Welcome to My Workshop

A love of children's literature is one of the main reasons I became a teacher "when I grew up." As a teacher of first and second graders for 12 years, I have had the luxury of sharing my love of literature with children every day. Together, we appreciate Cynthia Rylant's description of "the new breathing" in the house when The Relatives Came; we feel Gabrielle's disappointment when her Mama laughs at the idea of The Purple Coat; and we delight with Rosemary Wells' Yoko when her friend Timothy asks for sushi again tomorrow. As important to young readers as lunch, reading and discussing favorite books provide:

• Endless opportunities for discussions about events and situations that children experience in their lives while provoking empathy for those whose lives are different from their own;
• A bonding time that builds a sense of community within the walls of a classroom.
• Time to foster the value of learning to read and loving books;
• A time of relaxation to anticipate during a frenzied school day.

This strong belief in the power of children's books has been a driving force behind all my efforts as a teacher of young readers. Once I brought this excitement for books to our writers workshop and used the authors of children's literature as models for writing, my students' success inspired a book of Literature-Based Mini-lessons to teach Writing. Next, I searched my favorite children's books for examples of those skills all fluent readers must master, and wrote Literature Based-Mini-Lessons to Teach Decoding and Word Recognition.

In this three-part interactive workshop, we will discuss how the power of children's books can be used to instill a love of reading.

	During Session 1, Find a Favorite Book — It's Teacher-Read Aloud Time, you will be invited into my classroom for a typical day of Read-Aloud, receive tips for collecting and organizing your favorite books, and discover ways to get students talking about books. Throughout the workshop, a bulletin board will be available for you to ask questions or offer suggestions.

	In part 2 of the workshop, Drop Everything and Read — It's Silent Reading Time, I'll offer tips for making the most of Silent Reading time, describe a typical silent reading mini-conference, tell you about "The Five Finger Test," and share some special silent reading incentives to tempt your students. All participants' favorite book recommendations from the first offering of this course will be available for you to view online (with comments from me) during Session 3 of the workshop.

	The final segment of the workshop, Sharing Discoveries in Literature , will introduce you to Student Read-Aloud time, talk about Post-it Note Time and offer ideas for encouraging reading in and out of the classroom.

	Here you'll find my final comments on the workshop, as well as a printable certificate of completion.

My hope is that by participating in this workshop you will be armed with ideas to help stimulate a class full of readers who are excited about books, talk about books and will read happily ever after.