Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 1: Learning from Best and Worst Reading Times
Getting Ready -Do before:



Book Bins for tables/groups of students
Post it notes for each group of students
Think of a negative reading experience
struggling readers can relate to
Connection
Reading can be good
or not so good, and
our goal is to make it
good from now on.
Teaching Point
Readers pause to
reflect on times when
reading has been the
pits, and when it has
been the best it can
be.



Anchor Charts: - “This makes me think,
that to make reading the best it can be, I
should…”
We all, every one of us, can make reading the best that it can be.
This year we will work together to make our classroom a place where reading is
the best it can be.
To create a reading life together in our classroom, we need to reflect on our
reading and then make wise changes.
Recall and share with students a bad and then a good time.
When a person decides to be a singer or a soccer player, we try it then think, “What’s
working for me? What’s not working for me?” We use those questions to help build our
lives so that singing or soccer is the best it can be.
 The same is true for reading. Sometimes when I am in the middle of reading I
pause and think “Is this working? Is this not working?”
Demonstrate a personal recollection of bad and good times reading by thinking aloud.
 “So let me think about a time when reading didn’t work for me...”
 “There were also times when reading was the best it could be…”
 We also examine those times for ideas about how reading should go in our lives.
Go from noticing to thinking – direct students to chart
Readers don’t just read. We build reading lives for ourselves. To do this, we pause and
reflect, “When was reading really bad for me” and “When was it the best it can be?”
And we figure out how these reflections can help us learn how to change our reading
lives for the better.


Active Involvement
Try the process. Start
by remembering
times in their lives
when reading either
worked or didn’t for
them.
Talk to the person sitting next to you, a reading friend, about the time when reading
worked (OR write the time, and add a quick sketch – see the side margin note on page 9)
Link
Send students off to
read
Mid Workshop
Teaching Point
Share
Readers choose Several Books at a Time So We Always Have One to Read
Debrief-emphasize that students’ ideas will shape how reading goes in the class this
year.
 You can make a life in which reading is the worst, or you can make a life in which
reading is the best it can be. You are the author of your reading life.
Push to think exactly how they can make their reading lives stronger based on
their reading experiences.

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Think of the bad times, when you felt horrible as a reader.
Now think of a time when reading was just about the best it can be.
Add bullets to class chart based on discussions and discoveries; go from
observation to a thought about making reading the best it can be.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 2: Making Honest, Important Reading Resolutions
Getting Ready -Do before:




Anchor Charts: -
Prepare My Reading Life folder for each student
Post its on tables
Blank chart paper or whiteboard
Prepare to assess 4-5 readers with running records
Connection
Share a resolution
for this school year
– connect it to
making a New
Year’s resolution.
Teaching Point
New resolutions
can make a big
difference if they
are important and
realistic.

It is important to set goals in our lives. This is true in our reading lives, too. It is
important to stop and say, “From this moment on, I’m going to ...” and then we name our
hope, our promise, our New School Year’s resolution.

Yesterday we talked about how looking at best and worst times can give us ideas for ways
we might change our reading lives.
Today, then, we can figure out the big changes we most want to work toward and some of
the ways we can get there.
We will need to occasionally stop and decide on resolutions for ourselves.
Resolutions should be important. We want to set goals that matter. Resolutions also need
to be realistic



Think aloud to set a specific reading goal. Encourage students to begin thinking of an
important and realistic reading goal for themselves as you are thinking of one for yourself.
Active Involvement
Set children up to
make their own
New School Year’s
resolution.
Link
Mid Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers Talk About
Goals
Share
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Remember, think of something you can do in the year ahead that would make an important
difference in your reading life.
Turn and share one of your New School Year’s resolutions with a neighbor. Be sure to discuss specific
things you can do to live your Reading Resolution this year.
Optional activity – Provide paper strips for students to display their resolutions.
Send students off to read:
Keep your resolution and ideas about how to make reading the best it can be in mind, today and
from now on. You are in charge of your own reading, so make wise decisions.
Today as you read, pay attention to the parts you especially enjoy. Flag places in your books that you
particularly like – just two or three places.
 As you are reading, remember to stop once in awhile and ask yourself, “How is reading time
going for me?”
 Ask yourself, “What can I do to make reading time as good as it can be?” (Allow a moment
for student reflection)
 Tell one other reader how reading has been going and what you have done to make it as
good as it can be.
Introduce and model reading logs
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 3: Finding Tons of Just-Right Books
Getting Ready -Do before:
 Pick a student to model reading (this should not be a
student who struggles with reading)
 Select a too hard book and a just right book for student to
read
 Bring pocket folders to meeting area
 Have stopwatch available to calculate reading rates
 Bring materials to group area
 You should have read the first several pgs. of Ch. 3 before
beginning lesson VI
Connection
Teaching Point
How to check if a
book is a just-right
book.
Active Involvement
Anchor Charts: - T chart “Signs to Watch
for When Choosing a Book” 2 columns:
Too Hard & Just Right
Yesterday, we developed resolutions that will be our promises to ourselves this school
year. We have put our promises in writing. We have made a commitment to work toward
becoming better, stronger readers.
There are some things we know and we have learned from researchers about how we can
help make ourselves stronger readers. We know:
 Everyone needs tons and tons of great reading opportunities to grow as readers.
 We need time when we are not stumbling over hard words, stopping and starting. We
know we want minds-on-the-story books.
 Today, I want to teach you how to recognize the kinds of books that are at your own
personal level-ones you can read smoothly with accuracy and comprehension.
Have a volunteer demonstrate previewing and reading a few sentences of a difficult book.
Chart what the students notice. (page 47) Explain that the volunteer was smart to stop after
a few difficult sentences.
Have a volunteer repeat the procedure with a just-right book. Have students take notes of
what they notice about the person’s reading in their reading logs. Complete chart with justright actions of the volunteer that students recorded. (Page 49)
Point to and list some items from the chart for just-right books.
Link
Send students off to  Make sure you have a just-right book.
 So from now on, when you are thinking about making your reading stronger, remember
read.

Mid Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers Check to
Be Sure a Book is
Just Right

Share
Study yourself as a
reader.

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

that you get better by reading lots and lots of books you really understand.
Continue to pay attention to the parts of your book you really enjoy and continue to
mark these with post-it notes so you can share them later.
Turn to a reading friend. One of you will read aloud for a few minutes while the other
will decide if this is a just-right book for you.
Before you can know if the book is just right you need to talk about the book to make
sure it makes sense to the reader. Readers, ask yourselves if the book you are reading
makes sense to you as you read.
You’ll see your just right book keep changing and you’ll be able to read more and more
pages at a time. As we study our reading logs this year, we will see our reading grow
and change.
Remember, readers learn to read by reading.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 4: Reading Faster, Longer, and Stronger
Getting Ready -Do before:
 Create bookmarks – tips for reading strong and long
 Bring materials to group area
Connection
Teaching Point
Tips that you can
use to become
readers who reader
faster, stronger,
and longer.
Anchor Charts: - create “Reading Fast,
Strong, and Long”

So far, we have done a lot of work as readers. You told me that you’d like to pick your
own books which will help reading be the best it can be. We have made resolutions for
the year and listened to the advice of researchers to read tons of high-success, just
right books. Today I want to teach you tips to help us all become readers who read
faster, stronger, and longer. We are going to learn how to pick up our reading pace a
little so we can better understand not just the little details of what we read, but the
whole story too.
Imagine that I am your reading coach and I’ll be giving you some tips to help you become a
better reader.


Demonstrate beginner reading (pointing to words, whisper reading). Demonstrate as an
expert reader. It’s time to take off the training wheels and drop those old reading
habits.
Some readers put on the brakes as they read. Some readers reread sentences,
paragraphs, and even pages over and over. It’s time to stop putting on the brakes and
whirl through the story. As long as you understand the basics, read forward.

Active
Involvement
Hand out
bookmarks.
Link
Urge readers to
keep their focus for
a longer time today
We read faster, stronger, and longer when we read with more expression, more feeling.
When we are trying to read with feeling, the story speeds up. The voice in your mind
should sound like a professional storyteller.
Have students read and discuss the tips on the bookmarks.
Have students re-read bookmarks and check off one they will try.



If you do not see one that fits you write something on the back that you will try to make
your reading faster, stronger, and longer.
Before we do anything else, record on your reading log the starting time and page
number for today.
As you read today, and whenever you are reading, try the advice you marked on your
bookmark.

Today, push yourself to read for longer. Push yourself to read without getting restless!
**Note: Try to extend today’s independent reading time.
Mid Workshop
 Notice how many pages you read in the last ____ minutes. Were you pushing yourself
Teaching Point
to read faster, stronger, and longer?
Readers Vary the
 Tip -Readers often read some sections of a text quickly and some sections slowly. Share
Pace of Our Reading
an example of this.
in Response to the
 Add to chart, Read some parts of the book faster, especially when it’s clear what’s
Text
going on.

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Look over the last few pages and decide whether there are read-fast sections or some
slow read-sections. Share what you find with someone near you.
Share
In general, you
should read about
15 pages in twenty
minutes.
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You may read a little faster or slower, but 15 pages in 20 minutes is the pace most of us
should expect.

Look at the number of pages you read today. How are you doing? Remember, to keep
posting in your book those interesting spots that you find.
Think about your reading goals. Talk about them with someone next to you.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 5: Awakening Ourselves to the Text
Getting Ready -Do before:
 Read aloud Ch. 1 & first several pgs of Ch 2 of Stone Fox
 Sit next to partner (1 & 2)
 Bring materials to group area
 You should have read the first several pgs. of Ch. 3 before
beginning lesson VI
Connection
Tell a story of a time
someone else’s story,
someone else’s words,
changed your life because
you took their words in with
deep attention.
Teaching Point
When we read, we need
to guard against reading
just to get it done, and to
instead read w/ deep
attention.



Anchor Charts: - create in lesson VI
Sometimes we forget that words matter. We read them like they are just marks on
the page, with nothing happening in our brains.
Reading isn’t just eyes on print; reading is meaning making and reading is letting
what you read change your life, change your work, change your thinking.
Sometimes, we get to reading so fast that we forget to really take in what the words
say.
In Stone Fox - several pages into Ch.2
 Model ‘reading with your mind on fire’ and ‘reading on autopilot’
o Use pages 72-73 in Lucy for an example of her thinking
 Name what you did in terms that will apply to other texts and other days.
Active Involvement
Students use their books and read from wherever they left off.
‘Remember to use the tips from yesterday – the ones on your bookmarks. Be especially
careful to not let yourself start flying past those pages, reading on autopilot. Instead,
read with full attention, making a movie in your mind and giving yourself time to react
to what happens.’
Link Synthesize yesterday’s

teaching point about
reading quickly with today’s
about not reading on
autopilot. Urge readers to
read quickly and attentively,
reacting to the text.
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers read ourselves
awake and talk back to
the text.





Share
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‘So remember, from now on, whenever we read, yes we want to push ourselves to
read stronger and longer, but we don’t want to read alike we’re on autopilot. We
want to read ourselves awake. We need to remember to feel and react deeply. We
want to make movies in our minds as we read.’
“Remember to fill out your reading log, noting the starting time and page. As you
read today, be sure to flag parts of the book that are important. Let’s also flag the
parts where you found yourself to be wide awake.
Readers, in a minute I will stop you. Before I do, please be sure you have marked a place in
your book that you really enjoy, that really matters to you.
What is important as we read is not just the words the author wrote on the page, but also
what we bring to the page. We need to talk back to the story by saying things like, “Oh, no!”
or “Wow, that same thing happened to me!”
Please reread a part of your book you flagged and really let those words sink in. See them,
hear them, think about how that part is maybe like your own life. Take a few post-it notes
and write what you are thinking and attach it to that part of the book.
Try this today as you continue to read.
Share their work of the day with their partner. Share the section where they read
themselves awake and read that aloud to their partner.
Building a Reading Life
Session 6: Holding Tight to Meaning
Getting Ready-Do before:
 You should have taught children to use
Post- it notes as bookmarks
 You should have read aloud the rest of
Ch. 2 and the first several pages of
Ch.3 in Stone Fox
Connection



Teaching Point
readers sometimes get
confused in the texts
we’re reading.



Anchor Charts to Create:
 When Our Mental Movies Grow Blurry
 Ways You and Another Reader Can
Share Your Reading
Yesterday you learned to guard against reading on autopilot. Readers need to
read ourselves awake, and create movies in our minds.
When we pick up a story again, readers scan through the pages we have read,
storytelling them to ourselves.
We recall what we read, telling the parts in sequence.
When readers encounter confusing parts in books, we use strategies to clarify
the meaning.
Readers say ‘huh? And ask ‘What’s going on?
Sometimes we read on and sometimes we need to reread
Read aloud from the class read aloud to model the reading behaviors noted so far.
Active Involvement






Link
Recap what you have
taught and send children
off to read, reminding
them to use strategies as needed.
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Share
Readers Take the Time
to Look Back Over What
We’ve Read, and Plan
How We Will Talk About
Books
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Demonstrate reading on, asking ‘What’s going on?’
To piece things together, we use clues from the text to create a guess (a theory) to
help us fill in our movie
Ask students to tell a partner what they think might be happening during the
confusing part
Share what one or two say, showing that readers develop theories understanding
that as we continue to read and learn more, we may have to change those theories
Read on- help children listen with a theory in mind
Look closely at details to form an idea

When we notice the movie in our mind has gotten blurry we read on, with
questions and ideas in our mind
 We look for details, that help us clear up confusions
 We reread
 We use post-it notes to track our thinking and ideas
 We self-monitor for comprehension and use fix up strategies
Readers Monitor for Sense and Activate Problem-Solving Strategies When
Meaning Breaks Down


Use Chart- Ways You and Another Reader Can Share Your Reading Lives
Talk about: volume, about reading at home v. reading at school, great
books, studying their reading logs and looking for patterns
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 7: Welcoming Books
Getting Ready -Do before:





Anchor Charts: none for this lesson
Prepare to read from Ch 7,”The Meeting,” of Stone Fox
Make copy of text read for each child to use (or they can use
their own books)
Sit next to partner (1 & 2)
Bring materials to group area
See Resources CD-ROM for Stone Fox excerpts.
Connection
They can read like
curmudgeons or
they can open up
and let books and
reading matter to
them.
Teaching Point
Readers must
choose what our
relationship toward
books will be.
Pass out excerpt from Stone Fox.
 Readers do you know what a curmudgeon is? A curmudgeon is a cranky person. You
wouldn’t dare go trick-or-treating at a curmudgeon’s house, because if you rang the
doorbell, he’d probably say, “Get off my porch. Don’t you dare ring my doorbell
again!”
Active Involvement

We can be a curmudgeon toward books. Or we can let books matter to us, reading them
like they’re gold.”
Pick up Stone Fox  Look at the cover and speak scornfully about the photo and title. Turn to the end of
Ch. 7 “The Meeting,” and begin to read in a cranky, disinterested voice,
 “Little Willy …And then it happened.” – Stop reading, yawn, and look around the
room.

Link
send children off to
read independently
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers abandon
books that turn us
into curmudgeons.
Share
Readers share
passages, reading
them aloud as if
they are gold.
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Set students up to continue reading, with disengagement, the text you’ve begun
reading, this time to each other.
Set children up to read the next section of text as if it is gold. Start them off by
reading a few lines of it aloud yourself.
(As you listen to students reading the best they can it is a good time to assess for fluency.
As you move from group to group, write down names of readers who could benefit from
small group instruction on fluency.)
 Remember, as readers we are the authors of our reading lives. We can choose how
we want to read. We can choose to read our books like they are gold.



It is important to notice when a book turns us into a curmudgeon, but you don’t want
to become a reader who starts a book and gives up on it easily.
If you find yourself in a situation where you need to put a book down, that is okay.
Please let me know when you are about to abandon a book so we can talk about
what your next reading choice might be.
Demonstrate a way readers share their books: by reading aloud a cherished passage.
Reread a passage from Ch. 2 of Stone Fox to make your point.
Ask students to share a cherished passage with a partner.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 8: Introducing Ourselves to Books
Getting Ready -Do before:
 Class library should be open
 Have all students assessed
 Have your personal reading log – containing books you want to
promote
 Plan a book recommendation to outline during share
 Students should sit next to someone they have worked with before
during reading
Connection
Anchor Charts: “How to Create a Book
Buzz” – use during mini-lesson
See pg 116 for a sample
Share a story of how a child created a buzz around a book for another child. Tell
that friends can be good resources when all books seem like strangers and we
don’t know what we want to choose.
Teaching Point
Show chart and model giving a book introduction.
Readers create a
 Listen to my introduction and notice the steps I take. Pay attention to the
buzz about books we
steps written on this chart. When you see me take a step from the chart,
love
count it across your fingers.
Identify for students the steps you took from the chart during your book talk.
 It helps to talk about the sort of readers who will like a book
 Summarize book(without giving too much away)
 Read a little bit aloud to others and tell why it is special
Active Involvement  Pair up with a reading neighbor-someone you’ve worked with before.
 Right now, practice creating a book buzz! Tell your neighbor about a book you
think they would like to read too!
Link
Remind children that they can recommend books to each other and ask
classmates for book recommendations
 Remember, if you ever forget ways we can create a book buzz, you can look
here to our chart to help you.
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers read with
others in mind

Share
Have students bring their books back with them to the carpet.
Readers can introduce books to themselves.
Demonstrate with a book they are likely to enjoy.
 Notice what I did, I picked up a book that I might have just passed over, and I
spent some time creating my own introduction to it, reading the title, the
blurb on the back cover, flipping through the pages, reading bits.
 Now it is your turn to try it. Pick a book you haven’t read yet and introduce
yourself to it. Try to build your own excitement for the book.
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
When we read we not only think about why we like a book, but also about
why someone in particular might like a book
You can always put a post-it note on the cover to remind yourself to
recommend the book to the person you have in mind
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 9: Choosing Texts that Matter
Getting Ready -Do before:


Bring “My Reading Life” folders and pens to meeting area
Bring your own planning notebook to the mini-lesson to record
suggestions children make.
Anchor Charts: develop a list during minilesson on how to find just –right books
Connection
Share story about a reader experiencing the power of a great book.
 Today I want to teach you that readers make sure we always have a stack of books
beside us – and that the books are ones that can turn us into the readers we want to
be. To find books that are just right for us, we need systems that can help us find
those books.
Teaching Point
Readers develop
systems for finding
books we will love.

Active Involvement
Link
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers give books a
chance
Share
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I was thinking we could work together to come up with some ideas to be sure we
each have the kinds of books that will really matter to us as readers.
Share a few systems other students have designed for promoting great books and gather
their additional ideas. (See p. 131 for specific systems you could share)
 Ex: teacher gives overview of book and says “this book is a lot like …”
 Ex: Kids organize and label classroom library
 Ex: Kids leave post-it inside books giving them stars – 4 being the best. (If we dislike a
book we just don’t leave a post-it)
Engage in whole-class conversation in which they share ideas for the systems they can
develop to help each other locate great books.
 Students spend 1-2 min writing their own ideas in their folders on how to help each
other locate great books
 After a time, share ideas and record ideas in your planning notebook
Summarize children’s ideas and encourage students to put their ideas into action.
Share the story of a student who realized that they need to read the first few chapters of
a book in order to really decide if they enjoy it or not.
Share their plans with their partner for using systems for getting great books in each
other’s hands.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 10: Learning New Words from Books
Getting Ready -Do before:
 Write a short passage that contains a tricky word onto
chart paper- Esperanza Rising is Lucy example
 Add the word tormented to your word wall (tricky word
from Esperanza Rising)
 Find passages for readers to use to practice substitution
strategies. Consider making individual copies for
students
 Identify students for small group instruction in word
substitution strategies
Anchor Charts:

Post charts from previous sessions
that relate to partnerships and
partner talk
Connection
Tell about a time you (or someone else) chose between avoiding and confronting
a challenge.
 Today I want to teach you that as readers we are like the monster tractors
that climb over the hurdle of the hard word and read on, never taking a
detour from the trail of the story.
Teaching Point
Read on when you
encounter a difficult
word, knowing that
context clues will
help you determine
the definition
Active Involvement

Link
Readers read on and
use context clues to
help them
determine the
definition of an
unfamiliar word
Readers, when you are reading and come to a word that you don’t know, read on,
substitute a word that you think means about the same thing, and see if it fits into
the sentence, the story.
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Readers often read forward in a story to figure out the meaning of an
unfamiliar word.
Share an example from your own reading experience
 Notice how I read on when I got to a word I didn’t know? I didn’t get sidetracked, I worked right through the obstacle.
 I read past the word looking for clues to its meaning.
Students should try the strategy using the passage from Esperanza Rising on chart
paper (difficult word is written in red)
 Read the passage to yourself paying special attention to the difficult word I’ve
written in red. Don’t be knocked off track by the hard word, keep reading on in
the story. Use the context of the passage-the words that come after the hard
word- to figure out what the tricky word might mean.
After students have had a few minutes to do this, have them turn to their partner
and share their definitions of the tricky word.
 After you’ve read on a bit in the passage, try to put a substitute word into the
sentence thinking about whether it fits. Try that now.
Have students turn to their partners and share their replacement synonyms.
Mid-Workshop

Teaching Point
Readers guess what
unfamiliar words

mean and then carry
that word with us,

letting our
understanding of the
word grow
Share
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Readers don’t just make a theory about what a word means and then forget
about it, readers let those words and their theories about them carry through
their reading.
Readers collect clues from their books and the world around them to grow
their understandings of what the word means.
We begin to use the words ourselves, in our talk and in our writing.
Partner share the reading work they did today. It might involve hard words or it
might involve something else.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 11: Reading in the Company of Partners
Getting Ready -Do before:
 Divide class into long-term reading partnerships of
similar abilities and interests
 Choose a child (or another teacher if possible) to help
with mini-lesson interview
 Prepare chart with interview questions
Connection
Teaching Point
Active Involvement
Link
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers read
differently when
they are going to
share books with a
reading friend
Share
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Anchor Charts:
 Create “Questions We Ask to Get to
Know a Reading Partner”
 Create chart “Tips of Interviewing a
Reader”
Tell story of a time a partnership enriched an experience.
 Today I want to teach you that having a reading friend makes all the difference
in the world. And reading friendships start with people getting to know each
other – as readers. We pay attention to each other’s reading histories, reading
interests, reading hopes. By doing that, we can support each other’s efforts to
create a reading life.
Introduce your reading partner (child or adult) and set children up to research
how that person interviews you.
 Share good interview questions using the anchor chart “Questions We Ask…”
 Students jot observations as interview is going on
 As you demonstrate the interview point out techniques students can use for
their own
 Share the anchor chart “Tips for Interviewing a Reader”
Set up the new partnerships to interview and be interviewed
*Note* Only one partner will be interviewed during the active engagement. The
second partner will be interviewed during the Teaching Share.
 Let’s go fill out our reading logs. Remember that soon our reading partner is
going to help us study our log.
 Remember as you read today that soon you will have a chance to tell your
partner about your book. Be sure to mark some places you might want to talk
about with your partner.





As you are reading today, you should be thinking, “This is a part I’d like to
share!” and then you will want to mark those spots with a post-it note.
Right now, if you haven’t already marked places you would like to talk about
with your partner, please do that quickly.
What are some of the reasons you marked certain places to share? (elicit
student responses)
As you are continuing to read, remember that soon you will have the chance
to talk with your reading partner about your book. Read thinking about places
you might like to share.
Please stop and fill out your logs. Look them over; are there any patterns you
are noticing that you might want to share with your reading partner? Put a
star next to those places.
Students should meet with their reading partner and the second partner should
now be interviewed. Move among them demonstrating and encouraging active
listening behaviors.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 12: Thinking over Stories with Partners
Getting Ready -Do before:


Bring folders and writing supplies to meeting area
By the start of next session you have read up to the end
of Ch. 7 in Stone Fox
Connection
Books are better
when we can enjoy
them with another
person
Teaching Point
When we talk about
a book, it is similar
to talking about an
experience; we
share what has
happened and our
response to what
happened
Active Involvement
Link
Readers tend to read
more deeply when we
are expecting to have
opportunities to book
conversations.
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Focus matters when
talking about both
reading and writing
Share
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Anchor Charts:
 Create chart “Ways You and
Another Reader Can Talk About
Your Books”
A lot of things in life, like going to the movies, are better when we can enjoy them with
another person. Facilitate a classroom conversation about why it is better when you see a
movie with a friend, not alone.
 Readers, I’m realizing now that reading a book is a lot like going to the movies. A lot
of the fun part comes after reading time is over, when you get to talk about what
you’ve read.
Much of the fun in reading comes from sharing a book with another reader.
 By the end of today, you’ll be clear why your partnerships matter. When we
anticipate being able to share a book (a movie, or anything!) it becomes more
interesting!
 Soon you will be swapping books as you hear about them from one another.
Demonstrate retelling an experience, then a book you have read. Ask students to notice
how you retell.
Children share with each other things they noticed as they researched your retelling.
Reconvene class to share these observations.
 Noticing we often start by retelling then discuss personal feelings and/or opinions.
 If we plan to talk more, we can help ourselves think more.
 Then, when we get together with a friend to talk, we take the time to retell so we
catch that person up on the experience we just had. We share our thoughts, too.

When we are getting ready to share with our partners we start by deciding who will
share first.
 When we are getting ready to share we think about what we really want to share
with our partner that day. We want to choose an idea that sparks tons of thoughts,
and plan to share that part of the book we’ve marked.
 Listeners, we need to think about what we are going to do to listen especially well to
our partners.
Readers talk about books together – wisely
 Intro chart “Ways You and Another Reader Can Talk About Your Books”
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 13: Retelling Stories by Starting at the Beginning
Getting Ready -Do before:




Anchor Charts:
Remind children to sit with their new reading partners
Have read to end of Ch. 7 in Stone Fox
Post-its for Mid-workshop teaching point
Have your own independent reading book for MWTP
Connection
Teaching Point
One way to retell a
book is to take big
steps through the
timeline of events,
recalling only the
important ones.
Active Involvement
Link
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Share
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“Ways We Can Retell to Our Partners”
Talk about human need to tell stories – ex: ancient cave walls to blogs. Suggest just as it is
natural to story tell their experiences so it is to story-tell books we read.
Suggest retelling is helpful way to catch partners up on what they need to understand
about a book but also helps us to synthesize and respond to the unfolding story.
 Yesterday, when you shared with your partners, many of you began by retelling the
stories you’ve been reading. Then you discussed those stories. I want you to realize
that what you did – sharing your stories – is what people do with books all the time.
 We retell not only as a way to catch someone else up on a story; we also retell to
catch ourselves up. We retell to remind ourselves of what has already happened and
to see how the unfolding story fits together.
 We retell to catch up – and keep up – with the story.
Readers retell books as a way to lay the story out for others so we can talk it over. Also we
retell as a way for ourselves to think it over.
 Demonstrate –one way to retell is through timeline, retelling only the important
events.
Add this first strategy to the anchor chart. The chart will continue to develop through
following lessons.

Partner 1 will you retell the book you are reading right now? You may want to look
back at your book to do this. Figure out the big events you will include in your
retelling.
 Partner 2, you will listen carefully to be sure your partner retells their story in big
steps.
Remind students that there are many times in life that call for retelling.
 Remember, retelling is helpful when we have been away from a book and want to
warm ourselves up for the reading.
 One way to retell is to start at the beginning and take big steps through the story,
telling the key events.
Readers prepare for conversations with our reading partners
 We prepare ourselves to talk with our partners.
 Wherever you are in your book, take a second to remember what you have read.
Remember, you can look back at the book to remember important details.
Readers include important facts so partners will be able to follow along as we retell our
stories.
 Retell the read-aloud book poorly first, then have students suggest a list of ways to
improve that retelling.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 14: Retelling Stories by Starting with Now and Backing Up
Getting Ready -Do before:



Have read aloud to the end of Ch. 8 in Stone Fox
Devise and practice a “harken back” gesture (See p.
208)
Read Ch 9 of Stone Fox before next session
Connection
Teaching Point
Anchor Charts: use charts from previous
sessions


“Ways…Books” from session 12
from Yesterday “Ways…Partners”
Reflect on why current reading work is important. Remind of different ways readers
retell stories, as taught in previous lessons.
 When we retell we might be remembering our books, reliving the important and
memorable parts for us.
 Sometimes when we retell we will do what we did yesterday and tell the big events in
the story in a step-by-step way.
 Today we will learn about a new way of retelling.
Summarize the most recent chapter you’ve read aloud, harkening back, when relevant, to
sections from earlier in the book that make this chapter’s events more meaningful than
they would be on their own. Name what you have just done.
 Notice that I started to retell by summarizing our most recent chapter and then I
grabbed earlier parts of the story to add in so that my summary of this chapter made
more sense.
 Add this kind of retelling to your chart “Ways…Books”
Active Involvement
Have children help you continue your retelling, adding in asides of important information
they get from earlier parts of the story.
Link

Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers make space for thinking about their books
 Sometimes we get so into our book that we forget to stop and recollect what we have
read.
 One way we can prevent this is to take post-it notes and place them every few pages
to remind ourselves to stop, recall, and think.
Share
Readers push to Pause, Retell, and Have a Thought about our reading.
 Partner share – one shares and the other listens
 Pick specific idea to share, listening partner asks questions in order to make sense
of the text
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Remember that it is helpful when we read to pause and help ourselves remember
what we have read and what is happening.
 When we feel like there is a lot happening in the book, that is a great place to pause
and retell the story to ourselves or our reading partner. Remember, there are many
ways we can retell a story.
Gesture to the chart “Ways We Can Retell to Our Partners” and review the strategies.
Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 15: Learning to Listen Intensely
Getting Ready -Do before:



Have read through Ch. 9 of Stone Fox.
Readers need one Post-it note from each of their
independent reading books
In share finish Stone Fox by reading “The finish Line.”
Connection
Teaching Point
Active Involvement
Link
Anchor Charts: “To Listen Well” to be
used in active involvement and share
Retell a listening experience when you talked to someone who was distracted and a time
you talked to someone who listened intently.
 When we are reading, and also when we are listening to other readers’ ideas, we
need to make sure that we’re listening with our minds and hearts open. We don’t
want to listen like curmudgeons. We want to listen reminding ourselves that there
are deeply brilliant ideas about to be made, ones that just need a little listening to
grow.
 Readers are helped by talking to someone who really listens.
 Listeners help readers grow ideas.
 Demonstrate listening well and ask children to notice the strategies you use to do
so.
 Name and chart what you have done to help yourself listen well.
Partners talk about their thoughts about a book.
 First the reader (speaker) needs to have a seed idea, a thought. So right now, find
a post-it from your independent reading book that has an idea on it. Signal to me
when you are ready.
 Partner 2, share your idea, Partner 1, listen well. Push yourself to really listen with
your whole heart to what your partner is saying and trying to say. If you aren’t sure
how to listen harder than you are, use the chart to remind you.
 Practice listening – encourage partners to say more.
Good listeners listen with open ears which helps ideas grow.
 When you or I are the recipient of powerful, responsive listening, let’s agree to
acknowledge that listening.
Mid-Workshop
Teaching Point
Readers cultivate ways to listen to people and books.
 Point out the positive listening behaviors you are noticing as students listen to
each other.
 We will be listeners our whole lives, to people and to texts, so taking time to
improve our listening will help us forever.
Share
Readers listen to texts as carefully as they listen to each other. Finish reading Stone Fox.
 Let’s remember that reading, itself, is listening, and the goal is to listen in such a
way that the book gets through to us, with our minds and hearts open.
Process ideas and emotions by talking with partners or as whole class.
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Building a Reading Life-Unit 1
Session 16: Celebration
Getting Ready -Do before:




Flag a few pages of Stone Fox to reread.
Have new reader’s notebook for each child – full size –
needs to last for a while
Table bins filled with magazines and catalogs of books,
glue sticks, art supplies used to decorate notebooks
Have children bring paper and pen to meeting area
Celebration
Anchor Charts: none – but have pg 247
from Lucy’s book open to read the
selection from Auster’s Invention of
Solitude.
One way to hold onto memories is to make something new out of them.
 Today will be our celebration of Stone Fox and of this whole unit. Today we will
have a celebration to help us deeply, truly, really remember the parts of both that
have mattered to us.
 One author, Paul Auster, used an interesting way of helping himself remember the
details and the feelings of his own childhood. He used a really simple technique, he
starts with the words, “He remembers…” and then describes that thing in as much
detail as he can.
 Read selection from Auster’s Invention of Solitude (pg.247) to demo a way to help
remember something.
Ask children to create a piece of writing from their memories of the read-aloud text, using
Auster’s example as a template. The template leads them to create a list poem of sorts of
their memories
Ask children to create a piece of writing from their memories of their work in this unit,
using Auster’s example as a template for the new form. The writing they create will be a
list poem of sorts.
With celebration, distribute new readers’ notebooks into which children can put these two
new pieces of writing and the writing about reading to come. Ask children to decorate and
begin to fill these notebooks to reflect their reading identities.
Share
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As the end of the reading time approaches, ask students to share the best of their work.
 Find a page that says something significant about you as a reader – hold it up so
everyone can all see it.