Reading Workshop Letters: Why I Do What I Do
I’ve blogged about reading workshop quite a bit, but I wanted to give you a closer look at our reading letters. For the past several years, we’ve used the Fountas and Pinnell notebooks. Next year I want to tweak the process just a little bit by making my own notebooks, but I will definitely continue writing letters with my students. I’ve found them to be a great way to build the reading/writing connection.
I split my students into evens and odds so half the class writes a letter to me one week, and the other half writes a letter the next week. The goal is to do this every week, but I’m happy if we do it once a month. Students write four paragraphs (answer a question from me in my previous letter, summarize their current book, and then pick two topics from a big list for the third and fourth paragraphs). It takes a lot of work to get students writing thoughtful, deep letters. So much that I always swear I won’t do the letters ever again. {we’ve all been there, I’m sure} Add to that the time it takes for me to read and respond to each student… it makes me feel like a crazy person sometimes. BUT… it’s worth it.
I want to share some of the last letters we did. THIS is why I do what I do all year.
1. We develop relationships and students will often write things they won’t say. It’s less risky. Do you see this one? She says it’s like writing to a friend.
2. The reading letters really do help build the reading/writing connection. The skills we work on in reading workshop transfer to writing workshop as we study mentor texts.
3. Students experience success. The letters are differentiated so I gradually build on strategies students already have. I might me writing about cause/effect with one student, character development with another, and theme with a third. This young reader came in struggling and left above grade level. He knows he’s a reader now!
4. This one is probably my favorite. “Thank you for teaching me all hard things.”
5. Finally, sometimes you get gems like this. She added a fifth paragraph. =) {Still working on you’re/your, haha}
What do you do to build the reading/writing connection with your students?
It's always a blessing to see students' lightbulbs come on! Those letters are so sweet and meaningful. It really does make a difference connecting writing to reading. Very cool!
Sarah
Miss A's Kindergarten
I also have my kids keep notebooks based on Fountas and Pinnell. I've been using them for about 3 years and I keep making changes. I LOVE the letters too! I have 3rd graders. I ask them to write 3 paragraphs. The first is a brief summary of the book, second they write about how they used a strategy or skill we have studied using text based evidence, and the last is their own reflection of the book. I like your idea of odd and even weeks. They is very manageable. Thanks for sharing!
Gina
Beach Sand and Lesson Plans
Hi Christi~I love you have do your letters. 🙂 I use what we call Book Talk notebooks and the kids are required to do 3 written responses to their reading each week. This is by far the part of my program that I feel that I make the most difference with their reading and writing. I love your post so much that I plan to add letter writing as one of their options when they choose how to respond each week. Thanks so much for this insightful post. 🙂
Brandee @ Creating Lifelong Learners
Wow! These are great! I love your ideas and how you structure this for students to be successful! I am going to go back right now and read your previous posts about these. I definitely think it is something our 3rd and 4th grade teachers could use in their classrooms! Thanks for the great idea!
This is such a great idea! I love how sweet your kiddos are! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
Rachel
A-B-Seymour
I love the letters 🙂 What a great idea!!!
Bridget
Literacy Without Worksheets
Would love to read more of how you set this up with your students. Do you have a template? I'm thinking about doing this as my morning work and breaking up each paragraph over four mornings.
Erica
Shepherd's Shining Stars
I'm so glad our letters are interesting to you. I'll dig into them a little deeper to show how I set them up!
Your TPT products are beautiful! Laura
Read-Write-Create
Christi, I love the reading and writing connection with letters too. I have my students write every week which sometimes can be a little overwhelming, but I wouldn't give them up! I used the F&P notebooks for one year (about 12 years ago) because our school only purchased them for one year. 🙁 So, I decided to make my own. This year I moved to a binder and I like it so much better! A little cumbersome to take home, but if I get behind (which I do every week!) I just take the letters out and write back to my students. My REAL goal this year is to reply to all 5 every day, not waiting until the end of the week to respond to 25 letters! haha
Joanne
Head Over Heels For Teaching
This is really cool and presentation is awesome, I have no words to explain. I love to bookmark your blogging site, thanks for sharing.
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