Workshop Open Court Reading

Welcome, I am Glad You Are Here! My Name is Shayla Brown shayla_brown@mcgraw-hill.com

What is Workshop? Workshop is flexible grouping! Students work on purposeful activities that reinforce and extend the instruction in Open Court. Teachers work with small groups, conference with students, and/or do informal assessment.

Think about Workshop and your Students? In Workshop, the goal is for children to work productively on their own or in small groups (collaboratively) with classmates to practice and review content that has been taught in the lessons or to complete writing and investigation activities. At this point in the year, what are your students doing in Workshop? Share with others.

Think about Workshop and Yourself? In Workshop, the goal is for you to have time to work with small groups of students or individual children each day. At this point in the year, what are you doing during Workshop time? Share with others.

Taking a Closer Look In small groups or with a partner, read the section on Workshop, pages 40-41 in the Appendix of your Teacher Edition. Think about the following: What have you done to set up Workshop areas? What classroom rules for Workshop have you established? How did you introduce Workshop? Share with the whole group.

How to begin Set up your class with areas that can be used for workshop. Establish class rules. Explain workshop to the children. Let them know that as the year goes on, they will be able to use different areas and make the choices but for right now, the class will work together in Workshop.

Organizing Materials Think about your room. Use areas, bookcases, or containers for materials Label the materials, Reading, Writing, etc. Color-code game pieces so children know where the pieces go. Code individual Sound/Spelling Cards and keep them in baggies or on rings.

Class Rules In the Appendix on page 40, there are five suggested rules. Be Polite Share Whisper Take only the materials needed Return materials Why are rules important? How are yours the same or different? Are there any other rules you think are important?

Class Rules Work in small groups and discuss the following questions, then share them with the larger group. Why are rules important? Why is it important to keep rules short and to the point? How are yours the same or different? Are there any other rules you think are important? Why is it important to review rules regularly?

Ready! Introduce rules Explain Workshop Give class Workshop activity: rereading a decodable, rereading an anthology selection, working on writing, and the like. Monitor children: observe, make positive comments. Set time. After 10 or 15 minutes, have several children share what they learned and liked about Workshop. Over several weeks, introduce several different workshop activities, for example, working on writing, reading books, and the like that can become choices later.

Why take time to share after Workshop? Sharing lets children know that Workshop is an important time of the day. They are expected to learn something during Workshop.

Why take time to share after Workshop? Sharing gives the teacher the opportunity To find which activities are interesting to the children or which activities need to be adjusted. To find out if there were problems, to discuss them, and to make changes for the next day.

Ready! Group One activity Whole Teacher Assigned Teacher monitored     Ready! Group One activity Whole Teacher Assigned Teacher monitored  

Think about Workshop and your Students? Watch the video on Setting up Workshop. Notice how the teacher sets up Workshop. How does the teacher set up the rules? What are the children doing at this point? What materials and options are available to the children? What is the teacher doing?

Where Are You and Workshop? Discuss in small groups and share. What is going on for Workshop in your classroom? What can you do differently or what can you add to what you are doing for Workshop?

Set! After several weeks or when you think the students are ready, you’re “SET!” to move on. Introduce a Menu. Discuss the activities the students have been doing and explain a couple of new activities that can be done during Workshop. If it is a game, demonstrate it. Introduce the idea of “Must Do’s” and “Can Do’s”. Let the students know that once they have completed any ‘must’ do’s, they can choose one of the Workshop activities. If you feel students need additional practice or review, you can assign them to specific Workshop areas at this point in the year.

Set! (Cont.) Be sure the class understands how Workshop is changing. During the first few days of “Set!” you may have to remind children to use “whisper voices.” If the class gets too noisy, end Workshop early and let the children know why. Continue to have several children share at the end of Workshop. This is important now since children are working on different activities. Encourage them to talk about why they liked this area and what they learned.

Possible Must Do’s Complete writing from Part 3 of the lesson. Add vocabulary to Writer’s Notebook (grade 2 on) Reread anthology selection or decodables for fluency. Complete Journal entry into Writer’s Notebook (grade 2 on).

Workshop Activities In time, introduce different activities. Using individual Sound/Spelling Cards Phonics practice (software) Work on writing in progress Reading alone or to each other Work on Investigation and Inquiry Cross-curricular activities Listening to selection on tape Scrambled sentences using sentences from Blending or Word Knowledge. Fluency practice with Decodables, Anthologies, and Intervention Selections

Workshop Possible Teacher Activities . . . Pre-teach Use Challenge materials Reteach concepts Listen to students read Check fluency Hold conferences to work on writing

Making “Set” Work: Think About It! Discuss the following: Why might you want to assign students to different Workshop activities? Why might it be important to limit the number of children who can work on a particular Workshop activity? Why is it critical that students take responsibility for carefully putting away materials? Why is it important that students not interrupt you when you are working with a group?

Deciding which Children Need to Work with the Teacher All children should have time during the week with the teacher. Teacher observes children during instructional time, for example, during Dictation or Strategic Reading and notes children who need help. Groups are made up of children with common instructional needs. Groups are flexible. They should change over time.

Taking a Closer Look Working with a partner or small group, go through several lessons in your Teacher Edition and identify instructional opportunities for observing your students. What help is in the Teacher Editions to support your observing in the classroom? Share with the whole group.

Taking a Closer Look Opportunities and support in Open Court of observing in the classroom. Informal checklists Informal Comprehension and Research Rubrics Informal Assessment (in gold) found throughout the lessons Others?

Set! Suggestions for Minimizing Interruptions Help Chart- students can go and put their names on the chart. Names could be on clothespins, Velcro backed name tags, etc. Help Basket- students have names on cards and can put them in the basket. “See Three Before Me” sign- students need to see three other students to see if they can help solve the problem before going to the teacher. “Resident Expert” - select one student who is skillful at the assigned activity to assist students having difficulty. “If You’re Stuck” Must Do

Ready! Group One activity Whole Teacher Assigned Teacher monitored     Ready! Group One activity Whole Teacher Assigned Teacher monitored   Set! Students One assigned activity One choice Teacher Monitors workshop Works with groups

Think about Workshop and your Students? Watch the rest of the video on Workshop. What is different now from the beginning of the school year? What are the children doing? How are they taking responsibility? What did you notice about the activities and the room? What will you try to use in your classroom?

Think about Workshop and your Students? What was the teacher doing in the video? Why do you think the children who were not with the teacher were able to stay on task? What management techniques did the teacher use?

Go! Students are making choices from a menu. Students are working independently alone or in small groups. Workshop may take a longer block of time. The teacher is working with multiple groups of children.

Ready! Group One activity Whole Teacher Assigned Teacher monitored     Ready! Group One activity Whole Teacher Assigned Teacher monitored   Set! Students One assigned activity One choice Teacher Monitors workshop Works with groups Go! Students Make choices May do more than one activity Multiple groups of students working on different activities Teacher Works with groups Assessment

What is the difference between Ready, Set, Go! What is the difference between “Set” and “Go” ?

Workshop Time everyday when all students are assured equal access to the curriculum. Students work in groups or Independently. Teachers meet individual student needs – provide differentiated instruction, hold student conferences, or assess student needs.

Flexible Grouping, Flexible Time Groups working with the teacher are not static. They change as the needs of the students change. Workshop time is not static. It can be a single block of time or several smaller blocks throughout the language arts block of time.

Workshop Does Not Have to Be a Single Block of Time

Workshop Does Not Have to Be a Single Block of Time

Keeping Track If there are certain activities you want every student to complete in Workshop during a week, keep a chart at that Workshop area for students to check off their names once the activity is completed. Keep a chart with the names of the different Workshop activities down the side and the date for a two week period of time across the top. Give one to each student to keep track of what they did. Conference with students periodically to discuss their choices. What other ways can you think of?

Keeping Track, K-6 Pie Graph and Clothespins Circle divided into sections and label and color to correspond to Area. Dots or stickers at edge of circle refers to number of students who can work in the Area. Clothespins with student’s names on them. Teacher attaches clothes pins to assigned areas.

Keeping a Record Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Fluency Listening Writing Inquiry Etc.

Remember Setting up Workshop takes time. Start by doing whole-class workshops and gradually move into groups. Review the rules regularly. Make the children responsible. If necessary stop Workshop time if rules are not being respected. Have a way to keep track of the children and what they are doing. Some children may do the same thing every day and may need some encouragement to try something new or needed.

Work with a partner or small group. Think about it! Work with a partner or small group. Using the following chart and your Teacher Edition, identify program resources you have that will support Workshop, which areas you will put those resources in, and the purpose for the children using those materials.

Workshop Resources Program Resource Workshop Area Purpose

Other Resources Using the following chart, what other resources do you have in your classroom that you could use for Workshop? Remember Workshop activities should be connected to language arts and support what the children are learning.

Workshop Resources Other Resources Workshop Area Purpose

Workshop: Ready, Set, Go! It Works! Whole Group One activity Teacher assigned Teacher monitored Students One assigned activity One choice Teacher Monitors workshop Works with groups Teacher Works with groups Assessment Students Make choices May do more than one activity Multiple groups of students working on different activities