First Day of School Wonder - Reading Workshop Mini-Lesson

This year, I am trying to use some past Wonders that tie into what I am teaching.  Last weekend, I spent time compiling a list of past Wonders to use throughout the year and started using the list on the first day of school.  On Monday, I shared Wonder #611 Do You Judge a Book by Its Cover?  The Wonder is about judging books by the way their cover looks, how to choose books, and what exactly the idiom means.

My first mini-lesson for reading workshop was, "growing readers" choose books that interest them.  Wonder #611 worked perfectly with this lesson.  We discussed why and how we judge books by their cover and how the cover usually tells us what the book is going to be about, which tells us whether we may or may not be interested in the book.  It was especially helpful for my students to hear from Wonderopolis that, "Of course, when you're looking for a new book, the first thing you're likely to see is the book's cover.  A book's cover is like a an advertisement.  It's supposed to intrigue you, give you an idea of what the book is about..."  Furthermore, in the Try It Out section of the Wonder, Wonderopolis gave some helpful tips for students when looking for new books.  The first tip encouraged students by saying, "Follow your interests!"

The books I read aloud the first week of school for reading workshop always focus on books.  Wild About Books by Judy Sierra was the book I chose to read aloud on the first day of school.  The books is about Molly the librarian who introduces reading to the animals at the zoo when she accidentally drives her bookmobile into the zoo.  She helps each animal choose the perfect book.  My students noticed that many of the books the animals chose to read are books that would interest those animals, which tied perfectly with the mini-lesson and Wonder.

An additional resource you may want to check out to help with reading workshop mini-lessons at the beginning of the year is, Choosing the Right Book: Strategies for Beginning Readers (K-2) from Read Write Think.