Running record assessment forms and more will be covered in this blog post. What are running record assessment forms? Way back in the day, researcher Marie Clay designed the running record assessment as a tool to analyze and capture a student's thinking and behavior when reading. It is also not just used to record what the child says, but also how the child acts when they are reading. EXAMPLE: When reading and they get stuck, ...
Small Group Reading/Guided Reading
What is Balanced Literacy? AND How Do I Teach it?
Balanced Literacy Approach? What is balanced literary? How do I teach balanced literacy?... All the questions... Get comfy... grab a cup of tea... this might prove to be a long post. The other day in our Kindergarten Facebook group, the subject of the various balanced literacy approaches came up, so I promised to help explain them. Many of these I have blogged about in the past, so be on the lookout for links to ...
Secrets to Instant Planning… Just PRINT and TEACH
Here are a few things we know about teachers. 1. They want the absolute BEST for their students. 2. They want to employ "Best Practices" in their classrooms. 3. They. Are. Overwhelmed! 4. Occasionally, they want to go home before 5 pm after school AND they would like to spend their weekends with their families instead of planning. Does that sound like you? We have heard from teachers all over the world who ...
Guided Reading 2 Day Lesson Plans
I am following up on my previous posts on Guided Reading. This post will discuss to 2 day lesson plan... what is it? AND...what on earth do you do for 2 WHOLE DAYS! What about a Pre A reader? As with most classrooms, students are not all at the same level at the same time. You will have readers in your classroom and you will have students who are stepping up to reading. So what is a Pre A reader?: Knows ...
Organizing Guided Reading Groups
I am following up on the guided reading webinar I conducted a few weeks ago. As promised, I am breaking the webinar down into more digestible sections. Guided reading is a huge section and I don't want you to feel like you are drinking from a fire hose. Organizing Your Resources I keep all of my guided reading lessons, running records, books, sentence work, and resources in binders by level. Note: Levels H-I are ...
Leveled Reading in Kindergarten Free Download and Webinar
Kindergarten Leveled Reading is my jam! Ok... honestly, I am a life long learner of the best practices surrounding guided reading. Professional Reading Like I said... I read a lot! I first started using guided reading when I was a teacher in San Diego. I had a classroom of 22+ students in a school with 96% ESL students. Students came in with a varied educational background, so I HAD to differentiate my instruction. ...
Guided Reading on a Budget (Free Download)
Guided reading on a budget is tough! Some of the materials can get down right expensive! I want to share a few ways YOU can do guided reading and not break the bank! If you want to see how these binders look on the inside, you can get a glimpse over at Mrs. Jump's Class blog by clicking HERE. I started out at the Dollar Store! I knew I needed some cookie sheets for my word work. I have been using cookie sheets for years to ...
Small Group Activities
Let's talk about small group instruction. What does it look like? During the first 5 minutes of my small group time, I listen in for fluency and take a running record on a student. At the beginning of the year my running records look a bit like this. This is form is from Deanna's Guiding Reading unit. But as the complexity of the text increases, I move over to this form. I am not sure where ...
Guided Reading and Small Group in Kindergarten
We just finished our first week of small groups and guided reading. Let me show you how it went. Here is where it all goes down! First I assigned my groups. I name my groups to just keep it easy. I let my most fragile learners pick their group name first! I updated all of my station work board cards this year. You can get them for FREE here! I formed my small groups based on the data ...
Book Bags and Small Groups
Small Group Book Bags These are an important part of my small group instruction. Nightly reading is their kindergarten homework. Here is a look at the activities I use to reinforce the skills we learn in my kindergarten small group and guided reading lessons! But first, a bit of random! Poetry We started this week off with our Groundhog's Day Poem. This is a poem that I wrote with my teaching buddy, Janet! My class REALLY gets into it. ...