Warming Up our Minds

On Monday, in Reading Workshop, we talked about how readers look closely at the title and the cover and think about what their book might be about.  We practiced saying the cover of the book aloud and looking closely at the illustration on the cover page.  Students learned that thinking about the cover gets you warmed up to read.  Partners then looked at their own book, read the title aloud and looked at the illustration on the cover.  Partnerships discussed what they thought the book was going to be about just by reading the title and studying the cover illustration.

On Tuesday, students learned the power of taking a picture walk! We discussed that taking a picture walk allows us to develop a deeper understanding of what the book might be about, and to help them know if a book is not what they are interested in before reading it. During the mini-lesson we talked about how when students are shopping for books for their book bags, they should use a sneak peek picture walk through the book to see if it is a good choice for them.  Sneak peeks help get our minds ready and get the juices flowing.  Students learned that sometimes a picture walk can remind us of something in our life, or other books.  During the “active involvement” period partnerships took a picture walk and discussed what they thought the book would be about just by studying the illustrations on each page.  Below are pictures of students during their picture walk.

Today we learned about the importance of reading the back cover of a book.  Students learned that when they are looking for their “just right” books, and after they have done a picture walk and looked at the cover, they can learn more information about a book by reading the back cover.  The back cover gives readers a sneak peek about the book.  Good readers read the back cover because it can remind them of something in their life or in other books that makes readers get interested in the story.  Students each received a book and read the back cover to help deepen their understanding of the book.