Reading in the Wild: Creating a Workshop Schedule

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Happy Thursday! This week, we’ll be exploring the second part of chapter 1 of Reading in the Wild by Donalyn Miller. Chapter 1.1 is all about creating a schedule for your reading workshop. It is hosted by:

I’m not going to lie. I LOVE independent reading time in my classroom. Students are engaged in books which they have self-selected, the room is peaceful and learning is going on at differentiated levels. There are days when I pull out my own book and read with the kids!

Sometimes, though, this reading gets pushed aside for one reason or another. Oftentimes, it feels as though there are just not enough minutes in the day and independent reading time is the easiest thing to scratch off the daily schedule. But that CAN’T happen! We need to make sure that students are getting in as much reading as possible.

When creating a schedule for Reader’s Workshop, we need to consider many aspects. Those include time, required components, components we wish to incorporate, independent reading time and utilizing the rule of thirds.

Next year, I’ll be teaching two reading classes in the morning. I’ll have about an hour for each one. The focus is mainly reading since I will have a different writing group in the afternoon. Don’t worry, there will be writing intertwined in the reading class too! I’ve created a sample schedule for myself:

This is just a sample though. I just got my assignment last week and I still have two months left before school starts. A lot can change between now and then!

I used Miller’s suggestion of breaking the class period into thirds. I incorporated independent reading and small groups in the first 20 minutes. The next segment would be our mini-lesson time, which would incorporate our class novel that we are required to read. There is a lot that I need to address in that middle section, which is why I added an extra 10 minutes. The last portion of the period would be vocabulary instruction. This is the area that I may switch up still.

What does your reading workshop schedule look like? Do you incorporate time for independent reading? I’d love to hear your thoughts! Write a comment or link up below!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Comments

The Brown-Bag Teacher says

June 26, 2014 at 2:02 pm

I love the idea of starting the class with small groups/workshop. It's something I had considered, but was never brave enough to do it! Also, I LOVE being able to grab a book and independent read with out kids. They always think it's so cool. 🙂
Techie Santillana says

June 26, 2014 at 2:54 pm

I'd love to join this link up! When I get home – im in the doc. Waiting room. I also just ordered the 100 min. Book. Im looking for new ways to include writing into my workshop 🙂 thank you for sharing your ideas!
Learning With Mrs. S
Think, Wonder, and Teach says

June 27, 2014 at 12:47 am

WOW! 2 more months of summer! I have just a few weeks left before we go back. I love that you start your day out with groups. This was my plan as well.

Misty
Think, Wonder, & Teach
Kelly Anne says

June 27, 2014 at 3:25 pm

I love how you have your schedule broken down!! The idea of having small groups at the beginning is really intriguing to me and definitely something I am interested in. I usually have them after our mini-lesson but I definitely would like to try something like that to mix it up 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!!

XO, Kelly Anne
AppleSlices

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