Grades K–5 Video Orientations
If you'll be teaching the new Units of Study for Teaching Reading, K–5, you'll want to start your year by gathering with colleagues at your grade level and participating together in a study group led by Lucy Calkins and her co-authors from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project.
In these 45- to 90-minute grade-level study groups, you can expect to learn:
-
The options Lucy suggests for the sequence of units across your year
-
Whether at your grade level, it's advisable to start with Unit 1 if your kids are new to reading workshop
-
The books you'll need for Unit 1 (and 2) and ways to give kids access to them
-
The skills that are highlighted in Unit 1, the storyline of the Unit, the special tips Lucy has for making the Unit work
-
Plus, a crash course in how to teach the minilessons so they're mini—and other start-of-the year teaching methods.
Lucy Calkins and her coauthors have also developed an overview of grades 3–5 assessment, focusing especially on the performance assessments and learning progressions.
This fast-paced, nuts-and-bolts help directly from Lucy and her colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project will give you the best possible start using the new series.
Middle School Grades Video Orientation
The middle school grades’ units are not grade-specific in order to provide the greatest flexibility for the varying time frames that middle grades teachers have to work within. For this reason, there is one video orientation for these middle school reading units.
Topics addressed in this 45-minute video include:
- Planning your year and sequencing your units
- An in-depth look at one of the suggested units to launch your year: Literary Nonfiction
- A discussion of planning considerations for book club units
- An in-depth look at another suggested unit to launch your year: Investigating Characterization: Author-Study Book Clubs
- A discussion of how read-aloud is addressed in middle school
