Who Wants to Know about The Reading Workshop

Of the last 500 visitors:

They came from 35 states.
They came from 16 countries.
Sixteen visitors were from Texas.
Thirteen were from California
Twelve were from New York.
'Ten were from Florida.
Sixty five visits was the most by any one person.
Fifty nine was the second most times visited.
Two Hundred Sixty Nine started out on The Reading Workshop home page.
Twenty-two had questions about how to do Reading Workshop.
Sixteen had questions about Study Island.
Seven queried good books for student readers
Six wondered about the book Freak the Mighty.
Fifteen had question about listening to music as you work.
Twelve wanted information about the affect of texting on students' writing.
Thirteen visited for longer than an hour.
Thirty six wanted to know about Rambunctious Reading.
Ninety two percent that used a search engine, used Google.
Sixty seven percent are first time visitors.
One Hundred Eighty are using the newest version of Firefox.
Seventeen came from the latest Carnival of Education which list Educational blogs
Seventeen came from the Laurelville Elementary website.
Twelve came from Alltop which lists education news and headlines from across the web.
Three came from Joann Jacobs educational blog highlights and links.

So if you're like me and find yourself wondering, who cares about The Reading Workshop at Laurelville, the answer is a lot of people, from a lot of places, for a lot of different reasons. For all that take the time to visit the blog, thank you!.
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C'mon Parents, I Need Your Help

I have been pleased with the participation of students this year on The Reading Workshop blog. Their comments have been well-written, with their thoughts, ideas, and opinions shared for all to read. They have posted comments openly and honestly.

I have tried to write regularly, sharing events from the class and our school. I have also tried to share some of the interactions with students that make teaching interesting and challenging. I have tried to respond to some comments, with answers to questions, and discussion of opinions.

Teachers and other visitors jump in and comment occasionally. Nothing makes me happier than to see a teacher share her thoughts and opinions about issues and education in Laurelville.

Now, I need parents to jump in and comment. The purpose of the blog is a three-way conversation between teachers, students, and parents. This is the only format I know of where we can have an open dialogue about school, our class, and issues in education. BUT, for this to happen, we need parents to join us. Please help make this a valuable learning tool for your child. I would be thrilled to read comments from parents on every post. If you are reading, and have a thought, idea, question, comment, or concern, please post it. Let your child, and all of the students from Laurelville know that you are reading, and that their comments have an audience.

Where am I #4?

Once again, back by popular demand, everyones favorite post, Where am I?


Don't let the sun set, without this view, at the end of the day.
If you think you know, grab a seat and guess away.
If the day was bad, or just okay,
Reading a book here will whisk my troubles away.

You might think that it's a place to pray,
That's sometimes true, depending on the day.
The Church of God are where most guesses lay,
But you better swing some other way.


There is a field in front, you could say,
With horses grazing through the day.
I might soon go there, but not today,
Although this spot will keep the rain away.

In fact, it's a nice spot for a mini soiree.
Or, to get over a school day filled with disarray.
Me and my diet Dew overcoming the fray,
Of wrong guessing students at school today.

Just looking at the picture is no way to play,
Think about what the clues convey.

Dillon was so so close guessing yesterday,
But, close doesn't win this game we play.
Congratulations to the KW's because hey,
They guessed it right, I may be there today.

Reader Survey

Dear Readers,

Please give me a hand. I have been publishing this blog for about eight months now. Yesterday was a great day - the blog passed 5,000 hits. It is pretty remarkable to me that this blog has been viewed 5,000 times this school year. I appreciate the interest. Now, please help me make it better.

I see it as having three roles including:

1. Informing parents about events, activities, and news from our Reading Workshop,

2. Providing a forum for discussion about our Reading Workshop, reading instruction, our class, and our school,

3. Making us think, me as a writer, and hopefully, you as a reader and writer.

With this in mind, I would like your help - how can I make this blog more useful for you?

Here are some areas you might like to comment on:

• Topics - are there topics (specific or general) you’d like covered? What topics would you like to see more of? less of?
  
• Types of Posts - recaps of daily events, class instructional goals and reports, student response posts, guest posts, upcoming events…. have your say about what you’d like most/least
• Posting Frequency - too many posts, not enough, just right?
• Blog Features - what would make your reader experience better?
• And - what else do I need to know about the blog?

I would especially like to hear from parents and teachers. I appreciate the enthusiastic commenting from students, but my goal is for this blog to serve as a tool for communication with parents and teachers as well.