1
K-2 Building a Reading Life
Red Flag Situation
Engagement and
Independence
If you See…
 Kids going to the bathroom/sharpening
pencils/wandering around the room
during reading workshop
 Kids taking one book, putting it down,
taking another, putting it down
 Kids holding books upside down
Volume/Stamina
(looking at book
baggies-K/1/2and tallies-1/2)



Partner Talk


Kids only reading at school/only reading
at home
Kids’ book baggies have very few books
(less than 10 if J or below)
In K, kids not finishing books in baggies or
only reading one or two books
Partners looking away from each other
Partners’ conversation is not related to
book
Here is a Sequence of things to address…
 Develop a plan for inspiring the community: (e.g. community activities around
books, have guest readers in, show short clips about people who overcame
obstacles, have frequent reading celebrations)
 Model loving reading—tell stories about your own reading constantly
 Dramatically read aloud as much as possible—read something for each child
 Do shared reading and then make those books accessible to readers
 Do interactive writing with class and make books for your readers to read
 Model responding passionately to read aloud and shared reading (“Oh, my
goodness…,” “Can you believe…?”)
 Get accessible, high interest books into kids’ hands
 Do lessons on book handling
 Do lessons on what to do when before starting a book, during reading, and after
and hang charts with visual reminders of these strategies
 Do lessons to strengthen not only comprehension skills but word-solving skills
 (Grades 1/ 2:) Make sure readers are matched to books
 Set class goals to read _____ minutes/books today and celebrate when it happens!
 Teach readers to have a pile of books they want to read waiting in their baggies
 Put a post-it in back of each book so kids can check off when they have read one
and see a visual reminder of their accomplishment
 Teach students to make a plan for the number of books they will read and organize
their books into “read”/“not read” piles. After reading a book, they can put it in the
“read” pile and count how many they have finished
 Teach partners ways to get excited about books together and to support each
other: (“Oh you are reading an Eric Carle book? I love his books!,” “I found a tricky
word—could you help me?,” “Oh, you are rereading your book in your best
storyteller voice? Can you read a part to me?”)
 Do lessons on and model partner routines—we read together, retell, find parts
that are most important, etc. Hang visual, written reminders of procedures
 Put up visual reminders for how partner talk looks (you might take photos of your
kids and use them for charts
 Teach readers to mark parts that are confusing, important parts they are dying to
talk about, and parts they love
Ways Post-it
 Kids have few or no Post-it notes in their
notes are used
books
(grades 1 /2 )
Red Flag Situation (This type of situation must be addressed IMMEDIATELY before setting other goals.) **These conditions are usually seen together. That is, if
you see evidence of one, probably most or all of the others are present. The good news is that means that working on any one aspect of the situation can help
to resolve the other parts.
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT
2
Orange Flag
Situation
Engagement and
Independence
(to discern this
you may need to
talk to kids and
reflect on your
own teaching)
Volume/Stamina
(looking at book
baggies-K/1/2and tallies-1/2)
K-2 Building a Reading Life
If you See…
Here is a Sequence of things to address…







Kids flipping pages without running their
eyes over them
(for 1 /2) Kids reading without patterns
(e.g. when asked why they chose a book
they might say, “I don’t know-- it was in
the D basket.”)
Kids reading with bored expressions
When asked what they are working on,
kids might say, “Nothing” or “Reading.”
Kids are reading for inconsistent amounts
of time—some days getting through all of
the books in their book baggies, other
days only a few books)
Kids picking up books and putting them
down














Partner Work


One partner doing all of the talking (the
other partner is likely disengaged)
Partners have difficulty getting started
and deciding who will share first or which
topic to share.







Develop a plan for inspiring the community (e.g. community activities around
books, have guest readers, have frequent reading celebrations)
Model loving reading—tell stories about your own reading constantly
Do shared reading and then make those books accessible to readers
Model responding passionately to read aloud and shared reading
Point out whenever a real life situation seems like something that happened in a
story (e.g. coming up against an obstacle—“This is just like what happened to Mike
Mulligan…remember, he had that HUGE snow to plow and…”)
Do lessons that give readers a repertoire of reading work (e.g. wonder what will
happen next, think about how characters feel/think, act out characters, figure out
hard words, etc.)
Model finding and choosing a pile of great books you can’t wait to read
Have kids make book recommendations and put up charts
Do lessons on book handling
Make sure readers have PLENTY of books (e.g. 30 books, not one book 30 times)
(Grades 1/ 2:) Make sure readers are matched to books
Use shared reading/read aloud time to model the reading process—what happens
before, during and after we read books—to improve rate, volume and stamina
Put a Post-it in back of each book so kids can check off when they have read one
OR you can give out bookmarks for each book and have students make a check
each time it is read
Teach students to make a plan for the number of books they will read and organize
their books into “read”/“not read” piles.
Do lessons about rereading for different purposes to get readers to stay focused on
reading for longer stretches of time
Students can reread their logs to reflect on their reading volume and set new goals
Ramp up passion around books within partnerships: you can model how to act out
parts from books and teach partners to act out parts
Coach into partnership—whisper in to teach partners to look at each other, take
turns, and other routines. Be sure the students are looking at each other not you.
Provide written and visual reminder charts and model for the students
Teach conversation prompts (“I agree with you because…” “I don’t agree with you
because…”, “What do you mean…?,” “Why do you think that?,” “I can add on…”)
Talk to child directly—ask child what is hard about this and how we can work on
that together—do some shared problem solving with partners
Model how to be a good listener (e.g. I face you, I nod, I make eye contact, etc.)
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT
3
K-2 Building a Reading Life

In mid-workshops and shares, highlight a proficient partnership—make sure to
celebrate each partnership at different times for different reasons
 Film partnerships and show them to class—together name out what is strong about
the conversations they see and what they can try in their own partnership work
Ways Post-it
 Some books have Post-it notes, others do
 For 1-Teach readers to use symbols or name parts that are confusing, important
notes are used to
not
parts they are dying to talk about, parts they love, etc.
support/
 Post-it notes seem to be stuck in books
 Model drawing/writing deeply passionate Post-its during read aloud (“This part
extend reading
without purpose
makes me so mad! I’m going to draw a big angry face and stick it right on this
work
page!”)
(grades 1/ 2)
 For 2-model writing deeply passionate Post-its during read aloud (“LOL”, “No
Way!”, “AHHHH!”)
 Do shared writing of Post-its—create class mentor Post-it notes and exemplar
charts
 Hang charts with visual/written reminders of strategies to use
Orange Flag situation (These readers are usually disengaged. Address this type of situation as soon as the red flags are addressed.)
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT
4
Yellow Flag
Situation
Engagement and
Independence
(to discern this
you may need to
talk to kids and
reflect on your
own teaching)
K-2 Building a Reading Life
If you See…
Here is a Sequence of things to address…








Volume/Stamina
(looking at logs)


Yourself saying, “I don’t want to interrupt
their reading to confer” or “As long as
they are reading, I’m happy.”
Yourself saying, “I don’t want them to
bring their book baggies home because
they’ll lose the books.”
Kids reading books at one level without
intentions (e.g. when asked why they
chose a book they might say, “It was in
the H basket.” Or “I liked the cover.”)
When asked what they are working on,
kids say, “Reading.”
Kids follow you around waiting for help
as you confer
Kids reading the same book repeatedly
Kids reading for an inconsistent amount
of time. Some days they are finishing all
of the books in their baggies, other days
they are not
Kids finishing one book and not starting
eagerly starting another










Partner Work





Partners follow teachers’ assignment for
day and then stop talking.
Partners only talk in the way they were
taught to one that day rather than using
multiple strategies
Partners follow routines but do not come
with parts marked
Partners talking without referring to the
book or only saying what parts they liked
At times, partners may build on each






Teach kids that all readers make plans and have purposes for reading
Model making a plan for your own reading (“I’m going to preview the book a little
before I read and I’m going to ask a question that I can keep in mind as I read…”)
Model setting a goal (“I want to see the story happening like a movie in my mind
the whole time I am reading so…”)
Do lessons that give readers a repertoire of reading work (e.g. predict and read to
see if prediction was met, think about how characters feel/think, act out
characters, figure out hard words, etc.)
Do lessons to heighten fluency and teach kids to react as they read
Use your teaching shares to focus on management issues such as having students
brainstorm ideas for how to help themselves and to remind readers of the
repertoire of strategies they have learned
(K)-Teach readers to have different types of plans based on the book (e.g. shared
reading books, emergent storybooks, books handmade by teacher—tell story
across pages, focus on a character and act out that role, etc.; for unfamiliar booksstudy pictures closely to understand important things that are happening, look for
words you know, etc.)
(Grades 1/ 2:) Make sure readers are matched to books
Use shared reading/read aloud time to model the reading process—what happens
before, during and after we read books—to improve rate, volume and stamina
Readers who read C and above might start simple logs in the form of tallies and you
can provide time for readers to look over and reflect on their logs (“What am I
noticing about how many books I read at home and how many books I read at
school? Why might this be different?) and set goals.
Model keeping a class log of tallies for read aloud and shared reads
Use shares to brainstorm ways we can get more reading time and how to read
more during that time
Do lessons about different ways that partners can talk about their reading (e.g. act
out parts, reread parts together, ask for help, look for patterns, share ideas, share
favorite parts, give each other intros, etc.)
Do lessons about how partners make a plan and model or fishbowl a partnership
Hang charts with written and visual reminders of strategies
Model asking questions to start and continue discussion (“How…?” “Why…”)
Film partnerships and show them to class—together name out what is strong about
the conversations they see and what they can try in their own partnership work
Teach partners that they can help support and encourage each other in reaching
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT
5
K-2 Building a Reading Life
other’s thoughts but more often, they
agree (“Me too”, “I agree.”)



Ways Post-it

notes are used to
support/
extend reading
work (grades 1 /2) 
their goals (“Oh you read more books than yesterday—awesome! How many will
you read tonight? How can you make more time for reading?”)
Teach partners to point to parts in the book that show their ideas (“Let’s look at
that part together!, Can you show me what part you mean?”)
Teach partners to ask questions when they want clarification (“What do you mean
by that?” “Can you say more about that?”)
Teach prompts to help partners build on ideas (“That reminds me of…”, “That
makes me think….”, “That is giving me a new idea…” “That makes me wonder…”)
Do lessons about different ways you can use Post-its
Model various ways you can use Post-its in your read alouds and shared reading
Hang charts with written and visual reminders of strategies, including mentor Postits for each strategy
Do shared writing of Post-its and hang these as mentors
Post-its only marking funny parts or only

marking parts students love, etc. rather

than showing a variety of responses to

reading
Post-its all follow only the strategy taught 
that day rather than showing a repertoire
of strategies learned previously
Yellow Flag situation (These readers are usually reading but not with purpose or intention. Your teaching must be toward making these readers more reflective
and accountable for growing as readers and in charge of their own reading lives!)
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT
6
Green Flag
Situation
Engagement and
Independence
(to discern this
you may need to
talk to kids and
reflect on your
own teaching)
K-2 Building a Reading Life
If you See…




Here is a Sequence of things to address…
Kids reading with book baggies near
them full of multiple books
Kids finishing one book and eagerly
reaching for another or beginning the
book over again for a purpose
Kids can say why they are reading a book
Kids have plans for their reading






Volume/Stamina
(looking at logs)



Partner Work




Kids are reading with purpose and for
meaning and getting through a lot of
books in their book baggies (e.g. 10-12 in
a half hour for levels A-E; 2-3 books in a
half hour for J—refer to charts in
Curricular Calendars)
Kids are reading for an equal amount of
time at home
Kids are shopping and gathering lots of
books (8-10 books a week for levels A-E,
6-8 books per week for higher levels)
Partners have plans for how they will talk
Partners use lots of different strategies to
talk about and share their reading
Partners look at each other, listen to
each other and nod, and use prompts to
say more and build on each other’s ideas
(show that they know the routines and
are doing them independently)
Partners use their books in conversations
and open pages to show different parts











Teach readers that not only should they have plans for what they want to read, they
should have plans for how they want to grow as readers
Teach readers to have a repertoire of ways to think about the text while reading and
to be flexible and try out different strategies (e.g. figure out what will happen, think
like the characters, compare how this book is the same to the last one I read, etc.)
Help readers to set goals for themselves
Do lessons to heighten reading with fluency
Teach readers to predict before they begin reading and to read looking to see if
prediction was met
Teach readers that we don’t just close books and forget them—we hold onto
them—bring them up in conversations, recommend them to friends, let them
change how we think and act
Find powerful ways to celebrate readers’ attempts to go over and beyond (highlight
during mid-workshop, shares, use as connections in minilessons)
Talk directly to kids about amounts they should be reading to excel as readers and
help them set ambitious goals
Do lessons about using the reading log as a tool to let us know our patterns and
what our leaps toward new work should be
Help kids to set goals not just about number of books they will read but how long
they will read
Students who read J and above could keep logs like the ones used in upper grades
with space to record author, title, level of each book, start and end pages and start
and end time.
Do lessons about how reading with a partner makes you read differently (“I’m
going to mark this part because I know Amanda will think it is so funny,”
“Yesterday, Kai said that Poppleton has trouble being a friend and now I’m starting
to think that too. I found this part…”
Teach readers to mark parts and see if partners have the same ideas at those parts
Teach partners to ask questions as they read and look for answers together
Teach partners what makes a great question (“How or why questions will usually
get a great conversation going because there is not one right answer. There are lots
of things we can say and lots of parts we can show…”)
Teach partners to read with an idea in mind and look for evidence that supports or
conflicts—teach them to revise ideas
Fishbowl/film conversations and let partners name what is strong about these
and/or offer suggestions
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT
7
Ways Post-it

notes are used to
support/
extend reading
work (grades 1 /2)
K-2 Building a Reading Life
Post-it notes show that reader is drawing
on a repertoire of strategies

Let students name what they like about mentor Post-its and what they could try in
their own work—they could put labels with their names on the mentor Post-it that
is their “goal Post-it”
 Let students choose examples of old Post-its and new “best work” Post-its
 Teach students to look across their Post-its to see patterns and growth in their
thinking across a text (“At first I thought Poppleton was a bad friend but then later I
was thinking that maybe he hasn’t had that many friends and isn’t sure how to…”
Green Flag situation (these readers are usually proficient and your teaching needs to ratchet up the level of their reading work and thinking so that they can
outgrow what they are already doing)
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT
8
Blue Flag
Situation
Engagement and
Independence
(to discern this
you may need to
talk to kids and
reflect on your
own teaching)
K-2 Building a Reading Life
If you See…






Volume/Stamina
(looking at logs)


Here is a Sequence of things to address…
Kids reading nose-in-book, eyes on print
Kids reading with expressive faces
Kids who visibly react while reading (e.g.
chuckle, laugh, gasp, raise eyebrows)
Kids who have a hard time stopping their
reading and read any chance they get
Kids who can say exactly what they want
to read next and why
Kids drawing on a repertoire of strategies




Kids often reading beyond the required

amount of time
Kids frequently reading for long chunks of 
time




Partner Work




Partners coming with ideas
Partners coming with parts they want to
discuss
Partners animated during conversation
(e.g. gesturing, leaning in close to their
partner, pointing)
Partners discuss books read at home and
at school—they might pull multiple books
into the conversation or talk long off one
part of one book







Get kids involved in private author studies so that they are creating strong reading
identities
Give kids TCRWP assessment and take one yourself so you have an understanding of
where you need to take your highest readers
Talk to teachers in grades above you and/or study Common Core Standards and
Curricular Calendars of grades above you to gain an understanding of what your
highest readers need to learn next
Help kids to have ambitious goals that they can work on for two or three weeks (e.g.
love books so much I will talk about them in conversations at school and at home,
see things happen in the world and say what story that reminds me of, etc.”
Consistently remind students (mid-workshops, shares )about using their log/tallies
as an artifact to reflect on growth as a reader and set goals
Model reflecting on your own log
Have students tally the whole of their reading lives (nonfiction reading at home,
reading on the computer)
For readers J and above, show kids how to create a more complex log with space to
record author, title, level of each book, start and end pages and start and end time.
Help them to keep their nonfiction reading lives going while they are reading fiction
Help readers to use the log as a tool to make their reading public—(e.g. use log to
give recommendations to others, etc.)
Teach partners to act out parts to get ideas (“Oh, wow, now that I am starting to see
that maybe she isn’t just a bully…maybe she feels….”
Teach partners to entertain different ideas (“Maybe…”, “Or it could be that…”)
Take part of a proficient partner and help ratchet up the level of the partnership’s
work
Teach partners what makes a great question (“How or why questions will usually get
a great conversation going because there is not one right answer. There are lots of
things we can say and lots of parts we can show…”)
Teach partners to hold each other accountable for extraneous thoughts to keep the
conversation focused
Have partners watch other partnerships to find new work they could try
Help partners to talk to each other not only about their books, but also their goals
and how they can help each other
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT
9
Ways Post-it
notes are used to
support/
extend reading
work (grades 1/ 2)
K-2 Building a Reading Life

Post-its show that a reader sees when a
part is best suited for a specific type of
response


Teach kids to look at their Post-its to organize them and grow more ideas
Teach kids to sort their Post-its to see which are stronger and to revise the less
strong
 Do lessons about looking over your Post-it notes over time to assess your own
growth as a reader and make new plans/set goals
 Have kids choose an earlier Post-it and a later example of “new best work” and write
about how they improved and what their new goal is
Blue Flag situation (These readers are usually expert and your teaching needs to help them to have greater agency, metacognition, and reflection.)
Building a Reading Life for Primary Grades DRAFT