Reader's and Writer's Workshop

In our reading class, we keep a portfolio of the activities we complete over the course of the school year, read Newbery books, and vote on our favorite novels, authors, and genres at the end of the school year. The strategies we learn are QAR (Question-Answer Relationships), SQR (Survey, Question, and Read), the "five finger test" for choosing a book, and recognizing text features. Mrs. Jennings-Eddy, our school's reading coach, comes in to teach us new strategies and enjoy our class when she has the time.

In my years of teaching, it has been exciting for me to purchase a varied selection of books for the students in my classroom. Students have very broad interests at this age, though some students have very specific interests (such as with the prehistoric period or the Revolutionary War). Sometimes I have a student play a video game at home, and that leads the student to choose a book like a Dear America novel. It has been important for me to gather as many Newbery books as possible as well as different types of non-fiction books. I focus on the different units our fourth grade team instructs over the course of the school year like geology, geography, nature, the solar system, and the human body. When I meet with each of my reading groups every week, I administer assessments like the San Diego Reading List and the Scholastic Reading Inventory (SRI) on the computer. Also by helping the class to understand the "five finger test" for choosing books, the students can understand if a book is too challenging, just right, or not challenging enough for them. The students eventually write about what they read in their reader's notebooks, and sometimes I respond to what they have read verbally or in writing. It is my goal to know what can challenge each student and maintain their interests at the same time.

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