1. We won’t necessarily call it Reading Workshop, but we’ll establish the expectation that we are readers who become better readers by immersing ourselves in a workshop environment. Day 5 is going to rock!

2. When you come into class, please do the following immediately:
Welcome to Mrs. McMath’s English class!
When you come into class, please do the following immediately:
Get the two essays from the front table.
Get a highlighter from the front table.
Have a seat in a desk.
Begin reading “Names/Nombres” by Julia Alvarez.
Highlight any words you don’t understand.
If you brought your spiral, put your name inside of it and put it in the correct basket at the back.
If you have a question, write it on a sticky note and put it on my computer screen.
Today instead of reading their independent book for 10 minutes, they’ll begin reading the anchor text for the day.

3. What have you been reading?
They’ve been doing independent reading for at least 10 minutes a day for 4 days. It’s time to talk! Give them the opportunity to talk about their books. It can be as simple as showing the class the cover and reading the title, while others might want to give a lengthy description of everything that’s happened so far.
This can be done as a whole class, with a partner, or in groups. You can create groups based on any number of “icebreaker” ideas like, “Find people wearing the same color shoes as you and tell them about your book.” Then switch up the groups so students hear about a number of books in just a few minutes.

4. What words describe the main character?
“My Name” by Sandra Cisneros
“Names/Nombres” by Julia Alvarez
Names/Nombres is a longer text. For the sake of time, I only choose a part of it. This is a link to the full text.
“My Name” is a shorter essay. It makes a great companion piece to the Alvarez essay. This is a link to the full text.
Students start with the Alvarez piece because it is a little more challenging. On the board we list characteristics of Julia. I read “My Name” aloud. In groups they list characteristics of Esparanza. We collect responses on the board. Ask students, “We came by these descriptions through evidence in the text. Practice that with your self-selected text.”

5. Word that describes the character
Independent Practice
As you read your self-selected text, consider the following:
Title of book:
Character’s name:
Word that describes the character
Evidence from text 1. 2. 3.
For independent practice, students do exactly what they just did with the class and the groups. In a Reading Workshop, they must have 20 minutes to practice on their own.
It does work best if they have a fiction book for this independent practice, but if it’s a bio or autobio that will also work.
While they read and complete the chart, walk around the room and gather data about your students inferences.