Many classes have been collaborating with me in the area of Reading Workshop. Some classes come to the library once a week to have their reading workshop time in the library. The kids love the change of space and the teachers love the team teaching opportunity. Some classes focused on non fiction texts at the end of the year. After reading Collaboration and Comprehension by Stephanie Harvey and Harvey Daniels, I was so excited to try out some of their suggestions. Mrs. Demski was one of the teachers who shared her class with me for a non fiction unit. In the book, there are specific lessons about instructing children to code the text, take notes and write summaries from what they learned. We used these lessons over several weeks with much success. The kids were truly engaging with the text. They were writing notes in their own words unlike the straight copying we had observed in the past. We were so excited about their learning we wanted them to share it with other classes. In the book, it had mentioned the idea of a sandwich board to convey your message to others.
We thought it would be a great visual to go along with the oral information the children would provided the visiting classes. We had her class be creative with their art supplies and decorate the front with the factual information they learned. The back was to be an advertisement to encourage children in other classes to approach them. We decided to just invite the other 5th grade students due to limited time. Mrs. Demski's class was positioned around the library ready for the approaching students. It was amazing listening to the students explain their research and answer questions from the other classes. The visiting classes were impressed with the knowledge of their friends. Some even checked out books about topics that were discussed because they wanted to learn more! How exciting! This text is our teacher book club choice for next year, so stay tuned for more posts about this great book.