Yes! Absolutely! You can expose your non- and early emergent readers to mentor texts, that are above their reading level. Since you are using the mentor text as an opportunity to teach different strategies and skills, you can select a book above their reading level. Authors like David Shannon and Cynthia Rylant, books like Henry and Mudge, all are great starting points for you to model different strategies and skills. Let me know if you have any other questions…and good luck!

Hello Kelly,
Thank you for your message! You can find that freebie right here:
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THANKS! :)

Could you give an example about what kinds of things students do in their reader’s notebook? I know you said they should be applying the mini lesson. Do you always give them a specific prompt or question to answer about their independent book? How long do they spend on their independent reading during the 45 minutes? Do they split this time up with the book clubs everyday? Or does it just depend on the day? Is this the only independent reading time kids have? Or do you do another time for independent reading in addition to during the workshop?

Thank you so much!

Hello Megan,
Thanks so much for your questions and let me see if I can help…
After I am done with my mini-lesson (no longer than 15 mins.), my students then transition to work time for at least 45 minutes, before we have a short 5 minute closing/sharing. During this work time, my students are: reading independently, completing work connected to the mini-lesson (such as the character change with Camilla), participating in a book club, partner reading, ect. I am meeting with groups or conferencing with students. Longer projects (such as the character traits with Charlotte and Weber) are completed with their book clubs.

I use Charlotte’s Web as a read aloud, a separate part of the reading workshop block. I am the only one (not the students) who is reading aloud the text during this time. During the RW mini-lesson, I briefly refer back to the chapters I read aloud.

In regards to your concern with specific students not attempting the skill during their independent reading, here are some suggestions:
1. My students use reader’s notebooks during their independent reading time. I check EVERY notebook EVERY day to make sure they completed some writing/responding to the text. It only takes about 10 minutes, which I do during their specials. This helps tremendously to hold them accountable.
2. When your students go to sharing/closing time, do they share their work with a partner? If they did not complete their work, then they have nothing to share. Maybe they could finish the work during the closing/sharing time instead.
3. Is motivation or off task behavior the problem? Or do they need more guidance because they really just dont understand what to do? Once you narrow down the reason why they are not doing the work, you can begin to problem solve how to help them.

Does that help?
Let me know if you have any other questions!
:) Melissa