Literacy Expo

The Reading and Language Arts Department in my district planned a Literacy Expo for k-2 teachers…upper grades are next week. It was two days and we basically rotated through four sessions each day. It’s been going on for a few years but this is the first year I’ve attended and let me just say I really enjoyed it.

Here are some pictures from the event. Maybe you’ll find an idea or two you can use. They focused all the sessions around the Literacy Common Core Standards which my state will officially adopt during the 2013-14 school year, but I’m going to start early and begin using the standards this year.

This session: Staying on Track: Informational Reading

The presenters used this chart when reading nonfiction texts with students and writing their findings on sticky notes, or writing directly on the chart with a vis-a-vis marker.

A twist on non-fiction book reports. Love this idea.

  

 

The students listed things they learned about spiders on sticky notes and then created a Spider Quilt. Each student was given a square and they had to draw a picture of something they learned during their spider study.

 

Quilts from other units of study. I’ll definitely try this.

   

This Session: TWIRLing with the Strategies Using Literary Text

This session focused on reading strategies and using the Primary Comprehension Toolkit which is currently in my shopping cart at Heinemann.com.

The TWIRLing strategies are: Talk Write Investigate Read Listen

This is a connections tree. As the teacher reads or discusses a text she asks what does this story remind you of? When students respond she puts their names on a leaf and places it on one of the connection branches of the tree. Love this idea.

Comprehension Strategy posters from The Reading Lady.

  

Thinking stems and a thinking bubble. She used the thinking bubble during interactive read alouds to visually show students her thinking.

  

Pictures of student work.

   

   

This session: Building a Literacy of Thoughtfulness Through Quality Questioning

I didn’t take picture of this session, but I did come away with a new look at questioning in the classroom. We discussed this book.

The two sections we read during the two day workshop were fascinating! If you get a chance you should check it out. This book and Choice Words will definitely have a home inside my teacher bag this school year.

The last session: Writing with Common Core had some really great displays, but when I went back to take pictures they’d taken them all down…boo.

Have a great weekend!