Students are settling into the routines of our class, becoming more independent with getting ready for class and getting started with our first activity. There also has been marked growth and effort in using the listening and speaking skills that are required for interesting and effective conversations.
One thing we all worked on this week was making our reading and thinking visible (or at least audible). This is the only way that we can know what others are doing as they read. We practiced two methods - sharing our thinking out loud, and marking up a text. The work students did this week will serve as a baseline that we can measure future growth against.
We also talked and wrote about what made us feel comfortable in a class. These conversations led to the creation of class norms (posted in Resources for "Reading at the Rock All Students").
Some classes got their Reading Binders set up.
Some classes did an activity called a Book Pass. This exposed students to some new books and gave them time to preview them.
