Building A Reading Life with Lucy Calkins

To grow as a reader we need to look at our reading habits. Although we tracked the books we read last year in second grade, in third grade our Reading Log is much more sophisticated. This year not only do we write the book title and author, but we are keeping track of the level, starting - ending pages, starting - ending times, and minutes read. After a few days we will look for patterns and self-assess ourselves as readers. What genres do we choose? How long does it take us to read a page (or ten)? Do we read fiction books quicker than nonfiction books? Are we reading so fast that we are choosing books that may be too easy for us? Is the opposite true - are we reading books that are so difficult that it is taking us a long, long time and perhaps, interfering with comprehension?

One student's reading log.

Reading with our logs ready to fill out.

Third graders read and enjoy chapter books.

.  Our goal is to read three quarters of a page a minute for at least an hour a day between school and home. We will work to achieve this goal in third grade. We know we can do it because as Lucy says... "You are in charge of your reading life." 

Fairy Tale Characters

We are in the middle of unit seven of Lucy Calkins e-book for the Reading Workshop Grade 2.

In our classroom, we are reading classic and fractured fairy tales - paying close attention to the cast of characters we meet!

We've noticed some character traits that seem to fit into most of our stories.

We chose some words that describe our character traits.  

 The boys and girls chose a book and worked in a small reading group to determine what part the characters played.  They looked for text evidence to support their opinions.

Just for fun, we self assessed our own character traits and wrote them on post-it notes for our Jot Lot. 

Nonfiction Book Clubs

Students have been reading a lot of nonfiction books about a topic that they chose. While reading independently, they have been stopping to jot their thoughts.  Sometimes they write on a Post It note and sometimes they write in their Reading Journal. 

Students take notes to prepare for the discussion they will have with their book club. 

Students do a lot of reading, but even more thinking.  They spend time asking themselves, "Does this make sense?"

Once students have identified important information and are ready to share specific parts of their book, they get together to talk. 

In book clubs, students take turns talking and look at the speaker.   

 Nonfiction readers read closely to find the main idea.  They talk about tricky parts, continue to ask questions, and compare what they've learned. 

Sorting Through Our Nonfiction Library

As we begin studying nonfiction in our classroom, I challenged our students to organize the nonfiction books in our library.

First we created random piles of books all over the floor. Then we discussed the possibilities for sorting them.

I referred to Lucy Calkins and learned that students will make meaning of their world by sorting objects into categories. Second graders can do this with nonfiction books. It will help readers find materials and inspire them to explore new topics!

Students were given index cards and markers and then set out to create categories of books. They came up with animals, people, places, solar system, weather, patriotic, math, and we even discussed the need for a miscellaneous pile.

If you visit our classroom, you will see that our nonfiction books are neatly labeled in baskets all around the classroom - organized and ready for students to read!