As part of Gardner Street School’s balanced literacy program, teachers use Writer’s and Reader’s Workshop to meaningfully engage with their students as readers and writers. Through Writer’s Workshop, each student develops a consistent writing process that encourages and supports their authentic voice and independence as a writer. Reader’s Workshop stresses the importance of student choice and quality reading time in order to increase comprehension and foster a love of reading. Each classroom at Gardner contains a full library of fiction and non-fiction books at various reading levels to facilitate these core ideas.

Teachers participate in Writer’s and Reader’s Workshop professional development with Literacy Partners and collaborate in weekly grade level meetings to develop the mini-lessons and units of study that are essential to the process. Using these literacy programs allows teachers to truly differentiate instruction, conferring in small groups or one-on-one, ensuring that the needs of each individual child are being met.

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