Reader's Workshop

I can't believe I'm going to say this. I just might lose all of you. So just prepare yourselves. Go ahead, gasp. I do not like the CAFE system. There. I said it.

Are you still reading? Good! I have told you all before what a big fan of Lucy Calkin's I have become. Her writer's workshop has been an extremely powerful teaching tool for me. A good friend of mine (Shout out to Dawn!) went to a reader's workshop training that was put on by Ms. Calkin's peeps. She called me daily with all of the wonderful things she was learning, being reminded of, and excited to try! I thought it sounded great, but I had just read all about Daily 5 and CAFE.  I knew I had to at least give that system a try. Well, I did for the last 3 weeks and it just wasn't working well for me.  Maybe it's my group, maybe it's just not my year. But I'm okay with that. TOTALLY okay with that!

So I took Dawn's advice and bought Lucy's (yeah, we're on a first name basis now.  I mean, I watched her videos online and read her books. Hello! ;) ) $10 book.  It's not as laid out as her writer's workshop units of study, so I have had to spend some extra time reading it. It's a simple read.  It gets me excited, and it follows the EXACT model as her writer's workshop.

I read through and picked out my first 10 mini-lessons Monday night and then I started implementing on Tuesday. Ladies (and gents if you are out there), it was HEAVENLY!! Not only did I love the routine, but my kids did, too! It was an easy transition because they were already familiar with it from writer's workshop. Here is a picture of our anchor chart we made during our first mini-lesson. (Readers, like runners, have to warm up. Can you see the little runners leg in the corner?)

We also reviewed work station rules. Why I didn't do this at the beginning of the year, I have no idea! I guess I thought, "Oh, they are in 1st grade. They definitely know how to do work stations." Then I remembered we had a little thing called SUMMER... 

We reviewed our workstation rules and created this anchor chart.

Don't go to Starbuck's for 2 days. Save your $10. Buy her book. It's well worth it.

Go HERE and check it out!  

***( I have been told that link no longer works.  When I googled it I found this for FREE!)

Also, I would be VERY interested in doing some sort of "book study" on this book and see what other mini-lesson ideas you guys get out of her book.  I think she is just fabulous! :)