Sarah’s Reviews > A Guide to the Reading Workshop Primary Grades > Status Update

Concept of print includes: book orientation, opening the book and turning pages left to right, differentiating text and picture, finding the beginning of a word and line, moving left to right along a line, finding letters and words on a page, sweeping from one sentence to another, tracking words as read, and recognizing and identifying the purpose of punctuation marks.

Before students learn to decode, they must listen to and tell stories; they must read for enjoyment; they must learn that books tell stories (books "talk"); then develop phonemic awareness along with a concept of print.

What do ALL READERS need?
-good teachers with access to professional development and collaborative practice
-enormous amounts of time actually reading
-books for high volume of high success reading
-books with increasing complexity for grade level
-direct, explicit instruction in reading strategies
-opportunity to response in talk about texts
-reading nonfiction to build a knowledge base and academic vocabulary

Schools adopt shared methods of teaching reading to build on a child's previous knowledge and experiences.

Follows a "gradual release of responsibility" model; focuses on knowledge of reading development and methods of reading teaching; uses minilessons, conferencing and small group strategy sessions.

Reading curriculum based on reading research and practical teacher knowledge. A return to doing what teachers know best to do mixed with student driven data and student needs. Finally a curriculum that understands readers and doesn't steal the joy of reading, but is based on the joy of reading instead.