There are three main components to my Reading Workshop: Mini-Lesson / Practice & Conferring / Small Group (strategy groups or Literature Circles).  So far I have talked a lot about conferring and Literature Circles, so I'm going to talk more about Mini-Lessons and how all of this comes together in a unit.  To be honest, I don't think all of these components have really come together for me until the unit I am doing right now, which I'm generically calling "Comparing Themes Across Books." Planning the Unit What should students be able to do? Students have been practicing finding themes in short stories, poems, and literature circle novels throughout the year.  Students have also been encouraged to think about and explore themes in their independent reading; however, most students need more work identifying themes in longer novels.  Additionally, standards RL.5.9 and RL.6.9 expect students to be able to compare themes across novels.  With this in mind, I