We are readers who buzz about books! Lucy Calkin explains, “When readers buzz about books we love we make these books exciting and not strange to others.” In Reader’s Workshop we practice having book buzz conversations with one another, using the following steps:

 Think about the person you are recommending a book to, you may need to pry and ask questions about their reading life

 Look over your book log, choose a book that fits

 Tell them why it is the perfect “fit”

 Summarize, highlighting the best parts

 Read aloud an enticing part

 Talk about why the book is irresistible

Next week we will continue practicing book buzzing, this time with partners from the Mighty Mustangs! After we have chosen a book for our partner, we will celebrate Friday and head to the Teton Valley library to keep our love for books alive long after school ends next week!

Thank-you letters were an important part of our week. Student reflections continued after their conferences and were crafted into thank-you notes to parents. For the first time all year, students were given the option to type their first drafts instead of handwriting and then typing. It was challenging for some students and others found it easier. We then worked together to COPS our work with the help of the computer’s spell and grammar check.  Finally, students practiced addressing an envelope with return address and home address. Look for your letter early to mid-next week!

Word work update: next week is our LAST spelling list and test of the year. Next week I will share tips and ideas of how to keep using and learning this year’s spelling patterns throughout the summer. 

This week our emphasis was on clear communication of growth in our portfolios. Before beginning each portfolio page, reflection was modeled and clear expectations were set. With this being our second year with such significant student involvement in their portfolios it is exciting to see students more confidently reflecting on their work. A reminder of the importance of portfolios from Bertire Kingore in, Developing Portfolios for Authentic Assessments states, “It is vital children have a valid role in both their learning and assessment of their learning…an important belief of asking students to reflect on their work is the opportunity it gives adults to learn about the children’s perspectives and value their participation in learning. Children are active partners in the classroom and are sincerely involved in assessment through their reflections and role in developing portfolios.”

Word work is still a strong part of our everyday activities. As the year progressed students developed the ability to decode (read words) and encode (spell word) words with semantics (meaning), sound (phonology) and sight (orthography). Word development in our classroom is not simply memorizing for a “spelling” test.  Rather it's developing an understanding that is full of life through linear sorts, complexities of games and in everyday reading and writing. Word work will continue to be a part of our curriculum throughout the year with the last weekly spelling test Friday May 30^th.

Update on our informational articles:

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  Paragraphs are powerful ways to organize information, we continue this week to add introduction and conclusion to our informational articles


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  Details are growing in our work, we continue to use our research to refer back to


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  Next week we begin editing and revising before typing our final drafts!

We are writers who write every day! This week we jumped back into our writer’s notebooks and pushed ourselves to write for 8 minutes without stopping. We were also very busy during project time writing the body of our musical instrument articles! This week we drafted the body of our article using the main ideas and details from our graphic organizers. From our graphic organizers our main ideas became one simple topic sentence and our details a supporting sentence. Different than our writer’s notebooks, writer’s workshop is time to learn the craft of writing-time to write with clarity, structure and purpose. This can feel slow or tedious to some students, but with a strong “skeleton” in place, we leave room for details, expression and voice. Next week, we begin adding those elements to our bodies!

April is national poetry month! After finishing our book club projects and before jumping back into buzzing about our independent reading, we are taking the next two weeks to be inspired by poetry. This week morning meeting was full of short poems that showed us poetry can be silly, serious, short, long, and full of rhymes or stories. During reader’s workshop we began practicing reading poems for many voices. In groups of 2 or 4 students first read the poem for understanding and then began practicing reading their lines “like gold”. With focus being both on comprehension and fluency, the poems began to take off from the page. Next week poetry will also be incorporated into our project. With “write a song” being the last thing on our band checklist, we will be writing not only a group song, but individual songs which will be strongly focused around a poetry unit.

On Monday we began organizing our extensive notes about our musical instruments. Using a graphic organizer called a “cluster chart”, we explored all our knowledge about our musical instrument (both from research and prior knowledge). Later in the week, we used all cluster charts to help us sort our facts into 4 linear categories. With all our practice sorting spelling lists this year, this “meaning” sort was familiar and quickly accomplished. Each category will become a supporting paragraph as we begin writing information articles about our musical instruments next week!

This week we celebrated Austin’s last week with us before his move to Annapolis. We worked in secret on the “Cody Project”, writing letters to Austin sharing specific memories. We made sure our letters had a greeting, body and closing. As we move into the 3^rd trimester students are becoming very independent "COPS-ing" their work. It is exciting to see them take initiative in their own work and be so thoughtful. Letter writing is a powerful way for us to say good-bye to Austin and to share how much we valued Austin in our school community.   

As we continue our musical instrument research, this week’s language art lesson focused on note taking. With an amazing amount of excitement, the students were eager to begin to learn this lifelong skill!  We first discussed how note taking strategies are used in reading, listening and viewing activities and that good note-takers jot down important information to learn, review and retain . This week we focused on “two-column notes”. Below are the rules we used to help take these notes:

1)  Include title and date

2)  List big ideas on the left

3)  List subtopics on the right

4)  Leave plenty of space

5)  Remember that each paragraph has a big ideas

6)  Use words and phrases

7)  Use abbreviations

8)  Make notes neat and clear

As we embark on our musical instrument research, we begin to learn how to synthesize non-fiction texts. This week we focused on “marking the text”. Using information articles about each of our instruments we began learning strategies that help readers focus and remember more of what they read. Pencils, pens, markers and highlighters were used to make key ideas and support details. Below are the tips we used to help us highlight or underline information:

• Read first-one paragraph at a time.
• Underline or highlight after you have read.
• Mark only words or phrases-never an entire sentence or paragraph.
• Remember that it is better to mark too few words than to mark too many.
• Use circles, squares, arrows or other symbols to identify important terms, people or places.
• Keep your highlighting and underlining neat. This makes it easier to go back and review the material.

As we near the finish of the end trimester, our word work-study continues to meet each student’s developmental level. It is exciting to take time and look back at how far students have come from the word sorts used at the beginning of the year. We will continue with our word work again after next week (there will be no spelling lists next week because of the KC trip) Here’s a couple of quick tips for working with words at home with your child:

• ·  Make sure your child is reading the words as well as sorting and writing them.
• ·  Avoid teaching “rules”; instead have your child find reliable patterns. Rules are useful mnemonics for something they already understand; they are not a teaching tool for new understanding.
• ·  Encourage students to explain patterns by both what they hear and see.
•    Don’t hide exceptions (oddballs); these are great challenges to patterns and useful high frequency words.

Students we busy writing Valentines this week! As much as this was a language arts lesson, it was also served as a community building exercise. The class was quiet and full of contracted work as they composed their verses. Every day in our classroom students are problem solving and learning from their peers through conflicts and conversations. Taking time in the heart of winter to slow down and appreciate each other in writing was a powerful way to remember how much we care about each other. Enjoy your child’s Valentines , it is a wonderful reminder of each child’s sincere character.

This week’s writer’s workshop was spent brainstorming, drafting, editing and finalizing “letters to Laurel”. Laurel asked us for help, she wanted to know “what do we love about TVCS?”. We were excited to help her and were excited to show off our writing skills this week! It was great to see students diligently writing and working their way independently through the writing process! Enjoy your child’s “letter” this weekend. It is a good reminder that our students love coming to school!

There will be NO spelling list or test next week due to the short week and our busy week learning with TSS grads. Students will instead spend the week reviewing past patterns through direct instruction, "monster sorts" and word games. Spelling lists will resume the following week. 

Book club mornings are a buzz of excitement! Students continue to grow more independent in leading their own discussions and as this occurs, so does their meaningful conversation.

Students’ comprehension is assessed formatively by discussion and a wide variety of written responses throughout the book club exercise. As each group finished their book, students’ comprehension is again examined through a summative assessment. These assessments are based individually on each student and each book group. They range from detailed written responses, to AR tests practicing test-taking skills, to book club projects based on multiple intelligences. It is exciting to see students continue to grow every day into readers who read with understanding and meaning!

 As routines are solidified at this point in the year, it is exciting to look around the classroom and see all the meaningful and differentiated work happening in one classroom. At any stage of our word work there are four unique lists of words students are working on. The work ranges from teacher directed investigations, word study games reinforcing concepts with our intern Hilary and students working independently on their “word study contracts”. Our word study is not simply a “spelling program” but a developmentally appropriate investigation of phonics, vocabulary and spelling. This method helps students by having them not simply memorize rules, but by directly questioning and reaching a greater understanding of our amazing English language.  

Our book clubs are off and running! We are reading and buzzing about a wide variety of award winning literature from the prairies of the 1800s in Sarah Plain and Tall, to the city life of A Cricket in Time Square, the bravery of a winter adventurer in Snow Walker to the humor and real life of Freckle Juice. Students are engaged and excited to be thinking deeply about books. This week we continued to build prior knowledge and began investigating the characters we were meeting. We learned to notice patterns in character’s actions or feelings. We asked, “what kind of person is this character?” We pushed ourselves not to name a single feeling but to name a trait this character is displaying.

In writer’s workshop we gear up to begin a longer writing project with writing daily and practicing editing our writing. With the acronym COPS, students quickly check their work for capitalization, overall appearance (neatness), punctuation and spelling. Each day we grow more and more into independent writers.

In reader’s workshop this week students were given time to jump back into their reading lives. With much time to simply DEAR (drop everything and read), take AR tests of long lists of books taken over break and buzz with friends about their latest best read. Friday our first book clubs of the year were revealed! Monday, we dive right into our new books and hold our first discussions!

In reader’s workshop this week we continued leave traces of our thinking. Using post-it notes, we tracked our thinking during read aloud of the Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder and individually in our independent reading. It is exciting to see students grow more and more comfortable not only sharing their thinking in conversations but in writing as well!  

In word work this week students’ individualized spelling practice continues, along with continued review of past lists with new games. Next week there will be NO spelling list. Instead will we spend the final week before the break to monitor progress and review patterns with instruction and games that help further solid understanding rather than memorization. We will also spend this week with a final review of all six different syllable types including the three new syllables: “vowel teams” (many vowel sounds are spelled with diagraphs, these diagraphs appear in the same syllable), “r-controlled” (when a vowel is followed by –r, the letter affects the sound of the vowel, the vowel & -r appear in the same syllable) and “consonant-le” (usually when –le appears at the end of the word and is preceded by a consonant, the consonant plus -le form the final syllable).

In reader’s workshop this week again we began actively monitoring our comprehension- the theme of the December. Students practiced listening to the inner voice and leaving tracks of their thinking while reading. Reading comprehension is an ongoing process of evolving thinking. The readers construct meaning, and then they carry on an inner conversation with the text that helps them comprehend. They hear a voice in their head speaking to them as they read- a voice that questions, connect, laugh, and cries.  

In word work this week students’ individualized spelling practice continues, along with continued review of past lists with new games. This week students also began to review the six different syllables types. As students develop in their reading abilities, they need to notice word parts or “orthographic chunks”, to help them decode multisyllabic mysteries. This week we focused on recognizing and using “closed” (these syllables end in a consonant and the vowel is generally short), “open” (these syllables end in a vowel and the vowel is generally long) and “silent-e” (these syllables end in a silent –e and represent long vowel sounds).

This week the Tiger-Wolves prepared to record their paragraphs. We worked on the four different components of fluency: accuracy (“Did I read the words correctly?”), pacing (“Did I read smoothly and automatically?”), pausing (“Did I pause in the right spots?”), expression (“Did I read with correct tone and expression?”). It was amazing to see the grit students used practicing and exciting to watch their effort turn into a final product!

In reader’s workshop this week again our lesson directly related to our project study. With practice summarizing fiction, we spent this week summarizing expository text. We first practiced with two articles from “Time for Kids”, learning how to find the “essence” or key idea of the article. Working together and then independently to check understanding, students found and wrote on sticky notes the most important information with a goal to keep it brief. Next, we started summarizing our historical and geological paragraphs. If students can use their own words to describe what they read and words make sense, then they understand the text. 

Reader’s workshop this week was spent working with reading partners practicing “synthesized retellings” and beginning to ending summaries. We also spent the afternoons talking about “fluent” reading and what it sounds like to “read like gold”. For our Gaper Guide project our readings of our Los Torres partner’s paragraphs will be recorded and we can feel the importance of reading our paragraphs fluently. Before we can read fluently we are busy looking up definitions of unknown words and pronunciations to help us. It is exciting to see students have a real life chance to practice “reading like talking!”

In word work this week we took a six week “check-in” spelling test on patterns previously taught. The results of these spelling tests help me design individual activities for students in areas where, even though patterns have been taught, students still need additional practice.

In reader’s workshop we learned to “synthesize a retelling”. Sometimes we as readers start retelling at the beginning of the book. At other times, we start retelling that part of the book we just finished reading. When we do this second kind of retelling, readers start out only retelling the section we just finished reading. Whenever our retelling gets to a part that has meaning that comes from earlier in the story, we add reference to that earlier bit into our retelling to bring in the relevant background. So, as you go through the retelling, you pull together all the big important parts of the story.

In writer’s workshop we continue to free write every day before we begin our lesson. It is already exciting to see pages full of brave stories and tall tales. This week we choose stories that matter to us using sketch of a special location to help us find meaningful stories.

In word work this week we continued to learn new patterns and practice old patterns through games and activities. On Monday, students will be assessed on past patterns to check retention and to help us see what specific patterns for each child need to be reinforced. Learning new spelling patterns can take weeks of multi-sensory practice. Do not worry if some patterns are more difficult than others for your child, the more we practice the stronger they will grow in their ability to retain concepts.

In reader’s workshop we continued to refine our “retelling” skills. We practiced again making sure to start at the beginning of the story and then take big steps through the time line of events, telling only the key parts of the text. We worked to step over the details and small events and only touching down on the big important events. One easy trick we learned to help retelling was to remember:

1. Who? Who is the main character?
2. Wanted? What did the main character want?
3. But? What was the problem?
4. So? How did the main character try to solve the problem?
5. Then? What was the resolution to the problem?

Next week, we will practice “synthesizing” our retellings.

In word work this week three new word games, “Diagraph Bingo”, “Homophone Bingo” and “Roll-a-Word”, were introduced. Word games not only help us study our new spelling patterns but also reinforce patterns previously learned. Studying and learning spelling patterns in not just one week’s work, but it is constant practice until patterns are being used correctly in student’s writing. Word games make this practice seem more like play than work.

In reader’s workshop we spent the week working with our “reading partners”. After finishing our interviews, we began practicing with our partner on the skill of “retelling”. Readers often retell books as a way to lay the story out for others so they can talk it over. But retelling our books is also a way to lay the story out for ourselves so we can think it over. The process of retelling and rethinking keeps the whole story primed in our minds.

Our writing notebooks are ready for writing! After spending the past weeks building ideas and meaning for the act of writing, we began writing this week. Our writer’s notebooks are specials places. Each day we write for  six minutes. During those six minutes our goal is to never stop moving our pencils. As the year progresses, we will continue to write longer and stronger. We are writers who write every day.

In word work this week we continued to learn to play word games. “Word Maker” was a new game introduced to students this week. “Word Maker” is a simple card game where students manipulate letters to make words based on two different categories of cards “onsets” and “rimes”. As the weeks pass and our body of “pattern words” builds, we simply do not leave those words to never be studied again. Through our word work games we not only learn our new words but review and continue to analyze our past words to make sure we are not simply memorizing words but learning them. Due to the short week, this week’s spelling test will be on MONDAY (next week things will be back to normal). Please find time during this weekend to help your child study his/her words. 

This week we met our “reading partners”! We’ll spend some time interviewing each other and getting to know more about our “readers” lives. Reading partners will stay and work together for the entire year. They will be there to keep a pulse on our reading lives from now until June. 

“Reading companions make all the difference in the world. And reading friendships start with people getting to know each other in a special way-as readers. WE pay attention to each other’s reading histories, reading interests, reading hopes-and by doing so we stand a chance for being a force for the good in a another reader’s efforts to author a reading life of himself, for herself.” –Lucy Calkins from Building a Reading Life

In word work this week we learned “THE Spelling Game”. Students work together reading their pattern words, placing them in their correct category and spelling each word correctly to move across a playing board. Since there is no school on Friday, our spelling test will take place on TUESDAY. Please find time during this long weekend to help your child study his/her words. 

Now that we are readers who “commit” to books, this week we were ready to talk about the actual hard work of reading stronger, faster and longer. We learned that readers sometimes put “on the brakes” as well as “take off the brakes” as they read. Readers “take off the brakes” when they are picking up their reading pace. Picking up your pace can help you take in what you are reading more fully because you are absorbing more words, and connecting the details to the whole picture faster. Readers may also “put on the brakes” when reading, slowing down when they come to a part that is new, full of strong emotion or moments of connections where reading on “auto-pilot” doesn’t work in a way that lets the words truly matter.

In word work, the “word hunt” was emphasized this week. To practice at home with your child, look through a book they have already read for words that have the same sound, pattern or both. Try to find two or three for each category.

This week's mini-lesson focused around, "what is a just right book?". We used prior knowledge and personal experience to brainstorm in groups and collaboratively come up with the the Tiger-Wolves definition of a just right book. The Tiger-Wolves also learned that there are people who research how we learn to read. We learned that some of the results from their research was that readers need tons of high success reading in order to grow as readers. In the words of reading researcher Lucy Walkins, "Readers need tons of time to read when they are not fussing over wrong words, when they are not stopping and starting and stopping again and not furrowing their foreheads. Readers need lots of mind-on-the-story reading. These kinds of books are the ones at our personal level- the ones that can be read smoothly, with accuracy and comprehension." With reading logs starting this week, book logs were added on as another tool for documenting our reading lives. Book logs keep track of the books we are reading, dates started and finished, genres and are rated "easy", "challenging" or "just right". With book logs we are holding ourselves accountable for committing to books.

Our week was full of learning how to "sort" our words. During word work we emphasized the "blind sort". To do the the "blind sort" with your child lay down a word from each category as a header and then read the rest of the words aloud. Your child must indicate where the word goes without seeing it. Lay it down and let your child move it if he or she is wrong. Repeat if your child makes more than one error.  

·     This week’s mini-lessons continued to focus around developing our reading lives. We worked hard to reflect and document when reading was “the BEST in our lives” and when it was “the pits.” Please make sure to ask your child what they said. These conversations are great qualitative narratives to use alongside our quantitative data from our reading logs.

·    Reading logs have been practiced and used in school the past two weeks. Starting Monday students are expected to be reading and logging reading at home at least 20 minutes four times a week.  Reading logs will be sent home in “books bags” that also hold your child’s “just right” home to school book.  These book bags are to be brought back and forth to school and home each day. Every Monday reading logs are collected and used as data for that week’s reading conferences.

·     Personalized spelling lists will be sent home every Monday. Each student’s spelling list has two components: pattern words from the week’s lesson and high frequency (sight) words.

o  Pattern words are expected to be studied not memorized. Each week a student will be sent home with an activity to study the words that have been modeled and practiced in school, your child will be able to teach you how to do them.

o  High frequency words are words that help students continue to grow as fluent readers. Students need repeated exposure to fully store them in their memory. To study these words, students will bring home a tic-tac-toe of activity to provide repeated exposure.

• The Tiger-Wolves have spent the past week establishing routines and expectations regarding their independent reading. We modeled procedures for choosing books from our genre “book bins” and then reflected with friends why we choose the book we did or why we choose to change books each day.
• Reader’s mailboxes were established as a place to store our  “short stack of books” (books that are up next to read), as well as a place to keep our reader’s notebooks. Reader’s notebooks contain the reflections and data that help us document our reading lives. Reading logs became the first tool in our reader’s notebooks.  Next week, reading assessments will continue as we begin to think more about our “reading lives”. 
• Our word study (spelling) practice will begin next week as well. Each student has been assessed and will have differentiated word study lists based on their developmental stage of spelling and personalized high frequency words to learn. Both spelling lists and reading logs will start as home practice Monday September 23^rd and we will spend the next week finalizing these routines and expectations.

We are readers and writers already! Enjoy our updates below:

• We started day one investigating our classroom libaray, in particular our "book bins" that hold a variety of level books in certain genres.
• We got our hands in our book bins and begin to think again about our reading lives in particular why we choose to read a book day after day or decided to choose a new one, "was it interesting? why was it interesting?" 
• thinking about the books we different types of books we like to read. We also spend time