Collaboration and Student Choice By: mrs. Montes and ms. siciliano

What we think of when planning

Reading Workshop How you can support this work at home: What we do at school: -Students have the ability to book shop, choosing books that interest level -When writing a response, students choose what they would like to write about based on where they are in their books -In book clubs, students choose pace of their reading, their topic of discussion and who will be leading the discussion -Teachers have discussions with students for who they are as readers and who they want to be as readers to help them choose their individual reading goal -Based on student goals, teachers present strategies for the students to help them reach their goal. Students decide which strategy works best for them! -Students have partners that they are accountable to How you can support this work at home: -Take your child to the library; give them the choice of books they can take out from the library -Allow them to read magazines, comic books, newspapers. All reading is good reading. -Give them a choice about where they feel comfortable reading and when they want to complete their reading -Ask your child about their reading

Writing Workshop What we do at school: Students can write about whatever topics that interest them even within specific genres of writing. Students choose their own writing goals and choose what strategies work best for them when writing Students get a choice in note- taking/organizing their work Students have partners that they are accountable to What can we do at home: All writing is good writing! Encourage your child to write whatever type of writing they enjoy; comic books, poetry, graphic novels etc.

Math What we do at school: Students have a choice about their goals and the strategies they will use to achieve their goals Students have a choice about how they want to learn i.e. which questions do I want to do? What will help me learn this better? Students are given tasks and work in partnerships to solve real world problems What you do at home Give children an opportunity to independently use math in the real world Counting Money/Paying for items Having them tell time Give them a choice of how they spend allowance Have them save up for something big that they want

Genius Hour What we do at school: Students have a choice about their passion Students have a choice about how they are going to organize their information, how they are going to research, what they are going to create and how they want to present it to the class What you can do at home: Students can have a choice of how to spend their free time Allow them to choose a passion/hobby