Habits of Strong Readers

from Growing Readers by Kathy Collins

Essential Reading Habits:
• Strong readers read everyday.
• Strong readers talk and thing about books with other people.
• Strong readers read everything in sight
• Strong readers take care of books and protect their reading time.

Units of Study in a Reading Workshop

from Growing Readers by Kathy Collins
September: Readers Build Good Habits

• Management and procedural expectations
• Reading identities
• Taking care of books
• How to stay focused on reading
• How to work and talk with reading partners

Late Sept - Oct: Readers Use Strategies to Figure Out Words

• Getting our minds ready to read
• Acquisition of print strategies
• Flexibility with print strategies
• Reading with fluency
• Choosing just-right books

Nov - Dec: Readers Think and Talk About Books to Grow Ideas

• Book talks with partners
• Retelling
• Envisioning, predicting, connections
• Strategies for monitoring comprehension and fix-up strategies

Jan: Readers Use Word Power to Read and Understand their Books
Feb - May: Readers Pursue Their Interests in Books and Other Texts

• Genre, author, character studies
• Procedure for working in reading centers
• Reading projects
• Determining importance, synthesizing text, inferring

June: Readers Make Plans for their Reading Lives

• Reflecting on growth as readers
• Making reading plans for summer and life
• Setting goals as readers
• Determining our new reading identities

Structure of the Reading Workshop

from Growing Readers by Kathy Collins
1. Mini-lesson
2. Independent work time

• Teacher provides instruction during individual conferences and small group work

3. Mid-workshop teaching
4 .Children are engaged in partner reading

• Teacher provides instruction during individual conferences and small group work

5. Teaching share time

Guiding Principles of the Reading Workshop

From: Growing Readers by Kathy Collins

• Readers have time to read just-right books independently every day.
• Readers select their own appropriate books.
• Readers take care of books.
• Readers respect each other's reading time and reading lives.
• Readers have daily opportunities to talk about their books in genuine ways.
• Readers don't just read the words but also understand the story.
• Readers' work in reading workshop is replicable outside the classroom.