Common Core App

Thursday, June 19, 2014

Guided Reading and Managing Guided Reading Groups with Literacy Centers PLUS a FREEBIE!

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What better time to get ready for the next school year! 


Everyone thinks that teachers take the summer off, but many teachers spend their summer getting ready for the upcoming school year while relaxing a little along the way.

How many of you conduct guided reading groups? Guided reading groups is a great way to differentiate reading instruction for your students. Managing guided reading groups can be difficult. While my students are in my guided reading group, one group is out of the classroom with the EIP teacher and another group is involved in literacy centers. Literacy centers include independent activities (sometimes monitored by my paraprofessional) so that the students do not bother the teacher while conducting the guided reading group.

I have five literacy centers set up for each week for these independent activities. Students have a chart to look at to see which center they are going to for the day. Each center is color coded. Some of the activities in literacy centers may include a making words center (magnets, letter tiles, letter cubes), a writing center, a computer center, a stamping words center, and maybe a puzzle of some type with letters and words.

Here are some pictures of a few of my literacy centers in action.

These first few photos show different "Making Words" activities and the recording sheet they use to hold them accountable.

Making words with magnetic letters


Making words with block letters

Making words with letter cubes

My students love the computer center. Their favorite websites are abcya.com and starfall.com




My students also love the stamping center. At the beginning of the year, we focus on sight words, and then we move to word family words. This year, I must invest in some new stamp pads or put them on my wish list for parents to send.

After they stamp these words, they write a sentence for each word on the lines below. If you are interested in these stamping pages, you can find them HERE.
The word family sheets are located HERE.

The writing center is a must during literacy center time. Sometimes they have free choice writing and sometimes they are given a topic to write about relating to the season or theme we are working on.
These sentence stem activities are great for the writing center at the beginning of the year. You can find them HERE.




During my guided reading group time at the beginning of the year, I use emergent readers focusing on letter sounds and sight words. This Emergent Reader A-Z Bundle includes 26 emergent readers. There is a reader for each letter of the alphabet including vowels for the medial vowel sound.

You can find this Emergent Reader A-Z Bundle HERE!

You can also find each individual emergent reader HERE!



This BUNDLE includes an emergent reader for all 26 letters.

During this guided reading time, we focus on tracking print, letter sounds, and sight words. Each of these emergent readers provides for DIFFERENTIATION. The last three pages of each reader has sheets that can be included or taken out depending on the need of each student/group. One page requires the students to circle the uppercase and lowercase letter of that particular reader. The next page requires students to write each uppercase and lowercase letter for that particular reader 5 times each. The last page requires students to write 5 words beginning with the particular letter. Students could look back in the book to find the words to copy or write their own 5 words using invented spelling (more differentiation).
The following pictures show each of these pages in action.



Tracking print

You can also have students circle the sight words you are learning.


You can also have students color/highlight with a yellow crayon the letter/sound you are focusing on for each reader.





Below are the three pages that provide for differentiation. You can leave all three pages in the book or take out sheets not wanted depending on the need of each student/group.




For an even greater challenge, you can have your higher level students turn to the back of their book and write sentences for each word they wrote on this last page.

The possibilities are endless. I hope you find these guided readers useful. I am giving away one of these 26 emergent readers at the link below.


Emergent Reader: My Mm Book

Later in the year, I use other books for guided reading. We begin our group by making predictions from the cover page. Then we read the title and discuss the roles of the author and illustrator.



Taking a picture walk is a MUST to guided reading. This allows you to introduce words that students may have difficult with as you discuss each picture. I always let students verbalize what they see on each page and what they THINK is happening. Then we check our predictions as we read. 
Then we review decodable words included in the reader and practice sounding them out as well as any sight words in the reader through the use of flashcards.


We also discuss reading strategies (such as use picture clues, stretch the word, skip the word then come back to see what would make sense, and look for chunks in the word) for them to use while reading if they find a word they do not know.

After this, I allow students to read through the book by themselves quietly. Then we take turns reading through the book so that I can hear each student read daily and sometimes we have time to hear some students read the entire book independently. I try to listen to as least one student read the entire book each day making notes of successes or areas in which they are struggling.








After reading, I ask questions about the book and have students ask questions they may have about the story. Then, we may complete a story map with title, character, setting, beginning, middle, and end or we may just write about the book or choose a favorite part to write about. There are so many things you can do during guided reading.

What are some things you do during guided reading time???
Please share in the comments below.

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Don't forget to click HERE to GRAB YOUR FREEBIE!

Thanks for stopping by! 


37 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for such a detailed post and the freebie! I was wondering how you got the pop up on your blog to like your fb page? That is a great tool for people to have additional followers on fb! :) ps. I just liked your page! Could you email me with your response? ( klill1012@gmail.com )

    Thank you so much!
    Katelin
    Creating Teaching Inspiring

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    1. You are welcome Katelin! I'm glad you got your pop up box to work. Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. This is a fabulous post. I am still working on my guided reading groups to get them working smoothly. This post helped me envision what a successful reading block would like. Thank you!

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    1. Thank you Betsy! It definitely takes a while to get the groups running smoothly. Then once you get the hang of it, it's a piece of cake except at the beginning of the year trying to get everyone where they belong. I appreciate your response. Thanks for stopping by!

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  3. I do some of the same word work activities as you. My students always love making words with the Lego letters. I do a lot with pocket charts. For my younger readers, I write each line of the book on a sentence strip & we focus on sight words, rimes, etc. When the students get the book in their hands they have immediate success. It really helps build confidence!

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    1. Thank you so much for your response. I need to start doing more with pocket charts. It always seems like there's not enough space to hang them. Great idea about writing each sentence on a sentence strip to prepare them for the book. Thanks again for sharing your ideas and thanks for stopping by!

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  4. I start by explaining why reading is important and how you become a good reader. I always explain that it is a process and some have to work harder than others and if you do your best I'm proud of you. We start by looking at the book, predicting what it could be about, talking about what an author does, what he or she might have been thinking, what an illustrator does, then we read a page or two and reflect on it, etc. Sight words that we study will be from this book and we incorporate writing, word hunts, games to reinforce what we're learning. I love the interactive activities for reading and I also send home sentences for the kiddos to practice at home. Many of the things you talked about above, we do also. Thanks for sharing your ideas.

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    1. You are welcome Deb! I like how you begin by explaining the process. It would be nice if reading came easy for everyone, wouldn't it? Thank you so much for sharing your ideas and for stopping by!

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  5. Thank you for your thorough description of your guided reading program. Because I taught special needs students and now run a tutoring business, my approach is very similar to yours, just not to a large classroom. I have the Reading A-Z program as well as Raz Kids, which helps immensely. I also have reading blocks which the kids love and the books that go with them. I have a multitude of games that we can do with the kids also. Thanks for your Giveaway.

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    1. You are welcome Cecile! I hope your students enjoy the emergent reader. I haven't heard of the Reading A-Z program or the Raz Kids. I'll have to check them out. I appreciate you sharing your ideas. Thank you so much for stopping by!

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  6. I love the activities you shared. My favorite is using the stamps for stamp the words...however, I wish I could find a way to keep the sets of stamps organized better. That is my student's favorite center.

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    1. Thank you Mrs. Brown! We'll have to think about a better organization for the stamps. My students are always dropping them when they take them to their center spot from the shelf, and then they have to put them all back in place which can be very time consuming! I appreciate your ideas and for stopping by!

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  7. Thank you so much for your detailed blog post on guided reading!!! I am new to the primary division and have yet to implement a substantial guided reading program. I hope to do so next year, though =). leafsgirl@rogers.com.

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    1. You are welcome Kristi! I wish you luck as you begin implementing your guided reading program next year. Thanks for stopping by!

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  8. Thank you so much for sharing your great ideas. I look forward to reading your blog and using your activities.

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    1. You are welcome Donalyn! I appreciate you stopping by!

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  9. The most important part of guided reading is having text that are just right for the students. Easy reading at the beginning for fluency, but here has to be some work to be done for learning to take place!

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    1. Great thoughts Tracy! I appreciate you sharing your ideas! Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. Thanks for all the great teaching tips. I am teaching kindergarten for the first time this fall and I have learned a lot.

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    1. You are welcome Vikki! I'm glad you learned some ideas you can use this fall. Good luck in kindergarten. I appreciate you stopping by!

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  11. I'm always looking for good ideas to change up my centers. Thanks so much for sharing!

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    1. You are welcome! I hope you found some ideas you can use. Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. I am reworking my groups this year. Ghank you for all the great ideas. cindyw98@aol.com

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    1. You are welcome Cindy! Good luck with reworking your groups. It will be worth it in the end. Thanks for stopping by!

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  13. I only do 2 groups a day in a 45-60 min. block. I spend the rest of my time doing individual conferences. Sometimes a little "check in" is all it takes...Wendy 1stgradefireworks

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    1. Thanks for sharing your ideas and for stopping by!

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  14. Thanks for the great ideas! I am trying to add some new ideas and get organized this summer:-)

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    1. You are welcome Erin! I need to get organized as well. Good luck to you! Thanks for stopping by!

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  15. Thanks for sharing your letter m book!

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    1. You are welcome Kathy! I hope your students enjoy this emergent reader. Thanks for stopping by!

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  16. I always want to perfect my guided reading

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    1. Me too! I don't ever feel like I am doing justice for my students. I always have room for improvement. Thanks for stopping by!

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  17. I love your Emergent Readers A-Z bundle! These will be perfect for our Kindergarten review at the beginning of 1st grade!

    http://toadallylovin1st.blogspot.com/

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    1. Great Ginger! I hope you are able to purchase this emergent reader bundle to use with your students. It would be great review for first grade. Thanks for stopping by!

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  18. We just got new curriculum this year and are supposed to use that this year mainly.

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    1. Good luck with your new curriculum! Thanks for stopping by!

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