First Grade Launches Reading Workshop

Reading Workshop in first grade begins with a book read aloud. Students start he year reading picture books. They are learning to use the title and picture on the cover and back in order to have a springboard for their comprehension as they listen to the story read aloud and then read picture books themselves. Students have been noticing that characters in books use strategies to solve their problems in the same way that they as students use strategies to learn to read. 

First graders are learning the difference between feelings a character has and the way a character usually is in the course of the book, developing an understanding of character traits. In a recent book called, a character named Big Al was scary looking to others but was really friendly and nice. The students learned that Big Al was persistent as he tried different strategies to make friends with the little fish.  

Students are also making connections to the characters and the plot in the book with their own lives and with other books they have read. They are sharing their thinking with partners in preparation for writing about their ideas. As students write they are applying phonic strategies through the use of kid-writing, writing the sounds of the words.  They also use high frequency words that they know how to spell or see on the classroom word wall.  After students write their sentences, teachers show them the book writing, correct spelling of the words as they compare their kid-writing to the correct spelling. The illustration of their writing is a way to continue to share their understanding of the story.