This week our focus was on making a movie in our heads as we read, checking that movie throughout the story to see if there was a match. Sometimes the story matched the mental movie and sometimes the movie needed to change a little to match the words that read. They learned that good readers are flexible and always match their thinking with the actual story. They even know that good readers spread out all of their books in front of them so that they don’t have to look around in their book box to find a book or tool. Each day their reading stamina has grown and they are now able to read without distractions for longer and longer each day.

At the end of the week, we introduced reading partnerships. We added time at the end of our reading workshop for students to meet with a reading partner. We talked about what their jobs are during this time: be urgent, sit facing away from other readers, sit elbow-to-elbow and knee-to-knee with your partner (EEKK), use a quiet reading voice, have all your just right books and reading tools out and ready to go, etc. There are many ways to partner read, but for now our students are each taking turns reading their own just right books to their partners (I read, you read).

We will continue to practice reading with partners this week and and also on building our reading stamina. The kids LOVE this time of our workshop and are excited to share with their friends!