I am about to start Guided Reading Groups with my Prep students so today I would like to share my reading groups tub with you all!
At the moment I have 5 reading groups that I have sorted based on their sight word knowledge. We have been reading short, repetitive texts together in class and I am satisfied that many of the students are ready to move onto structured reading sessions. My lowest two groups are just beginning to read sight words so they will be focusing on letter/sound knowledge and word work until we can master their first group of 12 sight words. I will meet with each group once a week until we can master working independently. We are also starting the Daily 5 this term to help build our independence.
So now I would like to introduce you to my ‘Work with the Teacher’ tub, also known as my Guided Reading tub. It is full of goodies that I hope to use during our group sessions each week.
First up are my reading comprehension cards. Each fortnight, I am introducing a new strategy to the whole class during our modelled and shared reading time. We continue to practise the strategy throughout the week and during our guided reading time. I have these posters displayed in my room and a smaller set in my tub to refer to as needed in our group sessions. You can buy a copy of your own over at my store.
Next are my super cute and super awesome pointers. The little ones below will be used during writing time as spacers but we will also use them with our little books during guided reading. I cannot wait to introduce these little cuties to my preppies this week – I just know they are going to LOVE them!
My story wands are going to get used a lot during guided reading and shared reading sessions. Each star features a different question for the kids to answer about the books we are reading. We might use these in whole class readings and the think-pair-share strategy will work great with these!
The last thing in my tub is my beautiful pink lei. I am going to wear this in our guided reading time to symbol to the rest of the class that I cannot be interrupted! At the moment, I run my reading sessions when my teacher aide is in the room so the kids will have no reason to disrupt me! I don’t know if it will work but I’ll give it a go!
The next part of my post is my guided reading binder. I am a binder addict and have one for just about everything you can think of! I have five different flexible groups which I have named after jungle reasons for no reason at all haha. Each group has their own tab so that I can flip between groups easily. It also means that when the kids are doing ‘Read to Self,’ I can conference with students individually and find their group quickly.
At the moment, I have a group conferencing page for each group but I may switch to individual conferencing pages or use both depending on how easy it is for me to take notes.
So that sums up what I am planning on doing for guided reading groups this term in Prep. I hope you have found some helpful info in my post and feel free to leave any hints or tips you have in the comments! I look forward to hearing from you all =)
Love this look into your Reading Groups organisation! And I adore your story wands – what a fun way to read and respond to book. 🙂
Last term one of my teaching colleagues and I came up with a similar conferencing page, but we included a few tick boxes to keep a quick record of the skills students were displaying when reading, with space for a few short comments. I should fix it up and share it.
Anyway – I love your work!
Stef
Miss Galvin Learns
You are amazing and this tub is fantastic. You will have motivated readers who will want to read to the teacher.
Love these ideas especially the pointers with the hair 🙂 guided reading is definitely an area I know I need improvement and I love your ideas. Thanks for sharing
Thanks for linking up!! Love all your cutie things! I am also a binder addict… I can so relate!! 🙂
Jivey
ideas by jivey
Love the binder!
Will definitely be making my own 🙂
Thanks so much Stef – I used the story wands for the first time today and the kids adored them as well.
I found today that my conferencing sheet needs some tweeking as it was taking me forever to write my little notes in and took time away from teaching and listening to reading. I like your idea of tick boxes – I look forward to seeing your version because it sounds just like what I am needing =)
Casey
Aww thanks Paula – it was so lovely to finally start reading groups today and the kids really enjoyed themselves too! Now to continue with our Daily 5 so that our literacy block is perfect haha
Thanks Brooke! My little kitten also likes the hairy pointers haha! Reading has been my big focus since I started teaching as I definitely don't feel that I was prepared enough at uni. I did a primary degree which covered me from Grade 1-7 expecting to end up in Grade 2 or 3 so when I got a contract in Prep I almost wet my pants with fear lol. I went to a First Steps PD at the beginning of the year and it gave me a brand new outlook on teaching reading so now I'm slowly implementing all the little ideas . I'm finally feeling like our reading program is becoming what it needs to be but I still have a long way to go!
My pleasure! Thanks for the great Linky – I found it at the perfect time as I've been slowly creating resources for guided reading and finally finished them over the weekend.
Thanks Hayley – there are so many great ideas on Pinterest with lots of free printables too. I love making new binders!
Hi Casey – I do love your blog and have just added you to my Aussie bloggers page on Paula's place.