Reading Is Thinking!

As part of my First 20 Days of Reader's Workshop at the beginning of the year, I did a lesson on "Reading is Thinking."  You can read more about how I do the First 20 Days in my classroom here and here.

We talked about how we are always thinking about books before, during, and after reading.  I modeled my thinking during a read aloud and had my students share their thinking.  Afterwards, I had my students complete the Reading is Thinking page to show the thinking they did as they completed their Independent Reading.

Here are some examples of their work!

I loved this one! They sure to do like those Magic School Bus books!

We put it on our Reader's Workshop bulletin board!

We are now discussing Metacognition in our class where we are reviewing "Reading is Thinking."  I saw the "Reading Salad" idea on Pinterest (which linked back here) and thought it might be something worth trying.

This is not my picture.  Here is the source.

We did that today.  I made it interesting by asking my kiddos if they liked salad, which surprising they all raised their hands.  Hmm, I didn't eat salad until I was about 16... is that weird?  Or they could be fabricating their little hearts out as seven year olds sometimes do. :)  Anyway, we talked about what kinds of things they like on their salad... olives, dressing, cheese, eggs, tomatoes.  The Reading Salad idea uses lettuce and tomatoes.  I then did a read aloud and we stopped before, during, and after our reading to share thinking aloud.  As students shared their thinking, I added "tomatoes" to our salad bowl!  I think the kids really enjoyed it!  I'll try to post a pic in the next few days.