Multi-Tasking Made Easy!

What A GREAT Idea!

Our days are so busy and it's so hard to fit everything in, but this is one GREAT way to get inspire and expand our minds and our teaching. 

Less stress by using your time more efficiently! :)

So the next time you find yourself driving to work, 

getting dressed, 
 








or even cooking dinner, 

tune in and get ready to expand your mind, develop professionally, and learn a thing or two.

I'm Talking About Podcasts:

Kindergarten Kiosk has a series of educational podcasts that are perfect to listen to while driving to work, getting dressed in the morning, or even while cooking dinner. Whenever you have an extra moment, tune in!

My Podcast:

I was so excited to be featured on a podcast about GUIDED READING last week. And I was so nervous that you will have to excuse all of my ummmms! 

Lyndsey Jarman hosts wonderful podcasts on all kinds of topics that K-2nd grade teachers would be interested in. And now they are part of the Education Podcast Network!

You can catch my cast by CLICKING HERE.

In this podcast, I talk about 

-a simple 5-day plan for teaching Guided Reading

-logistics of meeting with small groups

-classroom management

-assessments

-my favorite teaching tools & techniques

Here are the links to my original blogpost about Guided Reading AND

to the products & FREEBIES mentioned in the podcast. 

Guided Reading post:  http://bit.ly/guidedreadingpost

Alphabet Pin Cards:   http://bit.ly/pinletters

Letter & Number Formation Cards:  http://bit.ly/numbertrace

Sight Word Pocket Lockets:  http://bit.ly/pocketlockets

iPhone templates from Dragonflies in First:  http://bit.ly/TextiPhone

Reading Strategy posters from Mrs. Ricca’s Kindergarten:  http://bit.ly/readposters

Writing Prompts on TpT:  http://bit.ly/wrprompts

American Flag Writing template:  http://bit.ly/flagwriting

Career Writing template:  http://bit.ly/careerwr

Instant Writing set:  http://bit.ly/instantwriting

Post on how to get EVERY student writing:  http://bit.ly/3CardWriting

ESGI:  esgisoftware.com   (use discount code: KFUN )

The best thing about these podcasts is that they are short, casual, and the topics are current. It's a great way to get inspired, motivated, and encouraged! Professional development without taking time from yourself or your family. It's the best way I have found to multi-task without burn-out! So enjoy!

You can find more of Lyndsey's podcasts by visiting Kindergarten Kiosk and clicking on the PODCAST tab or just CLICK HERE. 

Making Guided Reading Work: A Simple Plan

Here is my Simple Guide to Guided Reading:

First, you have to set up your Guided Reading Table:

Children love routines. It makes them feel safe and comfortable. But they also seek novelty and their motivation to learn is peeked when we present information in different ways. That said, I like to keep my Guided Reading routine the same each week, but each day I toss in some fun, new ideas.

Since Guided Reading is taught through small group instruction, and is designed to provide differentiated teaching that supports students in developing reading proficiency, I begin by assessing my students (see more on assessment below)and meeting with them in small, homogeneous groups. These groups are flexible and change as often as needed.

So what does a typical Guided Routine look like?

Basically, I like to plan my small group lessons around these concepts:

Monday: Alphabet Work: Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and letter recognition.

Tuesday: Sight Word Work: Reading and spelling sight words (I limit my lessons to one or two sight words.)

Wednesday: Reading Strategy Work:  Discussing and practice reading strategies such as blending, segmenting, stretching out words, etc.

Thursday: Comprehension Work: Practicing comprehension strategies such as digging deeper, looking for evidence, and re-telling stories.

Friday: Writing Work: Practicing writing by completing the writing prompt that relates to the story or topic that week. 

How to bring novelty into your weekly Guided Reading routine?

Monday: Alphabet Work: (Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, and letter recognition)

We might focus on initial sounds by placing a cube on each image that begins with a particular letter. 

We might use clear and colored spoons to practice word families or onset rimes. This cute idea came from Heidi's blog:  http://blog.heidisongs.com

And we reinforce letter recognition by using alphabet pin cards, laminated letter tracing cards, and bingo markers that help us practice letter formation . 

Tuesday: Sight Word Work: (1 or 2 Sight Words) 

Click the image to grab the set of Pocket-Lockets. 

We create Sight Word charts where students use the sight word in a sentence, the teacher writes the sentence, and the student gets to sign their sentence.

We use my Pocket-Lockets set to create a pocket watch or a locket by spelling a particular sight word with letter squares. Students get to wear their pocket watch or locket home. 

And we use choral reading to read our Sight Word Mini Books together.

We use laminated Dragonflies in First's cute  iPhone templates to copy sight words or write a sentence using a sight word with dry-erase pens.

Wednesday: Reading Strategy Work: (Reading Strategies) 

Click the image to grab this cute, FREE set of posters. 

We use multiple copies of small trade books, phonetic books, or familiar literature books to practice reading decoding strategies together. We discuss the strategies found on these FREE posters from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten and share how we used them to read. 

Students also practice partner reading their book during this time. 

Thursday: Comprehension Work: (Comprehension Strategies)

Students use their trade books, phonetic books, or familiar literature books to discuss new vocabulary, look for evidence in the illustrations or text, and re-tell parts of the story. Concepts of print, such as identifying characters, the setting, the problem, the solution, or sequencing parts of the story are also addressed. 

Friday: Writing Work: (Writing Component)

Click the image to grab the American Symbol Flag Writing Template. 

Students respond to a writing prompt that relates to that week's story or a concept of print, such as the characters, the setting, etc. I use my Writing Prompts every Friday. We also used my Career Writing templates after reading about community helpers and my American Symbol Flag template after reading about our national symbols. 

A Word About Assessments:

I have used ESGI for the past 8 years and it has saved me hundreds of hours assessing my students and using the amazing data to drive my instruction and RTI. It's easy, provides you with so much useful information about your students, and you students will LOVE it so much they will actually beg you to test them! Really!

Click the image above to grab your FREE trial!
Remember to enter your code: KFUN.

You can learn more by grabbing your FREE 60 day trial (no credit card necessary) by CLICKING HERE. Add the promo code KFUN when you grab this FREE trial and you will automatically qualify for a $40 discount off of your 1st year! This is a GREAT company. They won't try to trick you into enrolling for a year. Use their built-in tests or create your own to meet your own school's assessments. After you try it, you will love it.

There you have it! I keep the routine the same, but I change out the way I teach each lesson or the materials I use. Sometimes I dress the part wearing a wig and windshield wiper sunglasses if we are discussing the letter W. And sometimes we will play an Onset Rime Hopscotch game. Keep it fresh and new!

Leave a comment and let us know about some great ideas YOU have for making Guided Reading fun!