Frequently Asked Questions, Part One
1. What is the Writer's Workshop Notebook?
2. What is SSR?
3. What are the Reader's Workshop materials?
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1. What is the Writer's Notebook?
This is a composition book for you to write down your thoughts and feelings, brainstorm ideas for writing projects, and take notes related to writing. Sometimes I will ask you to respond to prompts using a specific writing form. Often you will have the opportunity to write whatever moves you, whether that means crafting a story, relating a real-life experience, creating song lyrics or a poem, developing an essay, or writing about a topic that you research in the library. From your writing each nine weeks, you will choose 10 entries of at least one page in length to share with me for grading. Each quarter I will help you develop one or more of your ideas into a longer, more polished product for inclusion in a portfolio of your work.
2. What is SSR?
SSR stands for Silent Sustained Reading. Every class period we will all (yes, including me) devote 10 minutes to quiet, individual reading. Your grade for SSR is achieved by demonstrating on-task behavior, i.e. quiet reading, and consistently arriving fully prepared for class. To be fully prepared for SSR, you must have a novel with you every day in class. This is a relaxing and fun way to help us achieve our individual goals of reading 200-300 pages every nine week session. In addition, your standing homework is "Relax and Read", unless I specifically give you something else to do. We all have very busy schedules and must be creative to fit in reading; try keeping a book or magazine in the car and in your bedroom to pick up whenever you have a few spare moments. We will be keeping track of how much we read all year and those spontaneous reading moments really add up.
3. What are the Reader's Workshop materials?
This program is designed to support you as you read independently and react to what you are reading. Please keep a Reading Log tracking what you do each day during SSR and any other time you do some independent reading. You'll be establishing a personal dictionary of new and/or unusual words you encounter in your reading by writing the word, definition, and sentence in which you found the word. Also, please keep track of your Reading Response letters. Each Friday you will write a letter to a classmate about what you are reading and on Monday your classmate will respond to the letter. Be sure to keep track of all these materials in your Language Arts binder in order to be able to turn them in periodically for grading.
1. What is the Writer's Notebook?
This is a composition book for you to write down your thoughts and feelings, brainstorm ideas for writing projects, and take notes related to writing. Sometimes I will ask you to respond to prompts using a specific writing form. Often you will have the opportunity to write whatever moves you, whether that means crafting a story, relating a real-life experience, creating song lyrics or a poem, developing an essay, or writing about a topic that you research in the library. From your writing each nine weeks, you will choose 10 entries of at least one page in length to share with me for grading. Each quarter I will help you develop one or more of your ideas into a longer, more polished product for inclusion in a portfolio of your work.
2. What is SSR?
SSR stands for Silent Sustained Reading. Every class period we will all (yes, including me) devote 10 minutes to quiet, individual reading. Your grade for SSR is achieved by demonstrating on-task behavior, i.e. quiet reading, and consistently arriving fully prepared for class. To be fully prepared for SSR, you must have a novel with you every day in class. This is a relaxing and fun way to help us achieve our individual goals of reading 200-300 pages every nine week session. In addition, your standing homework is "Relax and Read", unless I specifically give you something else to do. We all have very busy schedules and must be creative to fit in reading; try keeping a book or magazine in the car and in your bedroom to pick up whenever you have a few spare moments. We will be keeping track of how much we read all year and those spontaneous reading moments really add up.
3. What are the Reader's Workshop materials?
This program is designed to support you as you read independently and react to what you are reading. Please keep a Reading Log tracking what you do each day during SSR and any other time you do some independent reading. You'll be establishing a personal dictionary of new and/or unusual words you encounter in your reading by writing the word, definition, and sentence in which you found the word. Also, please keep track of your Reading Response letters. Each Friday you will write a letter to a classmate about what you are reading and on Monday your classmate will respond to the letter. Be sure to keep track of all these materials in your Language Arts binder in order to be able to turn them in periodically for grading.