CONSULTANT'S NAME - South Orange Maplewood School District

New Directions for Excellence in Education
10 Olde English Court | Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677 | 201-612-3883 | sandistern@gmail.com
CONSULTANT’S NAME
Sandi Stern
DISTRICT
South Orange Maplewood
GRADE LEVEL Clinton – Grade 1
Date April 30, 2013
Professional Learning
*At our February 26th meeting, we had established a set of goals for where we wanted to move our readers
and our writers by the last day of school. We checked in on those goals today, established a list of students
who are on the cusp of achieving each goal, and we strategized ways to help them climb over that hump in the
next 5 weeks.
*Our “Next Step” from our last meeting was: Forming our lessons with an eye on what is essential about the
content of the lesson and the unit. Ex. the power our words can have or what effect are these characters
having on me?
As we prepare for our author study reading unit, we want to think about what we are teaching that is the “take
with you forever” part? We want to highlight that thinking and use it as an anchor for every lesson.
Some identified key elements were:
Writer’s write from their lives.
Reading multiple texts by the same author clues us into his/her style and tone. When we know an
author’s style and tone, we make better predictions about what may happen next, and we can better
anticipate the outcome of the plot . . . happy ending? Lesson learned? Also, repeated characters in
different books give us a deeper understanding of that character.
Realistic Fiction Author Studies give us opportunities to reveal problem/solution and
compare/contrast.
If the books are all within the same genre, we will build significant literature/genre schema. The
reader should put all that schema up-front in their thinking before they read each book.
*Book Groups
Reading for Real by Kathy Collins is a great resource!
1. A reading club is 2-4 kids reading and talking about a small collection of books that go together in
some way.
2. They meet with a basket of books for 1-2 weeks.
3. The basket will contain some texts that can be read conventionally and some texts that can be
consulted.
4. Students need to be matched with a partner who is at a very similar reading level.
5. During reading club time, partners may read a text together and talk about it or read different texts
and come together to discuss them. They should jot notes or use graphic organizers to track their
thinking and ideas and to help the group stay focused on what they should talk about together.
6. It is important that there are books in the reading basket that are on or very near the students’
reading level. Because of this, it may be necessary to guide students toward reading clubs
containing books they can read well.
7. In reading workshop mini-lessons and in conferences, teachers model the things partners can do in
reading clubs and how to do them well.
8. During a cycle of reading clubs, the whole class works in similar kinds of reading clubs that are
connected by an overarching theme, purpose or genre. For example, a theme could be “readers
should get to know their characters well” or “readers of nonfiction can determine importance as they

New Directions for Excellence in Education
10 Olde English Court | Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07677 | 201-612-3883 | sandistern@gmail.com
read.” The theme would not be, for example, “Tommie DePaola.”
9. During reading clubs, the teacher confers with reading club partners. The teacher actively supports
and extends students’ work by teaching them helpful strategies or by offering ideas for how to push
their thinking further.
Book Group Expectations: To be valuable and productive, students must eventually learn . . .
to be prepared
to sit so they can see everyone (like a circle)
to share leadership roles
that only one person can speak at a time
to take responsibility for ensuring that everyone has a chance to talk
to keep the conversation focused and keep it moving forward
to listen to the ideas of others and build on to or extend their thinking
*Reminder from our work the last time we met:
Realistic Fiction Writing
Following the character study unit in reading is key for these writers. They will have an arsenal of fantastic
fiction and rich characters as a reference.
Work with partners to read through their writers’ notebooks or folders. Which pieces that I wrote got the best
responses when I shared them? Choose one of those to grow it into a realistic fiction piece.
Possible lessons for the shift from personal narrative to fiction:
changing the characters’ names
adding or subtracting a character
changing the outcome or ending
going to far – falling off the cliff – not realistic anymore
sticking to what you know in setting, character age, illnesses, awards – again, how not to go too far
Resources
Next Steps
Martina the Beautiful Cockroach by Carmen Agra Deedy
The Perfect Place for an Elf Owl by the 1 st and 2 nd multiage class of Anthony T. Lane Elementary
Max’s Words by Kate Banks
Reading for Real by Kathy Collins
First Grade Writers by Stephanie Parsons
Can we use what we learned in our Persuasive Writing Unit in our Author Study Unit in reading?
Plan for Next Visit