What does Readers’ Workshop look like at the beginning of the year in Kindergarten?
All kindergartners are involved in a daily Readers’ Workshop (Opening, Work Session, Closing) beginning the first week of school. The teacher begins by opening with procedural min-lessons, working on rituals and routines for managing the workshop (e.g., where to sit, how to get the teacher’s attention, what to do if you have to go to the bathroom). As the routines are set, the teacher begins to immerse children in rich literature and mini-lessons that teach that reading is fun and exciting. The Readers’ Workshop in August starts at about 40 minutes a day as the teacher monitors routines and learns about her students as readers. The work session gradually increases until the Readers’ Workshop runs for about an hour each day.

Do all students read in kindergarten?
Kindergartners enter school with widely different preparations. Some enter reading while others have little knowledge of letters. By the end of the school year, most kindergartners are reading at the “B” level (based on the Fountas-Pinnell leveling system) which is beginning predictable text.

What are students doing during the Readers’ Workshop when they can’t read?
For those that are not yet reading, teachers fill their individual book bins with books that they can “read” such as wordless books, copies of familiar nursery rhymes, familiar fairy tales, and “poems/songs of the week,” alphabet books that have a single concept on each page, and “star” books. Children practice “concepts of print” such as holding the book right side up, turning pages one at a time, and looking at the pictures to tell the story. They “pretend read” these books during their individual reading time. Teachers extend this work session by inviting students to literacy stations.

What are “Star” Books?
Star books are those books that Timucuan teachers have identified as books with great stories such as The Three Billy Goats Gruff, The Carrot Seed, The Three Bears. They have easily identifiable characters, settings, sequenced events, problems and solutions. The teacher introduces 4 awesome books each week by reading them multiple times so that students become familiar with the stories. Teachers develop several strategies for having the class practice retelling each story such as inviting the class to act out a story using props. During the Work Session, the teacher “makes the rounds” by asking individual children to “read” their favorite book to her while she charts their progress.

How does a kindergarten teacher know when a child is ready to read conventionally?
Kindergarten teachers chart the progress of pre-emergent readers based on the research of Elizabeth Sulzby from the University of Michigan. Dr. Sulzby’s research is based on the stages that a child goes through from sitting on his mother’s lap to hear a good story to reading independently. As children reach levels 7-8 in Sulzby’s system they are able to retell storybooks using story language with elaboration. They realize that the words hold the story. When they have also made the sound-symbol connection in their writing, they are ready for conventional reading.

What about children that come to kindergarten reading?
Less than 16% of kindergartners at Timucuan Elementary enter kindergarten reading. They are identified the first month of school on a Reading Assessment that assesses phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension and fluency. As the teacher confers with the children that are reading she often helps them select new books, listens to them read and often gives a running record to check for accuracy and fluency, discusses strategies to help them decode unfamiliar words, and checks comprehension. Individual books bins are filled with leveled books that youngsters can practice reading and rereading during the work session.

What are leveled books?
Leveled books are specifically selected to support small increments of reading. They are leveled using the Fountas and Pinnell system. Levels A-B are considered kindergarten levels and C-I are considered first grade levels. Children move independently through the levels at their own pace.

What are literacy stations?
Teachers use literacy stations at the beginning of the year to extend the independent work session. These “centers” are unique because they support reading and include activities such as Reading the Room, Books on Tape, Partner Reading, Storytelling, Sequencing Nursery Rhyme. All of the activities require the student to read. As the year progresses, literacy stations take less and less time as sustained focus in independent reading takes more of the Work Session time.

What is the expectation for reading at the end of kindergarten?
Teachers expect kindergartners to read Level B books by the end of the year, understanding that every word in the text has meaning and getting at least 90% of the words correct. However, teachers do not hold kindergarten students hostage to the “B” expectation when making retention decisions. “Kindergarten standards have a special status due to the enormous variability that exists at this early level” and so teachers base “success” on the amount of progress that the child has made during the year rather than on the ending point.

Do you teach phonics skills?
While phonics skills are reinforced incidentally during reading conferences with individual students, all students receive daily lessons emphasizing phonological awareness, including phonics skills during the Skills Block. The Skills Block is a 30-minute daily work period outside the Readers’ Workshop. Since the Kindergarten Reading Assessment, which is given the first month of school, identifies students that are weak in phonemic awareness and phonics skills, these students are targeted early in the year for safety net help that occurs during the school day. This is in addition to the daily Skills Block.

How can parents support reading at home?
Each night a book-in-the-bag is sent home with each child. The child selects the book from his independent book bin to read to an adult each night as part of his nightly homework. Usually children who are pre-emergent readers select a “star” book to take home and “read” to their families. Conventional readers usually choose a leveled book that they are reading independently. In addition parents are encouraged to take their child to the public library on a regular basis and to read to their child each night at a level above where the child can read himself. This quality time models the fun and pleasures of reading and lets the child know that reading is important in the life of the family.