Reading in the Wild: Reading Workshop Schedule

Hooray! I’m so excited to help host this section of our book study! Catherine from The Brown-Bag Teacher was such a wonderful coordinator of this study, and she knows me and my workshop ~~addiction~~ love, so this was a perfect week for me to host!

Let me start off by telling you what Donalyn Miller suggests in her book for setting a schedule:
She goes by the rule of thirds. She suggests: one third of your reading time is devoted to independent reading, conferring, and small groups; one third direct instruction; and one third independent practice. I think this is a great rule to go by, because it’s not like those other books you’ve read that just say “you must have two hours for your reading block.”

Well……. I would LOVE two hours, but that isn’t what I’m given. At my school, our schedule is given to us. So here is what I do- (click the page below to download the PDF- and ignore the funky colors on Google Drive!)

(This page came from my Launching Reading Workshop Pack,
where I go into great detail of what I do in each block of time.)

I don’t exactly follow the rule of thirds- mine is more like half and half. That is mainly because the fourth grade students at my school are expected to sustain independent reading for at least thirty minutes. It is also what I have found works best for actually getting to a group AND conferring all in one day. While I’m working with a group or conferring, my students read in their book nooks. This helps to give them a place to feel comfortable while reading.

These are some of the book nooks I used two years ago. This past year, I had some of the same, and some new ones- including a few more pillows because they LOVE pillows.

Then, as I shared with you last week, the last 15-20 minutes of my school day is our read-aloud time, and nothing takes its place!

I am going to leave you with what I think is the most powerful line from this section of the book:

What matters is that our daily work in the classroom values best practices and doesn’t become bogged down with a lot of must-dos and tired activities that crowd out authentic learning opportunities for our students.

My schedule might not work for you. Donalyn’s might not work for you. The point is, you do what you know is right in the time that works best for you and your schedule. Everyone has their own unique teaching style, and no one else will ever be Lucy Calkins! I took what I liked from Lucy, and also Debbie Miller, Stephanie Harvey, Beth Newingham, Irene Fountas, and Gay Su Pinnell… and I put it all together to make my workshop happen. Maybe you’ve done that too, and now you can add “Jivey” to your list of people! :o)

I’d love to hear from you about what your schedule looks like, either by linking up or by posting in the comments below!

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Reading in the Wild: Reading Workshop Schedule

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