Yay! We are going to be getting the latest and greatest from Teachers' College- the new Reading Units of Study, and it comes with trade books! This is going to be an amazing resource! But, we can only afford one per grade level, and we have 3 classes. We need another set!
My students are wonderful mix of 1st graders who attend a Title One school in an otherwise affluent school district.
While the other schools' PTOs can afford to purchase whatever their teachers need, ours simply does not have the same resources. Our school will receive one of the new Reading Units of Study per grade level, while the other buildings' PTOs will purchase additional sets so that each teacher has their own.
The new Reading Units will enable us to connect our lessons with the Writing Units of Study which have proven so successful the past few years. In order to fully benefit from all the components of this great resource, our students need to have the trade books accessible to them each day, and their teachers need the resource books in their classrooms each day, where they will be using them! When teaching using a new resource, those teachers' guides a bit like a bible- we carry them around and refer to their wisdom quite often!
My Project
Reading workshop is a big part of our day, each and every day. This coming year, the district is adding a new resource; the Reading Units of Study from Teachers' College. We have been using the Writing Units of Study for several years, and have seen gains in their writing skills. When looking at the overview of the Reading Units of Study, I could really see where the students would see a strong connection between reading and writing, which is the key to success!
Making connections between what they are learning in reading and writing will strengthen both areas. For example, they will learn text features of nonfiction books , which they will use when they write their own nonfiction books! We will teach them how to infer character emotions by noticing small movements, which they will add to their own narratives. This new series enhances the reading/writing connection and gives more specifics to help me teach it better. These strong connections will strengthen their skills!
Having the Grade1 Reading Units of Study will benefit all of the first graders in our building by giving us the "tools of our trade." These materials will give us opportunities to help the students make connections between what they learn in writing and reading workshops.
What we teach them about the books they read will connect to their writing. Strong teacher resources = highly effective teaching = stronger literacy skills. Thank you so much for, once again, helping us to help our students!
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