Reading Like Writers, Writing Like Readers – Nonfiction

Camp at a Glance

Based on the Teachers College Reading and Writing Workshop format, this week will be devoted to first—and second-grade readers and writers who will develop their growing skills in reading and writing and learn about its power and purpose. 

This week, students will read nonfiction texts to grow their knowledge of a variety of high-interest subjects. Students will learn about the power of nonfiction texts to teach information and practice reading strategies that will allow students to learn as much as possible from their reading. The writing session will coincide with the reading unit. Students will learn about the structure, technique, and style of writing a How To. They will learn how to give instructions or directions on how to do something. They will draw pictures to illustrate their steps adding interest and information for their readers. 

Throughout the week, readers will continue to learn and develop across the three key areas of reading: reading mechanics, reading fluency, and reading comprehension.  During writing time, student writers will have the opportunity to practice the work they see authors doing – participating in each and every step of the writing process.

Each day, students will participate in reading and writing mini-lessons, have time to read and write independently, engage in one-on-one conferences with the teacher, and receive individualized instruction. They will learn to deepen their reading comprehension and lift the level of their own writing through the use of a variety of literacy skills, strategies, tools, and mentor texts.

Target Skills

Reading

• Students will read with purpose and understanding.
• Students will read with independence.
• Students will read with accuracy and fluency.
• Students will use thinking stems to generate thinking before, during, and after reading.
• Students learn information from nonfiction texts across a variety of topics.
• Students will extend their reading comprehension to consider main ideas vs. supporting details, summarize their learning from a nonfiction text, and make inferences with nonfiction
• Students will be exposed to and learn about a variety of nonfiction text features – learning to use these text features as intended to extend their learning
• Students will be exposed a variety of nonfiction text structures noting how these structures work to teach the reader, practicing maintaining reading comprehension with nonfiction reading across structures
• Students will ‘read like writers’ – noting the author’s craft, purpose, and intended message for the reader

Writing

• Writers will create a How To writing piece about a topic on which they are experts
• Writers will use graphic organizers and other pre-writing planning tools to organize the information in their writing pieces by section (and/or paragraph)
• Writers will use transition words to support their sequential writing pieces
• Writers will experiment with various How To writing structures, as in seen in How To mentor texts 
• Writers will be able to write with increased stamina.
• Writers will experience the writing process; Collecting, Rehearsing, Drafting, Revising, Editing, Publishing, Celebrating