Chapter+2


 * __﻿ Chapter 2: Experiences in Literacy Throughout the Day __**

// As a teacher of upper elementary students, there are different aspects of an Independent Reading Workshop that I have to think about when setting up a schedule for our day. I expect the students to arrive with specific reading skills, such as finding main idea and pronouncing difficult text. However, being new to the Independent Workshop, I am noticing areas of the workshop that we complete but they are in isolation, not in a workshop format. We do the partner reading, independent reading and mini-lessons. As I read about the Independent Workshop, I am now seeing how I can organize my classroom in a much more manageable format than it is now (if you'd like to call it an Independent Workshop:)) // // As Margaret states in her response, it all makes sense to organize the students learning as stated in the text; it allows us to get everything "into" our day, even science and social studies. // // Cara1212﻿ //**﻿** Margaret Fox
 * 1) 1. In this chapter, we have insights into four different classrooms, each with a different approach to reading. Reflect on your own personal approach. Is your approach changing as you learn more about Reading Workshop? How?
 * Respond Here: My approach has been consistent more in tune with the 4 block approach. I make sure there is 30 minutes of SSR and at least 15 with partners. Then we have another hour with writing workshop and reading groups. Schedules are changing due to all of our interventions now with reading and Delta math. There was only 60 minutes last year where I had my kids all together in our room. I also have to teach out of a basal now, so that is a new experience for me that I am trying to adjust to.I am not doing so well, as I want to teach my classics and more deep, rich literature. I also try to teach reading across all the content areas since reading is EVErYWHerE!! I agree with Margaret, curriculum involves reading in all areas. I am looking forward to taking this course and reading this wonderful book so I can tighten up my reading schedule and turn it more into a workshop approach just like the writing:) !! stephanie **
 * Over the years I have been one of those classrooms, to a degree. As I reflect, I notice I'm a Reading Workshop educator. The architecture of Reading Workshop matches my daily setup. I've always felt like a rebel. Reading is in all areas of the curriculum. Mini - Lessons can be tied into Math, Science, Social Studies, etc. This approach is not chaotic. The lessons flow and with practice leaves my supervision to real world application. I had not thought about units of Science and Social Studies one at a time. I look forward to sharing this idea with my team. I often hear, "There's no time to do all this stuff!" This approach can release the stress. We can create a literate community with practice and collaboration.﻿ **

My classroom is a resource room for third and fourth graders, so I have students in and out of the classroom all day long. In the past, I have done a lot of small group and individual instruction based on the needs of the students. The one area that I know has been missing is time for the students to read and practice the skills that we are learning. Finding time for students to read, especially in the short time that I have them, will be my challenge for the year. I see a greater need for collaboration with my gen ed peers so my students have the time they need to practice reading text at their level. A shared reading is also something I want to work on this year. Being able to explicitly teach the needed skills within the context of a real book will make the skills more real and understandable for my students. Sue Ronning Chapter 2 from Bobbi Friend #1 My approach toward reading over the last several years has been mainly whole group instruction based on a book for a week. The books that we read as a class focus on whatever the topic is that we are working on in science or social studies. It has been a very effective method of teaching and my students have been successful with this approach. For example, when we are studying plants in science, we will read the book Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons, The Magic School Bus Plants Seeds, and another book about plants during that 3 week study. All of our word work is incorporated in these books, and my whole group instruction in reading is strategy based. This year, however, due to my training in reading workshop, I changed my plan drastically and began Reader’s Workshop in my classroom. I still used some parts of my other system, but have had to abandon some of those pieces as I transitioned to workshop. I have always done interactive read alouds, I have been using writer’s workshop for 2 years, and have been doing conferring for writing as well as reading. Next year, I am moving into a sixth grade classroom where I will be teaching reading only to all the sixth graders. I will have 5 classes with 30 – 35 students in each class. I plan to use reader’s workshop exclusively, and I am working on how to plan for partner work as well as some small group work during my block of time.

I think you may find that this year will be rewarding for you. Having to just focus on reading with 6th graders and using the RW approach will be a good fit...........Linda My own approach to teaching reading and literacy skills has changed so much in the last few years, and in some ways has gone through a progression of the four classrooms mentioned in chapter 2. I made the switch over to Independent Reading Workshop last year but prior to that I taught using SSR and Literacy Center time. Both approaches worked well in some ways and also fell short in other ways. The most obvious shortcomings in the way I was using SSR and Literacy Center time was the lack of direct and explicit reading instruction to the whole class as well as students working on those lessons using just-right leveled books. Using Independent Reading Workshop gives each student time to read and practice specific skills. This has been a huge change to my reading approach. Previously I would try to use the basal program to guide my instruction but the supporting stories were only at a few of the students’ independent reading level. Now using the student’s “just-right” leveled stories I can see authentic progress and challenges every student is facing. Conferring has been a change for me as well and an area that I’m still working to improve. Third, I am seeing the huge advantage to share time in the Independent Reading Workshop model. Talking about our reading approaches and understanding our stories is extremely powerful and every time students share they model for each other. I agree with Margaret Fox’s comment and saw last year that Independent Reading Workshop does create a literate community with practice and collaboration. Garth I think that many of us that have been around for awhile have progressed through these examples that Kathy painted for us. In my own experience, I also felt something was missing with each approach. When I began incorporating Reading Workshop, I finally was able to achieve that balance ........Linda

Eek! Don’t tell Lucy, but I have been neglecting to give my students enough independent reading time. I have always felt that I needed to be giving enormous amounts of reading instruction prior to them being able to be independent readers. I definitely see the error in my thinking and am planning to schedule reading workshop as designed into my daily schedule. Home Grown Institute in reading and all 5 of the book studies have made a huge impact on me and my beliefs about reading and reading instruction. The sample reading conference starting on page 32 is a wonderful example of how to keep up with giving instruction but giving away the control I felt I had to maintain. This puts the learning back on the reader where it should be. I do feel that I have been doing this in an “unorganized” way. I have never seen the units of study prior to this summer and so now I feel like I will be more consistent when giving individual instruction. I always have a fear at the end of the school year that I may have forgotten something crucial in my reading instruction and now I will be able to get a good night’s sleep knowing that I will have taught the mini-lessons! --Jodee Tuttle

I used reader’s workshop in my classroom for the first time last year. Because it was my first year, I also held onto part of the basal series to start the year. I removed this component around February, but still used the series skills and strategies as my mini lessons for the week. I did skip those that didn’t pertain to most of my students, but I didn’t feel that my lessons really flowed from day to day. I especially struggled with finding balance in teaching comprehension type skills and grammar. I am now going to work to move grammar to word work time, but struggle with how to manage that and still complete phonics work; the work we did exclusively during that time last year. I’m hoping to strike more of a balance this year and find a way to ensure all of my first and second graders get the skills they need to be successful. Stephanie Cooper Previously, when I had my own classroom teaching Kindergarten, we used the Zoophonics Series. So much time is spent learning the letters and sounds and correct letter formation, that I really didn't have a chance to incorporate Reading Workshop especially at the beginning of the year. I was able to use some components of Reading Workshop such as mini lessons, and some independent work time, along with partner reading. At the beginning of the year most of the Kindergarteners cannot read and most are just beginning to learn the letters and sounds that make up words. It would be interesting for me to see a Kindergarten classroom in action to see just how it could work effectively. Jill Baker

I have moved from the classroom to an intervention position, in which students come to me, or with me pushing in to the classroom. When I first started teaching some 13 years ago, I felt frustrated with my reading program. One of my college writing classes was in a workshop format. I loved it and bought and devoured Nancie Atwell //In The Middle// and then Lucy Calkins //The Art of Teaching Reading//. I attended workshops and bought other books about the reading/writing workshop. My classroom morphed into "workshop" environment but it wasn't until I attended the writing and then reading workshops offered by the ISD that my classroom included all the components of the workshop. Now in the intervention room I use the the LLI system which I like. The classroom teachers have all attended the workshop classes, so it is very easy for me to push in and work with kids in that format. Fran Olesen

//** Kristy Weberg **// I’ve definitely used the literacy centers approach and a little bit of the DEAR format in the past. I’ve always valued children having independence in their book selection, knowing that readers are motivated by books they want to read. Like Garth, I can relate to the shortcomings of the approaches as I did not often teach directly and explicitly. I know I lacked confidence in knowing what to teach and how to teach reading in the past. The units of study have been so helpful in breaking down the skills and strategies readers should be using. My instruction is now much more direct and explicit. There are times for discovery-type lessons in other areas, I’ve learned, but during reading I want to be really clear to avoid any confusion. I don’t want to waste time having children try to guess what I wanted them to notice me doing. I’ve learned to say, “Did you notice how I…?” And then tell them (multiple times throughout the lesson) what the skill or strategy was that I want them to try. For the past few years, I’ve put the reading workshop pieces together and it feels like a great fit! It makes sense to me and I feel it flowing as a more cohesive plan rather than with abrupt starts and stops. I do want to better improve the students’ partner time. As Collins points out, “We teach them how readers make sure they understand texts by thinking as they read and talking about the stories with others.” (Pg. 21). I know the value in partnership work; I’ve just struggled with implementing this piece. I need to be really clear as to what I expect the children are doing and find ways to hold them accountable during that time (so it doesn’t turn into a discussion about Halloween costumes as Collins observed in one classroom). Sara Sabourin
 * In past years, my classroom has been similar to last 3 class examples given in this chapter. 2010-11 was the first year I had the opportunity to fully do Reading Workshop. But in the past, I used a basal program with 3rd & 4th grade students. I would also do literacy centers that would mostly focus on phonics/spelling skills, word study skills, writing activities, and probably a comprehension activity of some sort. During Centers time, I would meet with 3-5 of my most struggling readers, working on skills I knew they needed, or reviewing past skills. I always incorporated a silent reading time each day, but now in using Reading Workshop, this is the first time I have ever had my students reading books at their just-right level, as well as the first time I've done Conferring. The difference with this is so huge. Now kids feel good about reading independently, because they know they can read the books successfully. They also know that a couple times each week, I will be spending a little time talking with them about their books, which adds more importance and value to it for them. Now during the mini-lesson time, I feel so much more comfortable with the comprehension strategies I am teaching my students because it will be used in their real reading. I do still use our basal series to some extent each week. There are good stories in the program, and I especially use it for the non-fiction pieces included. I also use the basal to work on some vocabulary and word study skills each week. This next year I will be using Words their Way for spelling and word study, instead of the basal. But looking back I can see how much I've grown and changed in my literacy instruction over the years. I was doing the basics, and couldnt really see what more I needed to do. But now I can see how much more there is, and better ways for doing the basics. **

I am definitely making changes this school year due to my readings and classes about Reader's Workshop. I have used Daily Five before, which I love. Last year due to an awful schedule and what I was asked to do, I let my students down. This year will be tons different. I have always had independent reading time, but never had them reading leveled so they were reading just right books. I had them talk to one another about books, but I had never been a good model or taught them good questioning skills. I taught whole group from a basal, teaching everyone the same strategies instead of everyone at their own level. Here is where I am struggling... we have been asked to teach Reader's Workshop, but we have not been told we can let go of the basal series. Teach them both, really? I am not sure exactly how I am going to do this yet, but it seems so... wrong. I am quite anxious about reading this year and truly hope I can figure it out soon. TGaribay

Do you see any of these principles being more essential than another and why? // Of the principles listed there are some that seem more important than others. Inmy opinion, I believe that having the time to read every day is of utmostimportance. Studies show that students need at least 40 minutes of reading everyday for the material to be maintained in the long term memory bank. Therefore,it is so important that the students have time to read and more importantly theteacher MAKE time to read every day. // // The second principle I think is necessary is that the students take care of the books. Itmakes me think of when I first began teaching and my reading library seemed neweach year; many of the books were not even read. This was my doing; I didn't want the books to be ruined. Therefore, I didn't let the students read the books! This was a sure fire way to keep the books like new and in excellents hape. But the students didn't even get to appreciate the literature on thes helves. I have now turned my thinking around and we use the library every day. It is still important to me to keep the library in excellent condition; it justtakes us more time and responsibility to do this. I must teach the students how to be responsible with the books and to treat them with respect. This is why Iconsider this principle being high up on my list of importance. // // Cara1212 // The guiding principle that resonates with me is that readers don’t just read the words, but also understand the story. My students are primarily struggling readers and they are happy when they have struggled though a story and have finished it. Many times though, when asked what the story was about there is just a long, silent pause as they try to remember something about the book. Making the transition from reading being a difficult task to endure to a joyous time to gain meaning from the words is a huge hurdle for struggling readers and one that I want my students to make. Having time each day to read a just-right book is also a principle that I want to include in my classroom. To often reading skills are taught in isolation with no relationship to the real world or a real book. As students have time to read just right books, I hope they find the joy in reading. Sue Ronning Chapter 2 from Bobbi Friend #2 The seven guiding principles for the independent reading workshop are so obvious and seem so simple after implementing readers workshop in my classroom this year. Reading just-right books every day, selecting their own books, taking care of books, respect each other’s reading time, readers understand the story, and reader’s workshop work is replicable outside the classroom are all parts of the workshop that I feel comfortable with and fairly confident in. Readers have daily opportunities to talk about their books in genuine ways is the principle that I struggle with the most. I did not give my students enough time to talk about their books as I should have, and I did not make good use of partnerships in my room. This is the one principle that I truly need to focus on next year.
 * 1) 2. In this chapter, the 7 guiding principles of the independent reading workshop are explained. These principles exist within the framework of balanced literacy.
 * Respond Here: I agree with Cara and Margaret that reading at least 30 minutes a day independently and at their instructional level is of the utmost importance. I also believe that read alouds are essential in any good reading program. My kids love our daily 20 minutes, where I read enriching literature and expose them to the classics and beloved authors. I also agree with Cara and Margaret had said it earlier as well, that respecting books and caring for them in the classroom is very important. My classroom library is torn apart because I moved again this year. All books are packed up and in a semi trailer. We can't get back in until end of August, so I am not sure how I am going to manage the upheaval of reordering the books. I am unsure how I am going to level them, or if I will keep them in genre groupings and also by authors. I guess it is a good thing that I am taking this class, as I need some direction in this area. In the past my classes and myself have not done a great job caring for the library and now things are really disheveled. I have a big task ahead of me!!! Stephanie **
 * The principle of reading just-right books independently every day is so important. We are so busy doing "the right stuff" is not giving children the opportunity to practice reading and thinking about what is being read. **
 * The principle of readers' work in the independent reading workshop is replicable outside the classroom, wow!! I want my children to use what they have learned in the real world. Learning doesn't stop at 3:30 PM and pick back up at 8:25 AM the following day. Through out the day and at the end of our day I tell my students to "scare" their caregivers. Instead of waiting for "How was your day?, invite them in to a discussion of what we did today and how it can be used on your journey as "Life long learners". I do hear back from parents that this opens up their minds to what they can be doing to continue the success of their childs' learning. **
 * Margaret Fox﻿ **

In my own opinion, I feel that giving students lots of time reading and practicing skills using books at their own independent reading level is the most essential principle listed. The more time students have to authentically read with purpose the better. I teach first grade so another essential principle is for the young readers to understand that reader’s don’t just read the words but also understand the story. This is difficult for growing readers to develop but once they do reading becomes less of a process and more of a privilege. One way I can help my first graders to develop this principle of understanding what we read is through one of the other guiding principles of talking genuinely about our stories. Through book share time the students model understanding of their stories. This principle is also valuable because it helps cultivate a reading community in the classroom. Garth

Like everyone else, I believe that the principle of utmost importance is readers have time to read just-right books independently each day. Reading is a skill just like learning to play soccer, baseball, and other sports. Those who practice each day are going to be stronger than those who do not. I also believe that choice is an important principle. Students who are not capable of selecting their own just-right books are not going to look forward to reading as much as those given the choice. This is also an area where students need several lesson to determine their own just-right books. The books in school and public libraries are not filed away into neat little bins with letters signifying reading level. Students who struggle to choose appropriate books often lug over two Harry Potter books when they are more suited to Dr. Seuss. I do allow these students to take one challenging book home to share with their family, but gently nudge them to choose a just-right book as well. While these are the top two principles for me, they are all very important and I spend time teaching each. My goal for this year is to strengthen the partner share time of my workshop. I am looking forward to reading how others do this in their classrooms. Stephanie Cooper I agree with Garth, Cara and Stephanie’s thoughts about the importance of readers having time to read just-right books independently every day and I would add to that the idea that reader’s work in independent reading is replicable outside the classroom. It is so important that they can carry over and do what they have learned inside the walls of our classroom in any environment. I want my students to be able to read, think, and speak as Kathy said on page 22, “when they are not in our sphere of influence.” What use will what I teach be if they can only do the work in room 502. I want my students to be readers and thinkers all over the world in all situations. --Jodee Tuttle

This is a tough question, because at different time of my career I would had said a different principle would have been more essential than another one. I appreciated how Collins made the coaching analogy, because I like to think of myself as an academic coach. As Stephanie noted reading is a skill similar to learning a sport, so you must practice, and if you want to be really good you practice a lot - and not just at practice. You also need time to work on your dribble before you try do a layup And if you are lucky, you have someone teaching you the right way to dribble and the way to do a lay up when you are young. So at this time of my career, I believe "Readers have time to read just-right books independently every day" is the "essential" principle with the caveat that teachers are conferencing regularly with the students. Pulling them aside and honing the skills that will make them a better reader. Fran Olesen

//** Kristy Weberg **//
 * As everyone stated, all of these principals seem very important for different reasons as different times. But currently for me, 3 stand out as being the most important: **
 * 1. Readers have time to read just-right books independently every day **
 * 2. Readers don't just read the words, but also understand the story **
 * 3. Readers' work in independent reading is replicable outside the classroom **
 * These three are most important to me because they are the 3 most essential of the 7 that my kids will need to be successful in college and a career. I want them to do the other things, to be respectful of others reading time, to care for books, etc, but in order to make it through high school, college, and a good career, kids need to do the 3 things listed above. I want my kids to read a lot and to know they are able to read, to feel confident in this as one of their skills. I want them to understand what they read, otherwise everything they read in life will be pointless. They need to understand it to be able to use it. And I want them to be able to take what we do in the classroom and use it in their lives as readers. If they cannot do this, I'm missing something as the teacher. I have not taught them how to transfer their reading into real life. **

Like Stephanie, Jodee and so many others, I feel that the most important part of the reading workshop is when students are reading just-right books during independent reading time. This is the time they really get to put the pieces together that they’ve been learning. Collins states, “The independent reading workshop is meant to closely resemble the reading work children can do when they are not in our sphere of influence.” (Pg 22). I want children to create a reading life at home that parallels with the work they do in school. The more authentic work they do in class, such as learning that readers are “accountable for understanding their stories” (Pg 22) and have rich and meaningful talk with others about their stories (pg 21), the easier this work will translate into real-life. Really, how often do we fill-in-the-blanks or write a report on a book we’ve read in our latest book club? I want to set up my students for authentic work which leads to success.

Sara Sabourin

I find the balance literacy framework to be like a balanced meal. Yes, some times you can skip say word study but if ones continue to do that there will begin to be a void in the student knowledge base. Page 39 gives a nice sample schedule to visit how a quality day could be laid out. KDN

As many others have already mentioned, having just right books during independent reading time is key. Last year I taught a couple of sessions from Reader's Workshop since I got the books at the end of the school year. What happened to my readers with only those few sessions was amazing. Picking out a just right book made sense to them. I had them try on t-shirts of many sizes to get my point across. Simply giving them permission to say a book was too easy or too hard and find a new one really made them think about what readers do. It's okay. I think younger kids think if they pick a book out, there is some book police out there that will come after them if they don't read it. Giving them access to just right books that they can practice and practice at is what it is about. If we do something in life that is too easy, we are bored. If we do something that is too hard, we give up. It is the same for readers, which is why just right is perfect. :) TGaribay

// Thes ection of the independent workshop I find most difficult would be theMid-Workshop Teaching Point. I do see the importance of this step; however, Ifeel it is an interruption that may not be necessary during each workshop. When I think of myself as a reader, I get confused and feel irritated when someone interrupts me reading. It is then hard to get back into the swing of reading the text. So that is why I chose this as the most difficult for the students. // // As for the automatic portion of the workshop, I'd have to choose the group Share. I agree with Margaret that we love to chat just as much as the studetns. As ateacher, I think that is natural of all educators to like "talking". It seems to be a characteristic of all teachers; we have that control ofchatting or not. But, I think as a whole we enjoy discussing reading. The students like to talk also; it is natural for them to discuss anything,especially if it is being allowed! This section of the workshop is the most natural to the students and me. // // Cara1212﻿ // Last year was my first year of using Independent Reading Workshop and I remember being very nervous about keeping my mini-lessons down to ten minutes, which is similar to the concerns mentioned by Margaret and Stephanie. In my own experience this didn’t turn out to be the most difficult aspect of Reading Workshop. In a few months I got the hang of keeping the mini-lessons short and sweet and I used the mid-workshop teaching time and the share time to solidify the points I wanted to make and model in the mini lesson. What was extremely difficult for me was the conferring with students. This was hard for me for the most part because you have to research, assess, compliment, and teach multiple students during a short time frame in Independent work time. Too often my head was swirling with what specifically I wanted to compliment the reader on and what I wanted to teach each individual reader. It was then difficult to keep organized and accurate conferring notes to help guide future conferences with each student. Garth I too think that mini-lessons are the most difficult part of the Reading Workshop. It seems like there is so much that you want to share with your children(just as they always have so much to share with you!) and it is important to remember that it is not a time for big discussions, long drawn out stories...but yet a time for them to learn something new that will help them in their work. It is most important to be able to make that connection of today's lesson with yesterday's lesson or student work or experiences outside of school and present it verbally. Too often we can run off track and not be consistent. Jill Baker
 * 1) 3. In the section about the structure of the independent workshop, Kathy Collins goes into explicit instruction about the structure of workshop from the minilesson to the share. Which part do you see as being more difficult and why? Is there any part that is automatic?
 * Respond Here: I find the mini lessons and link at the end hard for me to do because I talk too much!!! I also try to hurry and finish since I did too much talking and then I don't always link the lesson. Mini lessons and having them be MINI is hard for me and something that I am working on in my room right now with my writing workshop! Stephanie **
 * Children love to chat and so do I. Keeping my Mini-Lesson on point and moving on to independent time with instruction. I'm a team teacher, I need my colleague to use these skills. The one in particular is instructing during independent time. I want this activity to be a joy, at times I am frustrated because the child are frustrated because the are talk at and not with. **
 * Automatic, movement between sessions. We practice from day one. My expectations are clear and the same. **
 * Margaret Fox﻿ **

//** Kristy Weberg **//
 * I mostly struggle with the mid-workshop teaching point, of the share. With the mid-workshop teaching point, I usually feel like kids are so on a roll with their reading, and I'm so focused on conferring with as many kids as I can, that its hard for me to make everyone stop and listen to me again. It usually feels like whats going on is just too good to stop. But there are times when I know that quite a few kids need to hear the same thing and it could benefit the whole class. I need to just make myself stop and try it a few times. I'm sure I would start to see the benefit of it once I put it into practice. **

I, too, find the mini lessons the most difficult for all the above reasons. What I am really enjoying and find where my real teaching is happening is the conference. I am beginning to learn to relax about that student who is picking his nose and staring into space during my mini lesson, because I know he will be the first one I will conference with once I let the students go. Took me a while, but I love my conference time. Fran Olesen

What thoughts do you have about this analogy? // This analogy creates for me the mental image of an outline of a body with the heart being the central nervous system, and theother components branching out like blood vessels. I also envision a body running in a race from start to finish. The start being the independent reading workshop with water breaks along the way. These stops in the race being the other parts of the workshop. The race then ends with the share portion, and each participant being a winner of their own race; there's no competition against anyone, just with one's self. // // Cara1212﻿ //
 * 1) 4. As stated previously, independent reading workshop is just a portion of balanced literacy. On page 35, Kathy refers to the independent reading workshop as the “heart” and the other components as the “circulatory system delivering the goods to the heart.”
 * Respond Here: Well, I am not really getting a visual with that analogy at all, but it makes me think that she means that reading the heart of all that we do and teach. It is our "lifeline" so to speak and if we cannot read, we cannot write, learn about other subjects, explore passions that involve reading basically, living would seem to be very difficult to say the least. stephanie **
 * A healthy heart means a healthy body. We try to eat right and excercise therefore you will be around for a while. Balanced literacy means we can give our children the opportunity to thrive. Given the strategies and practice they can live succesfully in a world of chaos. They can think about, talk about and write about what has been taught. This, then leads to the outside world. You are what you eat, well, you are how you process. **
 * Margaret Fox﻿ **

=I agree that it is the heart of our reading instruction, because it really builds within kids and love and a desire to read. Once this is established with kids, then they can see the usefulness and need of all the other components. Kids will know that we do small group work to help them get better in specific areas as readers, so that they can enjoy their time as a reader more. Kids will see what we work on phonics and word study skills so that as they read, they can figure out hard words and learn how to understand what a word means by looking at its parts. All of these other components become more meaningful when kids already love to read. = =//Kristy Weberg //= = =

= = I also like this body analogy. Once again it shows the symbiotic relationship between the 7 piece and the reader. The reader need to be engaged in all the aspects of the framework to have a healthy reading life. KDN = =