Reader’s Workshop in an Author Study

What do young emergent readers do during an author study? You might not think a lot but walk into our classroom and you will find out how wrong you are. Over the last couple weeks we have read many Eric Carle books that he has written. The kids have loved being able to hear new stories, make predictions about these new books, discuss how the books relate to each other, make text to self and text to text connections, and share their favorite parts. They learn how to not only make predictions about an individual book but learn how to make predictions based on what they know about that author and other books he has written. This week the kids learned about Venn Diagrams. They were able to compare two books by Eric Carle and find what these two texts had that were the same and different.




Each day they “WOW” me as they become so involved in their books. They are reading, discussing, and writing about their thoughts. They are continually learning how to have book talks with one another which will help them to be successful lifelong readers. Make sure you talk to your child to find out what we are doing each day.

Happy Birthday Ms. Stresen-Reuter

What a great day it was. Ms. Stresen-Reuter was so surprised at how 27 little kids were able to throw her a party and she didn't know anything about it. The kids were so excited all week as they made her a present (a treat jar for Stanley), made birthday cards, and helped us plan how we were going to get her out of the room. She couldn't believe we pulled it off. The room was decorated, we ate cupcakes and ice cream, and opened presents. I think the kids enjoyed her birthday as much as she did. As Zachary states "I wish it was your birthday every month!". Here are some hightlights from our day.

Surprise

Wild About The Zoo

We're Going to the Zoo - Zoo - Zoo

What a great day we had at the zoo. Lots of animals, kids were wonderful, and even better weather. The kids were so excited when we returned to talk about all the animals they saw and what a fun day they had - I think the giraffes were the big winner for the day. Check out our pictures this weekend to see all our zoo highlights. Post a comment about your favorite part of the day!!

Zoo-ology

This week I found a great website that allows us to read books on-line and share these books on our blog as well. Each week I will try to add a book to share with you for one reason or another. This week I am choosing Zoo-ology (a book about animals) to go along with our trip to the zoo. Try to name as many animals on each page as you can. Post a comment to let me know what part of the book was your favorite! (If you click on the eyes the picture will enlarge.)

Eric Carle - We just love his books

Over the last two weeks we have been reading many Eric Carle books. We have been learning how to discuss his books and write a response to them as well.












In Reader's Workshop we have been learning important attributes to his books such as the characters, setting, and the main idea. We also have been making predictions prior to reading and then making text to self connections to help us understand the story better.








This week we discussed all the different ways readers could respond to literature. We have charted our thoughts and used these charts to help guide us through out writing. This also helps us learn how to discuss his books with our floor buddies as we do every day.













We will continue our Eric Carle study through the end of March. Ask your child to write a post about his/her favorite Eric Carle book so far. Here are some of our samples of work. (click on the work to see a larger image)

Carter



Dylan











Zachary