- Uninterrupted, sustained reading (SQUIRT) from a thematic text-sets
- Homefun - Teacher Read Aloud
- Poem of the Week - Discovery Theme-Related Nonfiction Reading
- Reading to Learn: Discovery Projects, Research, Math Assignments, etc.
- Other Purposeful Reading: Writing Workshop, Assignment Board, Class Newspaper, etc.
- Theme: Our Bodies Genre: Realistic Fiction, Mystery
- Theme: Native Americans Genre: Folk Literature, Biography, Historical Fiction
- Theme: Space Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy Fiction
- Theme: Oberlin, Ohio Genre: Historical Fiction, Biography, Folk Literature
- Theme: Endangered Animals Genre: Poetry, Animal Stories
* All Themes: Theme-Related Nonfiction Reading
- Writers' Notebooks - Birthday Books - Thank You Letters
- Writing Workshop - Young Authors Books - Poetry Projects
- Reflections - Class Newspaper - Libretto/script-writing
- Literature Logs (School) - Reading Logs (Homework)
- Open-ended Worksheets - Genre-based Approach - Reading "Celebration" Activities
- Theme-related Writing Projects including simulations, learning logs
- Discovery Worksheets including AIMS activities
- Research: Data Collection, Reports, Picture Books...
- The classroom must be filled with books and other stimulating reading materials that invite children to read and provide models for writing.
- Children learn to read by reading and the best writers are involved readers, so uninterrupted reading time must be provided daily.
- Children learn to write by writing in purposeful contexts.
- Reading and writing are more than the sum total of a group of isolated skills and cannot be learned by teaching a sequence of skills. Skill lessons should be taught when the need arises on an individual or group basis.
- The instructional reading program should not be separate from student's independent reading. The writing topics should be student-initiated. The classroom program needs to provide learners choice, self-control, and a sense of ownership of their own reading, writing, and their own learning.
- Learners should be encouraged to respond to their reading with creativity and active thinking as a measure of their reading comprehension.
- Reading and writing should be integrated into all curricular areas, and the curriculum should be integrated into reading-language instruction.
- Language is developed by social interactions, not in quiet isolation.
- Independent readers who can identify reading materials they can read comfortably, can use context clues and letter-sound knowledge to identify new words, know when they understand what they are reading, recognize when they need help, and know how to get help.
- Self-proclaimed "Book Lovers" who have some new ways to think about books and thereby have their enjoyment of reading enhanced.
- Book users who know how to find the books they need and how to find information in books in order to answer questions and solve problems.
- Authors who feel confident and successful sharing their thoughts and creativity through written language.
- Writers who know that there is a writing process that can help them improve their products and that attention to writing mechanics makes their work easier to read and be understood by their audience.
During our Writing Workshop, each student is introduced to the writing process which centers around six recursive, overlapping steps. Students discover that this process helps them improve their written products and become more successful writers.
The writing process which we introduce to students and reinforce on a daily basis includes these actions:
1. Plan - during this step, a student gathers raw materials - brainstorms ideas for new stories. Students can share experiences with others, research factual information, experience new things through field trips, map out new ideas, etc.
2. Draft - this is the step in which a student begins writing a story. Since this is a draft, students should be most concerned with ideas, thoughts, and feelings, not mechanics.
3. Conference - when a student feels the draft is completed or if advice is wanted during the drafting, a conference is held. Conferences can be held with the teacher, a peer, or a whole group of listeners. The writer shares the story with the listener(s). Positive comments along with questions and suggestions are shared and discussed.
4. Revise - revision means to look at again. The writer should explore and discover what has been written and examines it. This is the time that the writer improves the piece by expanding, deleting, or shifting parts.
5. Edit - the major of decisions of the student's story is complete by this step. Students check for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, fluency, sentence structure, and other mechanical errors. A final reading is completed and the writer feels ready for the final step.
6. Publish - the author is ready to reproduce the edited piece in a final form. A published story could be handwritten or word-processed. We encourage students to illustrate each product. A piece can be placed in a book with other classroom writing, published as a book, displayed on a bulletin board, or the shared with the intended audience in other ways.
These steps are considered overlapping because a student may not always follow the steps in order. Many conferences are held after a revision, or before the draft is finished. Some students may choose to revise over and over again. Conferences may take place after editing and another revision may occur. A student may even choose to rework a published piece.
During the Writing Workshop scheduled time, the classroom is filled with young authors that are all working at very different stages in their writing. Some may be drafting while others are having peer conferences and some are publishing. Some students require more teacher conferences while some will need very little guidance at any stage.
Students are guided through the writing process through high teacher input as well as high student input. The teacher guides students through the steps of the writing process respecting student input. Students learn how to peer conference and how to give helpful feedback and support. Group conferences are used to help all students experience skills in listening, respecting, and evaluating the work of their peers. Mini-lessons are developed by the teachers to teach skills when the need arises.
Student growth as writers is evident by the accumulated body of work kept in each individual portfolio. Our goal is to develop a classroom of authors who feel confident and successful sharing their thoughts and creativity through written language.
Our approach to development in mathematics is based on
- Investigations that invite active participation with on-going student communication and collaboration.
- Investigations that support diversity, allowing for a wide range of abilities, approaches, and organization.
- Investigations that result in products that reflect complexity and depth of thinking.
- Investigations that encourage students to use tools and models as naturally as they use pencil and paper.
- Investigations that require teachers to facilitate learning by asking questions, observing, listening.
- Investigations that encourage students to follow logical paths that make sense to them and that encourage teachers to focus on students' ways of thinking rather than solely on answers.
- Assessment as an integral part of the instructional program...
- Assessment that allows students a variety of ways to reveal what they know and demonstrate what they can do in mathematics...
- Assessment that provides ongoing information about how and what students were thinking...
- Assessment that provides teachers with a rich and complex body of information about each child...
- Observations
- Interviews
- Review of student work -
products and recordings from investigations,
Arithmetwists and Daily Tune-Up II pages,
homework,
portfolio collections.
- Journal writing
- Written assessments
- Student self-assessment and reflections
Open Room 1997-98 Schedule Annotated