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
Reading Strategies
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
The Why and How of Teaching Comparing and Contrasting
If you ask a student to get you a red coat from the class closet, they will likely find it easily among a sea of black coats. However, if there are 3 red coats, they will need more guidance to find the one you want. This is where comparing and contrasting comes in. It’s a skill we use daily and… Read More
Reading Strategies: Tips for How to Teach Decoding
Teaching decoding strategies to beginning readers can be tricky. Read this blog post for tips on helping your kids become independent readers, using many different strategies when they get stuck on a word. #tejedastots
Anchor Charts: Why They Work and How to Use Them
Do you love anchor charts as much as I do? Anchor charts may look pretty, but there are so many benefits to anchor charts besides just adding to your class decor! First of all, what IS an anchor chart? An anchor chart is a poster created to record and display important points about your lesson. For example, if you are… Read More