Guided Reading Organization

I LOVE reading groups. It is seriously my favorite time of the day. It took me a few years to find my rhythm with them and to find out what style worked for my teaching personality. There are two things that I did this past year that changed the reading group game for me. The first was the organization of my materials and the second was my transitions. The transitions will be discussed in a later post.

As a side note- in my school, we used the Jan Richardson Guided Reading System lesson plans and exercises. We used leveled reading books and tested students 4 times a year to see if they met benchmark. This meant that my reading group time had to be very organized and routine.

So let's talk about the bins I used.

The Student Bins 

At each student's spot was a bin filled with all the materials they needed. This was a total time saver and game changer! Inside the bins were.... 

* 1 small dry erase board 

* 1 dry erase marker & eraser 

* 1 pencil (marked with tape so that it never walked away from the table) 

* 1 eraser 

* 1 set of letter cards for making words 

* 1 Halloween finger for pointing, finding sight words, and tracking for those low babies. 

The Teacher Bins 

Each group was randomly assigned a color. Each group had a matching color bin. Each rotation, I just pulled the bin which made for a fast transition. My materials could be put away, pulled out, and I could meet the students on the carpet in less than 2 minutes. I know because I timed the transitions and I almost always beat them ha! Inside these bins were.... 

* leveled set of books 

* lesson plans 

* 1 notebook for each student 

* any supplemental materials which changed depending on the book. 

Guided Reading Routine & Classroom Management 

Here is why I loved the student bins so much. When it was the kids turn to come to group, they knew to sit down and get their white board and dry erase markers out of the their bins. They practiced writing sight words when I wasn't there yet or I decided what words they would work on. This became a very fast and VERY efficient 2-3 minutes. Then they would out their supplies away and they would be ready to read. At the end reading group 3 days a week, students would work on writing or they would build words using these letters. So all the supplies they would need were at their finger tips which made for fast transition time between activities so I could squeeze every ounce of learning in to the time I wanted. 

How do you organize your reading groups? Any tips or tricks that have been game changers for you? 

Classroom Schedule Cards

I used the schedule cards that are pictured below last year for my first grade classroom. Well established classroom routines and schedules are so important because they influence a child's emotional and cognitive development in the classroom. Students love predictability. It helps them feel secure and it helps them feel successful. And most importantly ((to me anyways!)) is that it helps cut down on time for transitions. 

These cards were wonderful because they had pictures and the subject written so all of my readers and emerging readers could follow the schedule. Off to the side I had the time in analog and digital versions. We didn't teach time until the second half of the year but everyone could read the digital time. 

How I use Classroom Schedule  Cards

In the beginning of the year when we are learning all our new classroom routines, I point to each subject change or activity change in the day. As we practice our transitions, we talk about what we will be doing next and what we just did. Students get up and point to the different subjects to show off where we are in the day too. 

During morning meeting, I will always point out changes that are going to happen during the day. 

I LOVE this schedule for when unexpected changes happen such as a last minute guest or assembly or fire drill. Those things really throw off some students. I get a lot of questions about what time it is and what are we doing. Instead of just explaining what time it is, I walk the student to the schedule and show them where we WOULD be in our day so they know what they missed or what was coming next. This is also great for students who arrive late or leave early. 

Eventually with schedule cards and established routines, students can get their materials ready for the next subject and activity without even being asked. I always made a huge deal over the students who would transition to the next subject without being asked. They make me so proud! 

If you would like to buy them, please click HERE. 

Martin Luther King Jr.

My first grade class created these adorable Martin Luther King Jr. craftivities today. We took two days to learn about Dr. King and tied what we learned about him into a writing standard- using descriptive words in writing. Here is what we did below. 

Day 1

1. We learned what adjectives are using an anchor chart. We also wrote 3 sentences, expanding each of them to add adjectives. We started with the base sentence "I see the cat." This turned into "I see the fluffy cat." Then we added even more description to make it, "I see the orange, fluffy cat." If time allows, this would make for fun partner practice. We didn't do this on that day, but we continue to do this with partners through out the school year. 

2. Next, we  made a KNOW/LEARNED chart about Martin Luther King Jr. Turns out, we didn't know a whole lot yet. That is ok! 

3. We read a small reader about MLK which can be found here. We had a very rich discussion about segregation and Martin's Life. My class was very into it. To put it into perspective, I said, "What if I told you all the girls could play on the playground and all the boys couldn't just because they are boys." That made the idea of segregation being unfair very realistic for them. 

4. As we read, I underlined adjectives and defined words for them. 

Day 2

1. We reviewed what we knew and had learned about Martin Luther King Jr. by completing the learned side of the anchor chart. I really emphasized at this age the fact that Martin Luther King Jr. wanted to use love and his words for good and to make change happen. 

2. We read Martin's Big Words and discussed

3. We added more to our anchor chart. 

4. We made the Martin craftivity and added descriptive words on his body. They are not very visible in the picture unfortunately. This was done together. They list they came up with was

• smart 
• hard worker
• followed his dreams 
• brown 
• minister 
• leader 

The craft was so simple and fun! It really only took about 30 minutes to create and it looks wonderful in the hallway. The only supplies they need are black construction paper, crayons, scissors, and glue. You can just print this product from TPT to get MLK's face and body. 

If you don't have the book Martin's Big Words, I also really enjoyed the book My Brother Martin.