Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Teacher Tips Tuesday!



Hey Everyone!  I'm SUPER excited for this weeks Teacher Tips Tuesday!!  Jessica Tobin is guest blogging today from Second Grade Nest!  Please make sure you stop by her totally cute blog and give her some bloggy love :)  Also, read all the way to the bottom to learn more about her!!

Second Grade Nest



My Guided Reading Tips!

I have taught Kindergarten for three years and am headed to the 2nd Grade to start teaching an older set. I got to a point in Kindergarten I could NOT teach reading without doing Guided Reading. I felt if I tried it any other way, the kids just weren’t getting all the opportunities they could when in small group.


A sample of what my morning block would look like:

Guided Reading Group 1- Working with teacher (leveled readers and sight word work)

Guided Reading Group 2- Working with assistant writing in journals

Guided Reading Group 3- Word Work 1

Guided Reading Group 4- Word Work 2

Guided Reading Group 5- Word Work 3

A FREEBIE to help track your progress with each group- this is necessary to prevent mixing lessons and brains frying…

 
Group 1: Leveled Readers and Sight Word Work:
Teaching reading from a basal is often tough. Teaching Kindergarten for 3 years it was almost impossible to nail down an “average” reading level for my little ones. I had students reading three words and I had students reading three pages, so I started using Reading A-Z!
 
The cost is rather pricey, but our school purchased ours for us after special request. Individual use is $90, but if more than 10 teachers are buying, the price lowers to $75.
They give you leveled readers that range from aa-Z.
                                    A sample of a:                                   
  A sample of Z:
I created Running Records for each of the stories I used every week for every group (5 Running Records a week!), but I was very satisfied with the success I saw with my Reading Groups. All students’ progress was tracked and noted and even my lowest group was reading some B/C leveled books!
Also, my group was the group that had Sight Word drill once or twice a week. I follow the Fry Sight Word list and let students work their way through it as they mastered. I did not put a limit on where my kids ended up. One of my high reading levels girls (no joke) ended up on the fifth hundred words by March!!
I used this as my Assessment/Flashcard set for the kids:
Click to see this flashcard set!
Once they could read all 100 words from each list, they bumped to the next list!
Group 2: Daily Journal Writing
In our Kindergarten team, each teacher uses Starfall Reading Curriculum, which is a fantastic curriculum if anyone is searching! We would prompt the students with writing prompts that went along with the readings for the week out of Starfall. The students always had to self-check themselves.
Student self-assessment…
click to go to starfall
Group 3- Group 5:
Different variations of games such as…
·        Concentration
·        Letter Matching
·        Beginning/Middle/Ending letters
·        Write the Room
·        Making Words
·        Word Family games
·        Rhyming Games
·        More.starfall.com
·        And more! 
I hope you enjoyed a short and sweet guide to the way I did my Guided Reading for my Kinders!
My name: Jessica Tobin
The years I have been teaching: 4
The grade(s) I have taught: 3 years in Kindergarten, now moving up to Second Grade for my 4th year
The state/area that I teach in: Kentucky

My email address: jessica.l.tobin@gmail.com
Wow!!  Those were some AMAZING tips Jessica!!  Please leave her some comments and remember to check out her blog {Second Grade Nest}!

Remember to stop back the rest of this week for more guided reading goodies, freebies and giveaways!

(Are you interested in being featured??  If so please email me!!)
Results from yesterdays giveaway:
True Random Number Generator  3Powered by RANDOM.ORG                          Congrats Delighted! I'm giving away this pretty cool pack every day this week to a random commenter below (must leave email AND be a follower)  I will pick the winner tonight and announce it in my post tomorrow.  Thanks for reading!


 
                

12 comments:

  1. Congrats to yesterday's winner! Maybe today will be my lucky day:-)
    Michelle
    mcoop1125@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Tori,
    I love the word family pack! My ESL friends will definitely benefit. Thanks for the opportunity :)
    - Amanda {avphilli@gmail.com}
    Inspired in Second

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would love to win the pack!

    I have meaning to make some but never got around to it

    pocketofkinders@gmail.com

    Pocket Full of Kinders

    Shuna P

    ReplyDelete
  4. Your blog is adorable and I am a new follower!
    Laurie
    Chickadee Jubilee

    ReplyDelete
  5. Looks great! I am your newest follower!

    ❤ Sandra
    Sweet Times in First
    sweettimesinfirst@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love reading other people's ideas and experiences! Thanks ladies!

    I'm already a follower ;)

    Shanyn
    Coffee, Kids and Compulsive Lists
    coffeekidsandcompulsivelists@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Just found your blog! Lucky me! I will be following your blog and Tpt store!
    Melissa
    Mandmyoung@chartermi.net

    ReplyDelete
  8. I am enjoying Teacher Tuesday. I really liked finding out about the different ideas for Word Work. I am going to do some of them. I like your blog!
    lraines78@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just found your blog. I am a new follower. I love your teacher tips.

    Tricia

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for your sweet comment on my blog! I'm glad you led me to your blog. It's fabulous! THanks for the freebie here too!
    Sarah
    Sarah's First Grade Snippets

    ReplyDelete
  11. That Delighted wins WAY too often! lol Congrats to my buddy.
    Tammy


    First Grade @ Klinger Cafe
    dtklinger@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great post from Second Grade Nest!

    rmariemuniz@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete