Reading Groups with Classroom Volunteers

Hi everyone, it's Cori from Mrs. B's Beehive. As we continue talking about reading groups, I wanted to take a look at some resources that can assist you when planning time is short, or when a volunteer shows up to offer assistance.

At my school, the principal gets teacher aides to assist with reading groups.  We also have parent volunteers who are looking for family hours of service, or high school students that come back to help out.  Unfortunately, this doesn't happen in a consistent way in which I could teach one or two people the basics of guided reading. Because of this, I have found it extremely useful to have binders that focus on a particular skill, along with a guided reading kit ready to go.  When a volunteer shows up at my door, I pull out a binder, grab my toolkit, and put them to work!

My first binder works with letter recognition and hand writing skills.  Included in it are the following resources.

RTI on the Fly - Handwriting By Babbling Abby

"Wand"erful Guided Reading Activities By Tara West

I use this one mostly for my students who are struggling with fine motor skills, and writing their letter backwards.

Next up is my letter sounds and beginning reading.  This one also contains some of the wand resources from Tara West, but most of the binder is from the following resource:

Reading Intervention Binder By Miss DeCarbo

That particular resource is so full of amazing activities, that is you were to only buy one of these resources that I suggest, it should definitely be this one!

For sight words I use:

Sight Word Fluency and Reading Intervention By Miss Kindergarten 

When students need work on their fluency and reading smoothly, I also use activities out of Miss DeCarbo's ELA pack and I also have:

Fluency Families By Miss Kindergarten

Last, but not least is my reading comprehension binder.  In this I use:

Reading Comprehension for Little Learners by Teaching in High Heels

and 

Read and Sequence by The Moffatt Girls

For the read and sequence, I printed them all out, cut out the bottoms, and attached velcro to the pieces so that they could be used again and again.

I store all of these binders behind my teacher desk, where they are easily accessible.

I also bought this crafting supplies bag at Hobby Lobby, and it holds all of my fun little supplies for the kids to use.

Inside, you will find the following things:

1. Toobaloos

2. Halloween witch fingers

3. Magnetic wands with magnetic chips

4. Small white boards

5. Letter Tiles

6. Dry erase markers

7. Erasers

8. Letter cards by Marsha McGuire

9. Elkonin boxes

10. Writing Strips by Tara West

It took me a little while to set-up all of these binders and my guided reading kit, but the time was well worth it whenever a helper comes into my class.  All of these resources are pretty self explanatory, so that when I do get assistance, I can just grab a binder, grab a couple of students, and get them working quickly in a way that is fun and engaging!  If you would like a copy of my binder covers, click below.

Binder Covers

Binder Spines

Reading Groups: The clock is ticking...

Happy February! It's the 2nd day of the month so you're hearing from me, Breanna, at A Pinch of Primary. It's February and reading groups are pedal to the metal. Kids are in the routine, books are being read, strategies are being taught, books are going home, and those little kinders are READING. Different levels? Ohhh yes! But seeing those milestones for each individual reader is #Heartwarming.

We follow the Daily 5 model (we only do 4 rotations each day) so my students have their learning time broken down like this:

• Read to Self/Guided Reading Group
• Mini-lesson
• Word Work/Guided Reading Group
• Mini-lesson
• Listen to Reading/Guided Reading Group
• Mini-Lesson
• Read to Someone/Guided Reading Group

I *try* to meet with 4 groups each day Monday-Thursday. With this pretty jam-packed reading schedule, time is money. My reading groups last about 15ish minutes. 15 minutes sounds like a lot of time until you want to take a picture walk through the new book, preview some new words, give the teacher eye to the student talking and disrupting your group time, read the book, ask questions, etc., etc. You all know the deal. Before you know it BAM time's up and you didn't get to any sight word activities or running records. Now, this might sound very obvious to all of you in this lovely Kinder Tribe, but I had this epiphany that I needed something for my students to work on as they transitioned to guided group time and I could switch over my group materials to the next group's level. It would be so much better than just sitting there waiting on Johnny and June to get to the table so their group could start. 

Each day that my kids come back to my table, they have activities they are to grab and start working on as soon as they sit on their stool. These activities can be anything quick and easy, and I believe they should be LOW PREP. (Can I get an AMEN on low prep?)

Here's some things in my Early Bird Bucket:

• Sight Word Flashcards
• CVC Fluency Strips on whiteboards 
• Sight Word Spinners (differentiated levels)
• Sight Word/Letter Sound/Letter ID puzzles

The beauty of this is that I can get a quick idea of what a student is struggling with and help them right then and there (and sometimes its before June even makes it to the table LOL) and it is something that doesn't require teaching directions each time they sit down. I believe this also reduces the possibility of behaviors arising because of boredom waiting for June to continue picking up all the magnetic letters she dumped on the rug. It has worked wonders!

How do you like to keep your reading groups efficient? 

Summer Reading

Hey everyone!  It's Katie from Miss Kate's Desk.  Today I want to share with you my personal book lists for the summer.  I have two lists of books to get through by the end of summer break.  I don't know about you, but it seems like during the school year I buy books (or want to) but struggle finding the time to read.  If you're like me and in grad school my reading time is taken up by somewhat bland textbooks.  In this post I will share with you my professional development and for fun book lists.

Professional Development:

1. Purposeful Play by: Kristine Mraz, Alison Porcelli, and Cheryl Tyler.

2. Text-Dependent Questions (Grades K-5) by: Douglas Fisher & Nancy Frey

3. The Unstoppable Writing Teacher by: M. Colleen Cruz

4. Reading in the Wild by: Donalyn Miller

I typically like to read professional development books during the summer when I have more time and can gather my new ideas/information and come up with a plan to implement.  I was told in May along with the other K teachers in our district that we can now have a free play time in our classrooms so naturally I wanted to read Purposeful Play.  Play helps social skills, behavior, and also things such as vocabulary and math skills.  Since I really enjoy books about literacy... Reading in the Wild, The Unstoppable Writing Teacher, & TDQ are on my list.  DeeDee Wills is doing a book study on TDQ, go check it out!  I know some people who hate reading these types of books because they feel it will be like reading their college textbooks.  Not at all!  There are some amazing teaching books that are not dry and information overload.   

For Fun:

1. The Nest by: Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeny

2. Me Before You by: Jojo Moyes

3. One for the Money by: Janet Evanovich

4. Girls in White Dresses by: Jennifer Close

I tend to read books for fun at night before I fall asleep.  There's a distinct little glow coming from my Kindle on my bed.  I just recently finished Me Before You.  I had to read it before seeing the movie (which I have yet to see).  A few teachers in my building are obsessed with the Stephanie Plum series and they keep a little cabinet in the lounge stocked with paperbacks of the books.  I finally decided it's time to give it a go.  The Nest and Girls in White Dresses are books I saw on GoodReads that I wanted to read this summer. 

No matter what you read this summer, have fun and enjoy!  Utilize this extra free time to enjoy a good book.  Doesn't matter if it is a professional book or a just for fun book. 

Comment below with your own summer book recommendation.

I took Me Before You with me to Pensacola and read in my beach chair under my blue umbrella between swims.

Happy reading!