Joyful and Strategic Reading in First Grade

First graders love a good story! This winter they are listening to The Dino Files trilogy by Stacy McAnulty for the opening lesson during Reading Workshop.  They practice strategies such as envisioning the setting and the plot in their mind. They think deeply about character, discussing with partners or in a group what a character is feeling at different points in the story and how they as readers can tell. 

Students are noticing when characters grow and change during the story as well. Students often think about their own lives, family and friendships and make connections between the story, their own lives or to characters from other books. When discussing how Frank, Samantha and Aaron, children from The Dino Files were handling challenge in the book, students shared how the heroes they were studying handled challenge and how they might have solved the problem in the story. 

First graders are also thinking about the big ideas in the story and the problem and solution. After the beginning lesson, students then apply these skills to their "just right" books as they read with a partner and a teacher, reread thinking about a comprehension strategy and then write and illustrate their thinking about the story. During all of this wonderful listening, reading, writing and sharing students are experiencing the joy of reading as they become strategic readers.