If you teach kindergarten through 2nd grade, you know that guided reading is an essential component of literacy instruction. The way I’ve conducted guided reading has changed over the years and some people aren’t fond of the term guided reading, but small-group reading instruction is essential in order to differentiate and meet your students’ needs in reading. Planning for guided… Read More
Reading Strategies
15 Easy Activities to Increase Fluency
Did you see the movie Zootopia? Well, there’s a famous scene at the DMV where a sloth takes fooooooreeeeever to help the main character, who is in a huge rush! Even the sloth’s laugh is super slow and the whole scene is really very funny. While it’s hilarious in a cartoon movie, when it happens in person, it’s anything but!… Read More
Activities to Teach Self-Monitoring Reading Comprehension
In my previous post, I discussed using pictures as a comprehension strategy using Eagle Eye. As I mentioned, the more advanced kids become at reading, the fewer pictures their books will have. So, it’s important to teach other self-monitoring reading comprehension strategies. I’ll share some easy lesson activities you can do to model and teach kids how to make sure… Read More
Using Eagle Eye as a Comprehension Strategy
Can you believe he was picking his nose?? Not what you thought? Pictures are a huge help to beginning readers when monitoring comprehension! Even when decoding accurately, factors such as figures of speech and background experience can affect a student’s comprehension. Some kids can decode an encyclopedia (do they even have those anymore??), but if they aren’t monitoring their reading, they could be completely… Read More
Guided Reading Lesson Components
Guided reading is my favorite time of the day! It’s the best way to differentiate reading instruction to meet the needs of all your students. It wasn’t always my favorite, though. In fact, I used to dread it! I did not feel confident and always felt overwhelmed with planning my guided reading lessons. It takes time to get a smooth… Read More
Guided Reading Tools Every Teacher Should Have
These are must-have tools for guided reading in kindergarten and first grade! I keep drawers with my fun tools to keep kids engaged throughout guided reading lessons. Can you guess what’s in the drawers? Read this post to find out some new, exciting ways to use materials you likely already have in your classroom! #tejedastots #guidedreading
How to Keep your Guided Reading Lessons Short
One question that comes up often about guided reading is. . . How do I fit all my groups in? The struggle is real! It’s important to take the time you need with your students (part of teaching is loving on them!), but it’s also important to stay on track, so that you’re able to meet with your students as… Read More
Warming Up For Guided Reading
If you do guided reading, you know how hard it is to find great tools for teaching specific skills and strategies before or during a guided reading lesson. I found it especially hard to find resources that had great examples to model the strategies with. And when I did find tools, they were never in one place! I used book… Read More
What To Do With Extra Classroom Magazines
Do you have extra Scholastic News Magazines lying around your classroom? I hoard save Scholastic News magazines because I just love them and can’t imagine discarding them. However, we just never get to all of them and I always have a big pile by the end of the year. Well, I finally buckled down and thought of some ways to… Read More
Teaching Main Idea and Details
It’s time for our non-fiction unit! This is one of my favorites because kids just love learning amazing facts. It’s fun to watch them become little “teachers” to their peers, sharing what they learn and have become experts on. One essential skill we cover in this unit is finding the main idea and details. Here I’ve included ideas for helping… Read More