Readers' Workshop - Star Books

Readers' Workshop begins the first day of school. Teachers begin by reading "Star Books" which are books that we have chosen because of their strong narrative elements (characters, setting, events, problem and solution). The list of books that we use, along with resources can be found on our Kindergarten wiki. We read these books every day, reading four new titles each month.

Mini-lessons. As part of our mini-lessons we identify the characters and the setting of each new book. We decide what the problem is and how the problem is solved. We talk about and draw the beginning, the middle and the end of each story. We also act out the stories, helping the children learn prosody by creating voices for the different parts. One the children's favorite early books is The Three Billy Goats Gruff. The children especially like being the troll and using their mean, tough voice!  Over the course of the week each child in the class will have a chance to be one of the characters.