5 per student) Sticky notes Pencils and/or markers
Lesson 1 Rationale: In a Reader s Workshop, students actively contribute as listeners, speakers, readers and writers. These initial lessons will lay the foundation for routines and procedures within the literacy block. Making text-to-self connections is a natural occurrence for children as they listen to text read aloud. This good reader s strategy will be used to establish routines and procedures for active listening, turn and talk, setting up the Reader s Notebook, and reading response. During the first month of Reading Workshop, you have two critical goals: 1. Help your students think of themselves as readers by reading books that they enjoy and have them participate in all the choices and decisions readers make. 2. Establish the roles and routines of the Reading Workshop. Lesson Overview: 2.3C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A,F Text: Gloria who Might be My Best Friend (Journeys, Unit 5, pg. 221) Approach: Interactive Read Aloud Focus: Text-to-self Connections Create: (BEFORE THE LESSON) Stopping Points Record the following on sticky notes and place on the correct pages in the text: o Pg. 222 I remember some summers as a child when I would feel lonely. There were days when my friends weren t around or couldn t play and I wasn t sure what to do. I can understand how this boy must be feeling right here. o Pg. 225 Think about a time you first met someone and what you did together that helped you become friends. Turn and talk with your partner about this experience. Remember to take turns and listen carefully to what your partner says. o Pg. 231 We all have things we wish for and hope will come true, don t we? I wished to be a good dancer and took lessons when I was young. Think of something you wish or hope for and take turns sharing with your partner. Who would like to share what their partner said? Things we wish for are important to us. What does this help us understand about Julian here? o Pg. 236 I m thinking Julian made a friend who was very different from what he expected. How many of you have made friends with someone you didn t think you would be friends with? 3
Create: (BEFORE THE LESSON) Making Connections: Text-to-Self Anchor Chart Create this anchor on chart paper. It will be filled in with your students during the next lesson (Lesson 2). However, have this anchor displayed for this lesson, referring to the pictures as you establish the foundation for text-to-self connections. Lesson: 1. Bring students to your whole group reading area. Have them sit next to a partner (assigned or selfselected). Choose one student to sit on a chair next to you for this lesson. Have the anchor chart displayed on a wall or easel next to you. 2. Introduce Text: Today we are going to read Gloria who Might be my Best Friend. As we share this story together, we are going to practice being active listeners and learning to share our thinking about what we read. One way we can share our thinking is with a partner and that s called Turn and Talk. Let me show you how it works. (student next to you) and I are going to think of our favorite kind of ice-cream. Now, in order for us to share we need to be facing each other, so we are going to turn knee-to-knee and face-to-face (model). Now I can look my partner in the eye and listen carefully to what he/she says. Let s take turns sharing our favorite kind of ice-cream (model). Let s talk about what you saw (student next to you) and I do (turn knee-toknee & face-to-face, take turns sharing, make eye contact, listen carefully as my partner speaks, comment on what my partner has to say). This story is about making a new friend, which is something we ve all experienced. When a character or the events in a story remind us of our own life, that s called a text-to-self connection (refer to pictures on the anchor chart). As good readers make connections it helps them think more deeply about the story and understand the characters actions and feelings better. That s what we re going to practice as readers today. 4
3. Read the Text: Use stopping points to focus the lesson on text-to-self connections. Refer to the pictures on your anchor chart, as needed. (The anchor will be filled in during lesson 2) o Pg. 222 I remember some summers as a child when I would feel lonely. There were days when my friends weren t around or couldn t play and I wasn t sure what to do. I can understand how this boy must be feeling right here. o Pg. 225 Think about a time you first met someone and what you did together that helped you become friends. Turn and talk with your partner about this experience. Remember to take turns and listen carefully to what your partner says (use this time to kneel close to several of the partnerships and help facilitate procedures or the discussion as needed). o Pg. 231 We all have things we wish for and hope will come true, don t we? I wished to be a good dancer and took lessons when I was young. Think of something you wish or hope for and take turns sharing with your partner (turn-and-talk). Who would like to share what their partner said? (call on several students to share, using the stem My partner said ). Things we wish for are important to us. What does this help us understand about Julian here? (He doesn t care that Gloria is a girl, he wants them to be good friends). o Pg. 236 I m thinking Julian made a friend who was very different from what he expected. How many of you have made friends with someone you didn t think you would be friends with? (call on several students to share). Share a connection you (teacher) have about a friend different from you. Explain that this helps you understand how Gloria and Julian must feel at the end of this story. 4. Closing: Today as readers we practiced active listening, sharing our thinking using turn-and-talk, and making text-to-self connections. Lets talk about some things we learned today that good readers do (listen as others share, face my partner and make eye contact as we discuss, making connections as I read helps me more deeply understand the characters and what s happening in the story). 5
Lesson 2 Lesson Overview: 2.19C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A,F Text: Gloria who Might be My Best Friend (Journeys, Unit 5, pg. 221) Approach: Minilesson Focus: Text-to-Self Connections; Reading Response Anchor Chart: Making Connections: Text-to-Self Anchor Chart o An example of the completed anchor is provided at the end of the lesson for your reference. * You will create, use, and reuse many anchor charts with your students this year. One way to make them reusable is to add information on sticky notes. However, you will want to keep those sticky notes in case you need them for a future lesson. One way to do this is by storing them in file folders. Label the file folder with the title of the book and the lesson focus. For example Gloria who Used to be My Best Friend: Making Connections. Lesson: 1. Bring students to your whole group reading area. Have them sit next to a partner (assigned or selfselected). Have the anchor chart displayed on a wall or easel next to you. 2. Introduction: Yesterday we read Gloria who Might be my Best Friend and practiced making text-to-self connections. Let s review what text-to-self connections are and how they help us as readers (When characters or events in a story remind us of our own life we have made a text-to-self connection. These connections help us understand the characters and events in a story more deeply). Today I am going to show you how to write your connections down. This is called a reading response and it helps you and others to understand what you re thinking as you read. As you are reading you can stop to write down a text-to-self connection. Let me show you what that looks like. 6
3. Revisiting the Text: o Pg. 222 Yesterday when we read that Julian felt lonely it reminded me of some summer days when my friends couldn t play. That helps me understand how he must have felt right here. (Record this information on the anchor chart as your students observe. If you want to use the anchor for future lessons, use sticky notes on the chart). o Pg. 225 (Reread pages 224 and 225) Yesterday you turned and talked to your partner about a time you first met someone and what you did together that helped you become friends. Who has a connection they would like to share? Call on one or several students to share and record one of their responses on the anchor chart. Ask them how it helped them understand this part of the story (this will likely require guidance). o Pg. 231 This is where Gloria and Julian write down their wishes. We shared something we wish or hope for with our partners yesterday. This made me think of how I wished to be a good dancer when I was young. I m going to write that connection down. It helps me understand how important Julian s wishes are to him and how much he wanted to be good friends with Gloria. o Pg. 236 Looking at this picture makes me think of people I m friends with and how different we can be. Who can share a connection about a friend you have that you didn t expect to be friends with? (Record a student s response on the anchor). 4. Closing: As a good reader this year, you will have chances to share your thinking with others by writing it down. Today we practiced writing down our text-to-self connections to a story. Let s talk about what we noticed or learned as readers today. (Often students will try to respond with more thinking or connections to the story here. However, the goal is for them to begin learning how to verbalize what they ve learned about being a reader). Good readers make text-to-self connections. These connections help us understand what we re reading better. Good readers can write down their thinking as they read. This is called a reading response and helps others understand what we re thinking as we read. 7
Example of anchor filled in for Lesson 2. Remember, this information will be filled in with your students! Making Connections: Text-to-Self When a character or the events in a text remind me of my own life, I am making a textto-self connection. Text: Gloria Who Might be my Best Friend Page # My Connection is It helps me understand Page 222 I remember feeling lonely some summer days when I was young and my friends couldn t play. How Julian must be feeling without any friends his own age around. Page 225 Page 231 Page 236 The first time I met my friend Angel we rode our bikes together. I wished that I could be a good dancer and took lessons when I was young. One of my neighbors is from another country and we re good friends. When Julian and Gloria did cartwheels in the front yard they started having fun together. Julian s wishes are important to him. He wants to be good friends with Gloria. Julian doesn t care that Gloria is a girl. They can be friends even though they re different. This reminds me of I have a connection to I m remembering 8
Lesson 3 Rationale: In a reader s notebook students build their reading lives over the course of the year. It s a useful and important tool that readers use to collect their thinking and record it in a variety of ways. This notebook is a place to gather thinking about texts through drawing and writing, write about reading in a variety of forms, and gather resources for writing about reading. It houses authentic responses to thinking expressed by students, which can provide a wealth of information about each of your students. With teacher support and modeling, primary students can learn to compose lists, letters, and summaries. They can make diagrams or complete graphic organizers (such as character webs, compare/contrast charts, and sequencing charts). As writing becomes easier and more fluent, students can learn to produce short pieces of independent writing about texts (2.19C). (Teaching for Comprehending and Fluency, Fountas & Pinnell) Note: Your students are going to keep a Reader s Notebook with two sections Whole Group Reading and Reading Response (which can be tabbed using sticky notes). The Whole group Reading section will start with a table of contents form that needs to be glued in. This section will house notes/pictures of genre charts and corresponding anchors that the students can refer to throughout the year. The reading response section will be used for students to independently draw/write about their reading (like the text-to-self connections chart you completed with your students). It s an excellent place to gather information about your students as readers and even to take grades. Lesson 3 is for setting up the notebook. If you feel parts of this task will be difficult for your students to complete, you might consider requesting a parent volunteer(s) or some 6 th grade helpers to join you. IT IS ESSENTIAL YOU KEEP A READER S NOTEBOOK THAT MIRRORS THAT OF YOUR STUDENTS! This is how you will model organization, expectations, taking notes, and your own responses. You can put it under the document camera so your students have a visual to follow when setting up or adding information. It also helps you keep track of what students have missed when they are absent. 9
Lesson Overview: 2.28A, 2.28B Materials: One spiral per student; Table of Contents sheets (5 per student) Approach: Minilesson Focus: Setting up the Reader s Notebook Introduction: Today you will set up your very own reader s notebook (hold yours up)! We will use this important tool all year long to keep important information and respond to our reading, like we did yesterday with making connections (point to anchor chart). It will be very important for you to watch me carefully and listen to my step-by-step instructions for setting up your Reader s Notebook. Let s get started! 1. Open your Reader s Notebook to the first page (model this entire process with your notebook under the document camera). Let s put a number 1 on the top right corner. You are going to tab this page at the top (Whole Group Reading tab: instruct your students how to do this unless you did it for them ahead of time). I am going to give you a page to glue down on page 1 like this (model gluing the Table of Contents). 2. Let s turn to the next page. Put a number 2 here (top left corner of left page) and a number 3 here (top right corner of right page). Now we are going to glue a Table of Contents page to each of these pages (model). Repeat these steps for pages 4 and 5. 3. Now we re going to number more pages. (The students will need to have pages numbered up to 55 behind the Whole Group tab use both front and back of pages. Whether you choose to have them number it all now or a little at a time is up to you). 4. We are going to tab the next section Reading Response (unless you ve already done this for them). This section will be used for writing about reading, like we did yesterday with making connections. (If you have already numbered the Whole Group section to page 55 then you will know where to tab the Reading Response section. Otherwise you will have to estimate it. Model tabbing the section). 5. Let s number the pages in the Reading Response section (You can start again with 1 if that is easier for your students and decide how far you want them to number. The page numbers are extremely helpful for organization. You can tell the students what page to put their independent responses on so you don t have to search through their spiral when looking through them). Closing: Now your Reader s Notebook is ready to go! Take special care of this tool as we will use it all year. I can t wait to read responses from it and share in your thinking about what you read. On (next school day) we will add our first whole group chart and you will get to try out your first reading response in your notebook. 10
Page # Table of Contents Title of Anchor or Lesson Handout 11
Block 1: Establishing the Literacy Block Lesson TEKS & Objective/Product Procedure 4 TEKS: 2.3C, 2.19C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Focus: Text-to-Self Connections, Reading Fig. 19A,F Response Obj: We will make text-to-self connections as we read. Product: I will share text-to-self connections with my partner and write them in my Reader s Notebook. 5 TEKS: 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A Obj: We will establish purposes for reading selected texts. Product: I will listen attentively and share how I choose texts to read. 6 TEKS: 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A Obj: We will establish purposes for reading selected texts. Product: I will listen attentively and share how I choose texts to read. 7 TEKS: 2.3C, 2.12A, 2.19C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A,F Obj: We will discuss independent reading expectations and review text-to-self connections. Product: I will independently read my just right text and write down text-to-self connections. Text: A Clean Park (included) One for each partner group Approach: Minilesson Resources/Materials: Anchor: Making Connections Focus: Active Listening and Discussing, Ways We Choose Books Text: Classroom Library Approach: Minilesson Resources/Materials: Anchor: Ways We Choose Books Organized Classroom Library Focus: Active Listening and Discussing, Making Good Book Choices Text: Classroom Library Approach: Minilesson Resources/Materials: Anchor: Making Good Book Choices Organized Classroom Library Focus: Reader s Notebook; Reading Response, Text-to Self Connections, Making Good Book Choices, Independent Reading Text: Student self-selected texts Approach: Minilesson Resources/Materials: Reader s Notebooks Response sheets: Making Connections 12
Lesson 4 Lesson Overview: 2.3C, 2.19C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A,F Text: A Clean Park (included) Approach: Minilesson Focus: Text-to-Self Connections; Reading Response Handouts for Reader s Notebook: Making Connections: o Text-to-Self Anchor Chart filled in from Lesson 2 (individual copies for Reader s Notebook) Can print off 4 to a page using Word document titled Anchor Charts See following page for instructions o A blank Making Connections chart for Reading Response (one per student) Provided at end of lesson Students glue a copy onto page 6 of Whole Group in their Reader s Notebook. Record on Table of Contents. Partner response sheet (full size copy of blank chart). Glue onto page 1 of Reading Response in Reader s Notebook. 13
* Note: Your students will need a copy of many of the anchor charts and graphic organizers they complete with you in whole group reading for their Reader s Notebook. This provides them a reference when they are trying something in partners, centers, or independently. In the intermediate grades, students can take notes and sketch anchors in their Reader s Notebooks. This presents more of a challenge for primary students. One way to provide them a copy is to take pictures of your completed anchor charts/graphic organizers from whole group with your phone, ipad, or camera. Save those pictures on your school computer in a file titled Anchor Charts. You can print off 4 to a page (in black and white) and the students can cut them out and glue them in their Reader s Notebook. That keeps your copies down to 5 or 6 sheets of paper when printing off materials for their Reader s Notebook. We have created a Word document titled Anchor Charts for you to use. Anytime you need to change the picture just: 1. Click on the picture. 2. Right Click 3. Select Change Picture 4. Choose the picture you want from your files An example has been included on the following page. This just shows you what the format of the document will look like. Do NOT print off this sample page for their Reader s Notebook. In the lessons we have included samples of completed anchor charts and graphic organizers. However, the anchors and graphic organizers you print off for Reader s Notebooks need to be the ones you completed with your students in class. 14
*Sample Page* 15
Introduction: Today you are going to practice making text-to-self connections with a partner. I want you to have a copy of our completed anchor chart on Making Connections for your Reader s Notebook. When you are making your own text-to-self connections in readin, you can look at this anchor in your Reader s Notebook to remind you of how good readers use this reading strategy. 1. Open your Reader s Notebook to page 1 of the Whole Group section. (In the first row have them record a 6 where it says Page # and then write Text-to-Self Connections where it says Title of Anchor or Lesson Handout (model on your own Reader s Notebook using the document camera). Now turn to page 6 of the Whole Group section. We are going to glue down a copy of our completed anchor chart from the story Gloria who Might be my Best Friend (model gluing down the anchor on page 6 in your own Reader s Notebook using the document camera). Anytime you are working on making text-to-self connections you can look back at this page in your Reader s Notebook to remind you. This will help you remember when we made text-to-self connections together in the story Gloria who Might be my Best Friend. 2. Today you are going to practice making text-to-self connections with a partner using a new text. Turn to page 1 of the Reading Response section in your Reader s Notebook. You are going to glue down a Making Connections chart on this page (model using your Reader s Notebook). As you read a story with your partner, I want you to write down some of the text-to-self connections you are making that help you to understand the story better. Just like we did with Gloria who might be my Best Friend. 3. Partner the kids up and pass out the story A Clean Park (included). They will need their Reader s Notebooks with them. 4. You and your partner are going to read the story A Clean Park. As you make text-to-self connections stop, Turn and talk about them, and then record them on your Making Connections sheet. There aren t page numbers, but the paragraphs have been numbered (show on document camera). Use these numbers as a page number to record on your sheet. Remember that text-to-self connections help us to better understand what we are reading. When you make a connection think how it helped you understand a character or the events in A Clean Park better. You will write that down too. 5. You and your partner might not make the same text-to-self connections and that s absolutely fine. After you ve talked to your partner, write down the connections you are making to your own life. I will be coming around to listen in to your turn and talk conversations, see what you write, and answer any questions you might have. I can t wait to hear about and read your text-to-self connections! (If students struggle or are unable to proceed with their partner, you may need to model. Read the first paragraph of the story, think aloud making a connection, model writing it down on your Reader s Notebook page). Closing: Bring students to the carpet with their partners and their Reader s Notebooks. How many of you made some text-to-self connections when reading A Clean Park? (Call on several students to share and make sure you help facilitate the conversation on how it helped them to better understand the story). My family and I love the park and go almost every weekend, which was a connection I made when the story said it was one of Tyler s favorite places. It helps me understand how he feels. Now you are ready to begin making connections to the books you choose to read! That means it s time for you to begin choosing books to read independently. How exciting! We ll take a look at the classroom library tomorrow. 16
A Clean Park (1) Tyler ran into the kitchen. Mom, I m going to the park! he said. Wear your helmet! his mom called back. The park was just down the street. Tyler grabbed his bike and rode there. It was pretty much his favorite place to go. (2) The park looked pretty crowded. Some kids were playing. But other kids held garbage bags. They were picking up trash. Tyler stopped his bike. One of the kids was Lauren, a girl from his school. She waved at Tyler. We re cleaning up the park today, she said. Want to help? No thanks, Tyler said. Today was Saturday, a day off. He came to the park to have fun, not to work! (3) Tyler rode his bike around the path. He passed the swings and slide. He passed the small pond. As he rode, he saw things he never noticed before. There was lots of garbage on the ground. He saw old soda bottles and food wrappers. It was pretty gross. (4) Tyler rode back to Lauren. He got off his bike. I ll help, he said. Lauren smiled. Here, she said. She gave him a bag. Tyler and the kids cleaned for about an hour. When they were done, the park looked great. Tyler rode his bike around the path again. There were no old soda bottles or food wrappers. Tyler smiled. Now the park was better than ever! 17
Making Connections: Text-to-Self When a character or the events in a text remind me of my own life, I am making a text-to-self connection. Text: Page # My Connection is It helps me understand This reminds me of I have a connection to I m remembering 18
Lesson Overview: 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A Approach: Minilesson Focus: Ways We Choose Books Lesson 5 Anchor Charts to Create: Ways We Choose Books - Title a piece of chart paper Ways We Choose Books. * You and your students will fill in the chart together during the lesson. Anchor Chart Example (not all of these may apply) Take a picture of this anchor after you have completed the lesson with your students. Add to table of contents and glue on page 7 in the Whole Group section of the Reader s Notebook. How do Partners have a Conversation? o Title the anchor How do Partners have a Conversation? The talking stems will be added one at a time with your students as the year progresses. (Here are a few examples) 19
Lesson: 1. Bring students to your whole group reading area and have them sit next to a partner (assigned or self-selected). Have the anchor chart displayed on a wall or easel next to you. 2. Introduction: This year you will get to read many wonderful books in our classroom! I would like to introduce you to our classroom library. Let s talk about how we can choose, read, and return books in a way that lets us all find and use them easily. We will share these wonderful books in our classroom this year. If we are responsible for selecting and returning them where they belong, we will always be able to find the books we want to read. 3. Model Library Procedures: Share the ways your books and library are organized: o How do I take books out? o How do I return books? o Where do I store books I am reading? o How many books can I have at a time? o Can I take a book home to read? 4. We choose books to read in many different ways and for many different reasons. For example, I love to read mysteries and so I often look for that type of book. What do you think about when you choose a book to read? Let s turn and talk to our partners about the ways we choose books. We are going to practice responding to our partners, so it s more of a conversation. After your partner shares their thinking you are going to ask them Can you tell me more about that? (Place the speech bubble saying Can you tell me more about that? on the anchor titled How do Partners have a Conversation) Model for students by partnering with a student. Turn knee to knee and face to face. Say (student), many times I choose a book by looking at the front cover and then flipping through it a little. (Now have your partner ask Can you tell me more about that? ) Say Yes, if the pictures are interesting to me I flip through and read a bit of the book. If it grabs my attention or looks interesting, I think it will be a book I will like. As students turn and talk and try out this new conversation stem, work the floor and assist/facilitate as needed. Let s share our thinking for how we choose books Write responses on anchor chart Ways We Choose Books (facilitate and guide discussion as needed) 20
5. Closing: Today we have listed many of the different ways you might choose books to read. I ll post this anchor chart on the wall near our classroom library. This will help you remember different ways you can choose a book to read. Tomorrow we will learn about how to choose just right books that are perfect for you! Have students complete this sentence on a sticky note: A new way I learned to choose books is 21
Lesson Overview: 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A Approach: Minilesson Focus: Making Good Book Choices Lesson 6 Anchor Chart: Making Good Book Choices - Title a piece of chart paper Making Good Book Choices. * You and your students will fill in the chart together during the lesson. Anchor Chart Example Take a picture of this anchor after you have completed the lesson with your students. Add to table of contents and glue on page 8 in the Whole Group section of the Reader s Notebook. *Note: There are 2 lessons provided for teaching students about making good book choices. You can choose the lesson you prefer and think will be most beneficial to your students. 22
Lesson: 1. Bring students to your whole group reading area. Have the anchor chart displayed on a wall or easel next to you. 2. Introduction: Today we are going to talk about how readers choose easy, just right, or hard books to read. I ll make some notes on this chart to help you remember each kind of book we talk about. 3. Sometimes, easy books are fun to read. They re the kinds of books you read when you want to relax. You might pick a favorite picture book you ve heard read aloud, or a book that you have read before and enjoyed, or a new book that won t take a lot of effort for you to read and understand. You can read the book easily and understand it very well. Help me as I write the characteristics of Easy books on the chart. (Write characteristics on anchor chart) 4. Just-Right books are those that you understand well and can enjoy. You read the book smoothly and have only a few places where you need to slow down to figure out a word or think more about the meaning. These are the books that will help you become a better reader each time you read. Most of the time you should read just-right books. Help me as I write the characteristics of Just-Right books on the chart. (Write characteristics on anchor chart) 5. Hard books are very difficult for you to read. You have trouble reading many of the words and don t understand most of what you are reading. These are books that are too difficult for you to enjoy right now, but you may find you will enjoy them later. Hard books are not usually good choices for right now. There may be some times when you would choose a challenging book, such as when you needed to find some facts about a topic, but most of the time, you would save challenging books until they are just-right for you. Help me as I write the characteristics of Hard books on the chart. (Write characteristics on anchor chart) 6. Closing: Today you will have an opportunity to visit our classroom library and choose a book you want to read. Remember, our goal is to find a just right book that s a perfect fit for us to read. Note: Give students the opportunity to visit the classroom library and select a just right text. This text will be used for Lesson 7. Use this time to have facilitative conversations with your students as they learn to select just right texts in the classroom library. 23
Alternate Lesson: (You need a bag with a variety of shoes) Daily 5 Lesson 1. Bring students to your whole group reading area. Have the anchor chart displayed on a wall or easel next to you. 2. Introduction: Pull out each pair of shoes one at a time and discuss the purpose of each type with the class. Each pair of shoes has a purpose. I would not wear high heels to play golf. Just like choosing which shoes to wear for an activity, we also have a purpose when we choose a book to read. The purpose for choosing a book may be because you want to learn about a topic or just to read for fun! 3. While further examining the shoes guide the discussion towards interest. I don t have soccer shoes because I m not interested in playing that sport. However, I love to play at the park, dress up for church, and go to the beach. I have shoes that fit all of those interests! It s important to choose books that interest us as well. 4. Now show the students a shoe that is much too big for you, put it on, and try to move around the room. These shoes don t fit me well and are clearly too hard for me to walk in. Some books are not a good fit for us and are too hard to read. (Discuss the characteristics of a hard text and record them on the anchor chart) 5. Show the students a shoe that is too small for you to wear. This shoe is too small for me and won t fit. I used to wear shoes this size, but I ve outgrown them. We outgrow books too when they become too easy for us. (Discuss the characteristics of an easy text and record them on the anchor chart) 24
6. Put your shoe back on or another shoe that fits well. This shoe fits perfectly and feels just right. There are many good fit books for you to read this year that are just right for you. (Discuss the characteristics of a just right text and record them on the anchor chart) 7. Pull a student up and trade your shoes. My shoes are too big for (student) and his/her shoes are too small for me. This is just like books! Books that are a good fit for one student may not be a good fit for another. Reading is all about YOU and finding YOUR just right fit! 8. Closing: Today you will have an opportunity to visit our classroom library and choose a book you want to read. Remember, our goal is to find a just right book that s a perfect fit for us to read. Note: Give students the opportunity to visit the classroom library and select a just right text. This text will be used for Lesson 7. Use this time to have facilitative conversations with your students as they learn to select just right texts in the classroom library. 25
Lesson 7 Lesson Overview: 2.3C, 2.12A, 2.19C, 2.28A, 2.29A, 2.30A, Fig. 19A,F Text: Just right texts chosen by students Approach: Minilesson Focus: Text-to-Self Connections; Independent Reading Materials: Making Connections Response Sheet (one per student) Anchor Chart: Making Connections: Text-to-Self Anchor Chart Making Good Book Choices Anchor Chart A blank Making Connections chart for Reading Response (one per student) Glue onto page 2 of the Reading Response section in Reader s Notebook. Lesson: 1. Bring students to your whole group reading area. Have the anchor charts displayed on a wall or easel next to you. 2. Introduction: Today you are going to have some time to enjoy the just right book you picked out. Reading is thinking, and you can do your best thinking when it is quiet. When we do our independent reading, you will need to read silently without talking to anyone else around you. The room is quiet so that you and your classmates can do your best thinking. An important thing we ve learned is that good readers make text-to-self connections as they read. 26
3. During independent reading you will need your just right text and your Reader s Notebook so you can write down the text-to-self connections you make as you read (refer to completed class anchor for making text-to-self connections and review) 4. Open your Reader s Notebook to page 2 of the Reading Response section. I am going to give you a Making Connections chart to glue on this page (Model for students with your Reader s Notebook using the document cam) 5. As you enjoy your just right book today stop to write down some of the text-to-self connections you are making as you read. These connections will help you to better understand what you are reading. Remember, the room needs to be completely quiet during this time so that no one s reading concentration and thinking is interrupted. Note: As the students are reading and responding take the time to work the room and visit with various students about their book choices and the connections they are making. This is an excellent opportunity to take some anecdotal notes about students who might be struggling to choose just right books and/or making text-to-self connections. 6. Closing: Have the students bring their text and Reader s notebook to the carpet. Assign or have them choose a partner to sit next to. Let s take a minute to turn and talk with our partner about the just right text we each read today. Show your partner which text you picked and tell them how you knew it was a just right text for you (refer them to Making Good Book Choices anchor). I would love for several of you to share the just right text you selected and one of the text-to-self connections you made. (Give several students time to share) Note: Independent reading should be a daily component of the 2 nd grade literacy block (TEKS 2.12A). In order for students to apply the concepts and strategies they are learning in whole group, they need daily opportunities to read text independently (at their just right level). How that time is integrated into the literacy block is at your discretion. This does not mean all students must be reading independently at the same time. Independent reading and responding can be part of centers, Daily 5, or any management system you have chosen to implement in your classroom. Notice that the lessons for text-to-self connections were gradually released to independence modeling, partner practice, and then independent application. Independent reading provides the opportunity for students to apply skills and strategies they have previously seen modeled and tried out with small groups and/or partners. The daily lessons will provide some specific reading response activities for your students to complete in their Reader s Notebook. You can add reading responses when applicable. 27