Finding THEME

Theme is something that was part of the Literacy Curriculum Guide beginning last year. Many teachers and ourselves struggled with How? How do we teach theme? How do we get our students to identify theme? Theme can be elusive and can be determined differently based on the set of eyes interpreting it.

Entering our second year of teaching theme is exciting! Many of you have shared your successes and struggles to help make this a powerful unit. Here are some great resources for teaching theme:

Finding THE MEssage: Grasping Themes in Literature

Also, add YOUR resources to the comment section!

Assessment in Reading Workshop

There are many wonderful resources available to support assessment in Reading Workshop. One such resource uncovered recently is located on the Scholastic Webpage. It has many exciting resources that can be adapted to fit your needs. Please take some time to preview.

Who else knows of some fabulous resources? Please add them to the comment section of this post.

Best of Success,
Erin Grant

Hello Literacy Teachers!

As Unit 1 winds down, we hope things are beginning to fall into place for you.  We’ve seen routines for Reading & Writing Workshops being established in many of the classrooms we’ve visited thus far.  We know this can be tiresome work, but the long term benefits will be great!  You will see engaged, independent readers and writers emerging.  And that is cause for celebration!

We are looking forward to the upcoming September Literacy Labs.  Both labs are focusing on Unit Planning.  On the 13^th we’ll work collaboratively on planning Unit 2 in reading and on the 27^th we’ll focus on planning the writing portion of the unit.  We have lots of seating and we’re hoping there’s not an empty chair.  Sign up at the bottom of this Literacy Curriculum Guide landing page soon!

As Literacy Coaches we’ve been pretty busy!  We are in the middle of the first rotation, so if we haven’t been to your school yet, you’ll be seeing us soon.  Please be sure to give us a call or email if you have any questions or needs.  Even if it’s not our day to visit your school, we’ll do our best to help you out!

Also, remember that the DRA2 and QRI5 scores should be entered in Mastery Manager by Friday, September 14^th. If you need assistance setting up guiding reading and strategy groups based on the results, please contact your literacy coach.

Food for Thought from the Todd County School District’s Framework for Professional Practice (Section 8):

WE BELIEVE

Literacy is the foundation for learning.

It is reading, writing, speaking and listening

to, with and by children.

Regards,

Patty Tinant