Reader’s Workshop Tips and Tricks and FREEBIES- Round 1

By Mackenzie Sheahan @kenziesheahan

I thought today would be a good day to give away some Reader’s Workshop materials because of Teaching Blog Addict turning 2!!!  Head over to their site by clicking on the button below and you will find hundreds of amazing freebies being given away today!!!!
Here is my first round of Reader’s Workshop Tips and Tricks! Getting to Know Your Students As Readers

My mama taught me well!  Before I ever do anything I get to know the student as an individual!  In Reader’s Workshop we are providing students with an environment that is a catalyst to create a reader for a lifetime.  We do this by individualizing and personalizing not only our role as the teacher but fitting the needs of each individual student.  There is no way I can begin to teach without learning about their pasts as an individual and as a reader.  Then I also need to know how to get to them now but where to begin to get their attention and trust.  Some call them “Reader’s Profiles”

I collect as much information as possible about each student a couple weeks before school and during the first month.  This looks like scouring their previous work, standardized test results, talking to last years teachers, and anything from the previous years I can get my hands on!!!   Then I prepare to collect information from the student, my own observations, parent surveys, and more.   In the freebie below you will find some of the materials that I use in my room including…

  • Parent Survey and Information Form
  • Reading Interest Survey
  • Strategy Interview
  • Questions About My Reading
  • Getting to Know You Conference

 You will also find a couple of my “Beginning of Each Unit Forms” that have been thrown in!

  • “What I Want To Read Next” is a worksheet that I always have my students keep with them and add to it before and throughout the units.  We always talk about adding to it as we hear of books during book buzzes or learning of squeals to books they love!
  • “My Reading Goals”  is a form that is continually added too.  I mainly check up on this and we add to it as we meet and conference together one on one.   These are goals that we talk about in order for them to become better readers.
  • Reading Logs

Make sure and watch for ROUND TWO of Reader’s Workshop Tips and Tricks!  Next I am planning on talking about Conferring in the Reading Workshop!

A couple other Freebies from my shop for you lucky ducks only:)