Guided Reading Refresh |freebie packed post|

Hi there and happy ALMOST February!  Thanks so much for spending a little moment of your busy week with me! I have had several emails and questions this past week about guided reading so I thought this would be a great time to talk a little shop about guided reading!  

In kindergarten especially the idea of starting guided reading groups can be downright intimidating!  First off, we have to teach our littles the important things like how to use the restroom, how to sit quietly, how to share and MORE!  After that comes setting up your independent centers!  We know that we can’t quite pull reading groups if we don’t have the kiddos working at an independent level!  I won’t ramble too much in this post but if you are still in this stage (setting up your centers) you might want to check out this free professional development course on my centers!  I do a modified D5 and THIS POST is an extensive “how to” about my center set up and THIS POST is a short and to the point version.

Today’s post will be about what to use back at your table!  I have A LOT of information to share but I want to make sure the post isn’t too overwhelming so here are the basics.

* There will be a TON of freebies!  They are scattered throughout the post!

* This post will introduce you to my KinderReaders, Kinder Guided Reading Mega and Firstie Guided Reading Mega.

* EVERYTHING I share today will have a FREE SAMPLE!  I believe you should always get to see what you’re getting OR even better– download a sample for FREE to try with your littles!

Let’s get started!

One of the first things I’ll do before starting my groups is to letter assess all of the students!  This of course is going to give me a great idea of who my non readers might be!  I use the assessment tracker below and you can download it FREE HERE or by clicking the image below!  

I get a lot of questions about why the tracker goes in ABC order but that is for a reason!  I have the kiddos state their letters going down the columns and not across.  So they are stating them out of order BUT when I look at my tracker, I look at it in horizontal rows and can quickly find out what letters they know and don’t know.  I am looking first to see if they know the letters that are in their names.

Another indicator for a student’s future reading success will be their proficiency in phonemic awareness! A quick phonemic awareness assessment can be a great indicator! An assessment like the freebie one I show below can be done in a quick one-on-one setting. If the student is unable to successfully complete each section with mastery then you can end the assessment early.

Be sure to keep the assessment as you will be able to re-assess them later on! You can show improved learning by assessing with a different pen color each time. You can download this FREE phonemic awareness assessment HERE.

Now let’s chat this label of non readers. This is a label simply put for those that cannot pick up a book and make connections between the pictures to the words to the letter sounds. We know OF COURSE that all kids are readers that can identify environmental print, but for this case we will think of readers in the capacity of beyond a level A text.

For my non readers, we are going to start with their names!  After they become confident in the letters in their names then I know they’ll be able to pick up additional letters and usually at record speed because kinders are AWESOME like that!  To work on our names we do a lot of mixing and fixing!  

I prepare small little tubs (condiment tubs found at the Dollar Tree 6 for $1)  They have their magnetic letters in there that they’ll need to build their names.  I ask that they build their names and then I have them tap the letters.  They’ll state the ones they know and then I clue them in on the ones they are unsure of.  Sometimes these are the students that have NO experience in letters or sounds so to see them start to retain the letters is amazing! After mixing and fixing 2-3 times, I hand them a dry erase marker and they start to write their names!  

**If the kiddos are unable to even build their names without assistance, you can write it on a post it note or index card.  Trust me… they won’t need it long but it does provide differentiation!

Another spin on mix and fix cut up names!  Same exact concept but with strips!  For cut up names, I write each students name on a sentence strip twice.  I cut one one name and leave one name whole.  I place both into an envelope! At the table we pull out our large name plates and trace over the letters with our fingers.  

I then have them pull out their pieces and start building their names.  This helps me get around the table and check in with each student.  I have them continue to mix and fix until I get around to everyone!  We then push up our pieces and write the names!

We will also work on the class sight words back at the table, too!

After we start to get a little more comfortable with our names and sight words… it’s time for mix and fix sentences!  I shared a freebie HERE!  If you are wanting more… I have them HERE as well!  Mix and fix sentences are all about getting the kiddos to realize that they too are READERS!

Students really to get practice multiple skills all at once. First, they must read the predictable sentence strip. Then, students will have to mix and fix the sentence several times. Finally, students will glue the strips down, reread the sentence, write the sentence and illustrate a matching picture.

Below is the three step process for teaching them!

Again I offer a freebie set that can be downloaded HERE!

If you love those then I do offer two additional packets! This first packet is similar to those in the freebie!

And this version included pictures for assistance!

Going back to the alphabet, once the students are becoming more confident with the alphabet I like to introduce alphabet tracing books!  You can actually snag yours free HERE or clicking the image below!  The students will use their fingers to trace each of the letters.  I like to reuse these over and over again!  Learning letters is all about repetition and memory!  

Tracing books are a great intervention and remediation for those strugglers!  I recommend that this be a one on one activity so that you are able to directly support THAT child!  To do the tracing books you will want to allow the child to begin tracing the letters….A, a, apple.  If the kiddos does not follow the correct path of movement, you can then do hand over hand and show the correct formation.  You can download the freebie * HERE * or by clicking the image below!

ABC matching is another simple and practical activity for your nonreaders! They are most likely in your “nonreaders” group because of their lacking in letter naming and letter sounds! The more we can get their hands on letters and making those connections to sounds the quicker they’ll be able to stretch words! You can grab this freebie ABC chart **HERE** 


Another idea for ABC matching would be using these ABC magnet sheets! You can grab them free **HERE**

ABC Sorts are also great for students who are still mastering letter names! You can snag these letter sort mats as part of my Alphabet Curriculum. However, I also have a blank sorting mat for FREE **HERE**

As you continue to work on the alphabet you will want to implement some form of alphabet fluency routine! I love something I call alphabet racers! In alphabet racers the you will flash the letter card to the students! The students will quickly “shout” the letter name. I recommend doing this chorally and for only one minute! The idea is that the students will be working more on fluency here– it’s one minute of the day we ask them to go FAST!!! The freebie alphabet racer cards include capital, lowercase, or capital/lowercase versions! After students become confident in letter names you can use the same cards for letter sounds! You can grab these alphabet racer cards for **FREE here**!!!

Rhyming is another area I like to work with nonreaders! Kids sometimes struggle with rhyming because they just haven’t been exposed to it with nursery rhymes, songs, books, etc! Implementing simple rhyming routines into your guided reading block can help to close this gap! I have an assortment of rhyming freebies for you! Grab these freebie rhyming “I have who has cards” along with quick rhyming routine cards by clicking **HERE** If you’d like additional routine cards you can grab those here!

I would like to share with you a few sets of cards that are PERFECT for your guided reading block!  These cards are great for students that are ready to stretch words, blends words and those working on identifying sounds (beginning, medial and final).  Below you can watch a super QUICK video of me explaining each set!  I will also explain them individually below.  You will be able to download all THREE sets of the cards for FREE! Perfect, right?

The first set I shared in the video are my PSF stretchers cards!  I actually have these cards in one my very first TPT products, Phoneme Segmentation RTI!  I get a lot of emails from teachers that explain that there students are able to stretch words, but that they do have a few that are unable to blend the entire word.  A lot of times these students will drop the final sound like- /b/, /a/, /g/, bat.  We know that students should be confident in the “hearing” of sounds before “seeing” them.  I do feel though that if they are struggling with hearing that final sound then the PSF stretchers cards are a great tool to try.  With these cards, the students are able to truly SEE the sounds in the words after stretching.

Step One: Tap and state the picture name.

Step Two: Tap each black dot and state the sound…. /c/

/a/

/t/

Step Three: Blend the word back together and state “cat”.

These cards are great as a warm up for guided reading or your morning word!  You can print them on cardstock and laminate them for the best repeated use.  You can hold them as the teacher but I prefer to have them in their hands so they can tap each sounds.  At the guided reading table you can pass one card around and have each student stretch the word. (This would be best for students that are in the early stages of stretching sounds and would help with confidence.)  You can also place several cards in the middle of the table and have them reach in to grab one, stretch it out, place it back in the middle and grab a new one.

If you do quick “check-ins” during the day then these would be great for that as well!  You can take them with you to the hallway and have students state one before entering the restroom!

You can download these FREEBIE cards HERE or clicking below!!

Up next are the sound cards!  These can be really used through the year as your students build their knowledge of sound identification and even sound manipulation.

“Can you tell me the first sound in this word?” (Teacher taps the green dot.)

“Can you tell me the medial sound in this word?” (Teacher taps the yellow dot.)

“Can you tell me the final sound in this word?” (Teacher taps the red dot.)

“Boys and girls, I would like you to change the first sound (Teacher taps the green dot.)  to a ‘b’.  What is the new word?”

I feel that these are more teacher driven cards and the teacher would be holding them.  However, I’m most certain that you can also find use in them for the students to try themselves.  You could possibly hand them out during guided reading warm up and the students stretch the words sound-by-sound and then write the word on their whiteboards!

You can download these freebie cards HERE or clicking below!!

How about the word builder cards?  These are perfect when we are teaching students to attack words!  The students will also work on blending in a little different kind of approach (onset and rime).  You can print these double-sided and use them as a warm up for your guided reading block!  They are also perfect to use on “the run” when assessing students through the day.  You can download these freebie cards HERE or clicking below!

How about some blending/decoding fun?! These little word blending mats/cards are a freebie! The kiddos will place the card onto the mat and then blend it back together! These would be PERFECT for a warm up/word work activity for the guided reading table! You can have a set made for each kiddo OR just pass out one mat per kid! You can place a stack of the word cards in the middle of the table. Students will blend a word card and then grab a new word card!

Download this freebie HERE!




How about slinkys for stretching words?  I snagged this set of small slinkys from the party goods aisle of Walmart!

Check them out in action below!

Alright we have made it through that!  Now I would like to introduce you to my KinderReaders program!  This program is actually designed to go ahead and cover those non readers as well!

Now let’s chat getting those guided reading groups up and running! I will share later on in the post about programs I have created for you that are simple print + teach! However, I would like to offer resources for those that have to use district provided readers! The first step in starting your groups will be lesson planning and deciding on a format you like best! You can see my favorite guided reading lesson plan below. You can download this lesson for FREE **HERE** want to edit it? Sure thing! Download **THIS VERSION**

You will map out your phonemic awareness portion! Here is a sample scope I like to use! You would work through the scope differently for each group as your higher readers might only need a week per skill where the below readers might need 2-4 weeks!

Oral Language:

Repeating a sentence
Clapping a sentence
How many words in a sentence
Listening to words to determine similar sounds

Rhyming:

Listening to rhyming pairs
Recognizing rhyming (true or false)
Selecting a rhyming pair from 3 words
Selecting the distractor from a set of 3 words
Generating Rhyming Words

Syllables:

Segment syllables
Adding a syllable and giving the new word
Deleting a syllable

Onset and Rime:

Blending onset and rime
Segmenting onset and rime

Single Sounds:

Repeating single sounds
Isolating single sounds
Alliteration

Blending:

Blending compound words
Blending syllables
Blending Phonemes

Segmenting:

Segmenting compound words
Segmenting words by phoneme
Segmenting words w/ digraphs
Segmenting words w/ blends

Medial Sounds:Isolating medial sounds
Isolating complex medial sounds

Final Sounds:

Identifying final sounds
Phoneme location

Adding Phonemes:

Adding words
Adding Phonemes

Deleting Phonemes:

Word deletion
Deleting phonemes

Substituting Phonemes:

Substituting words
Substituting initial phonemes
Substituting medial phonemes
Substituting final phonemes
Substituting long & short sounds

Here are a couple freebie activities you can implement into your phonemic awareness routines! Sound stretchers and sound boxes! Download these for free **HERE**

After the phonemic awareness comes your letter/word work! This is where you will work on a lot of the activities I shared! For example, mixing/fixing sight words, building names, sorting letters, and alphabet racers! My writing strips are another great option for letter/word work! I have a huge assortment of writing strips that work on cvc words and beyond HERE. I also have a freebie set you can try **HERE**

The next section on the guided reading lesson plan breaks down the book work! This is where you will introduce the title, the plot, and discuss tricky words! The students will do book walks and then start to read! When we are monitoring student reading we will encounter readers that will struggle. I like to ask my students these three questions when they are stumped: Does it look right? Does it sound right? Does it make sense? You can download these FREEBIE posters to remind your readers **HERE**

During book work we also focus a lot on retell! Download this freebie retell poster by clicking **HERE**

During and after the read it’s great to work on story elements and comprehension! I created these fun FREEBIE guided reading spinners to help! You can print the spinners half size or full size!

This freebie includes 10 different spinners! On the spinner below the students can also work on decoding strategies! Spin the spinner to see which strategy the students will apply for that day!


On the spinner below, students work on the story setting! When did the story take place, where did the story take place, what type of connection do you have with the setting.


The following spinner helps students answer about a story’s characters, setting, problem, and solution.


There’s also a spinner that works on nonfiction text features.


There are 10 spinners included. You can download the freebie spinners HERE or by clicking the the photo below!



The last section of the guided reading lesson plan is for guided writing! Guided writing can be as simple as dictating a sentence for all of the students to write or having students construct their own sentences to respond to the text. Either way you are going to want to be efficient during this time in order to squeeze in the guided writing component. Using the FREEBIE guided writing paper below will help as it has a built-in alphabet! Download the freebie paper by clicking **HERE**

Now let’s say you’re totally into this thing called guided reading BUT you aren’t sure you want the “headache” of planning it each week! Well, I have you covered! I have spent hours making sure I have the hard work done for you! I want to first share all about my KinderReaders program!

  I will do a mix of typing and videos!  I hope not to repeat myself a ton!  KinderReaders™ is a leveled guided reading program.  The program has kindergarten aged students in mind but is great for any students at levels NR-D!  KinderReaders™ is equipped with scripted lesson plans for each book.  This will offer a path for those new to guided reading and still at that, a possible new way of thinking for those experienced guided reading teachers!  ***Please note that I will also be offering a free book of my KinderReaders program below!  You will snag the lesson plans, easy readers, mix and fix sentence, running record, INTERACTIVE book and Spanish version as well!***

I will be explaining each level of KinderReaders™ in much detail below!  However, here is a quick overview of the program!

KinderReaders™ is a program designed to assist teachers, paraprofessionals, ELL staff, RTI teachers, home-school parents and any other individual striving to teach reading to a young child. KinderReaders™ is a systematic program. What does this mean?  Each text of KinderReaders™ is given the same materials and presented to the students in the same manner. This allows for student growth because new routines are not being taught, only new concepts like new texts in this case. The program includes all of the necessary pieces and is designed in a way that allows you to simply print, prep the materials and add in students!

What exactly is included in each level?

– 20 simple “print and teach” scripted lesson plans
– 20 running records
– 20 easy readers
– 20 *INTERACTIVE ENGLISH READERS*
– 20 *INTERACTIVE SPANISH READERS*
– Reader strips for level NR and AA books
– “Mix and Fix” student sentences for all levels
– Picture cards for all 20 themes
– Word cards for all 20 themes
– Color and Black/White versions of the student materials
– Helpful video for printing easy readers

Now let’s take a close look at each level!

Click the video below to see in detail of the material for levels NR, AA and A!

Below you can see an overview of what is included in this set!

Level A book also contain a running record.  Assessments during guided reading are not a “must” but they certainly allow you to understand the students as independent readers.

Level NR has it’s own matching 1:1 strips for each book.  These are perfect for building fluency.  Remember that we are using this level for those kiddos that are new to “reading.”  This is a confidence booster and then we can get them transferred over to words!

Level AA also contains 1:1 strips!  You can see that they are now responsible for stating one sight word.  A boost up from the NR level, again– confidence boosters!

In level A, the students are able to move on from the 1:1 strips and start to work on mixing and fixing sentences!  Don’t forget that you can have the kids work on mixing and fixing on the tables.  Then, they can transfer them onto paper!

As in all of the levels… the materials are translated in Spanish as well!

Also included are interactive books!  In this first set, all of the 20 level A books are available in an interactive format!

Woohoo!  Let’s take a closer look at level B!

 Level B offers 20 easy readers and 20 matching lesson plans!  All of the material from level A is also included in Level B!  Level B’s lesson plans are slightly different as each book gets two days!

In Level B, the students are working on mixing and fixing sentences with their teacher’s assistance and on their own.

Level B also contains black and white material of all the supplies!

Moving right along!  How about Level C?

Level C is where we really start to bump up the expectation during guided reading!  This level has the addition of a “Think and Write” and “Read and Match”.

Level C also contains running records to check for fluency and accuracy in your students’ reading!

A closer look at the Think and Write.

The Read and Match is an excellent opportunity for the students to see the text out of context.  Even though that sounds kind of silly being that it is the same words… they are still still out of the actual book which can be tricky!

Below is an “action shot” of the Level C interactive books on the classroom interactive whiteboard!

Last but NOT least… let’s take a look at Level D!

Level D really bumps up the “fun factor”.  In Level D the students will be exposed to texts that contain very little repetitive phrases and will also get to see something new, comprehension quizzes!  I mean who doesn’t love a comprehension quiz? Ha!

Below is a look at the Level D lesson plans!

All of the Level D book also have a matching running record for quick assessing!

Here is a look at the level D book, Summer Fun.

The comprehension are small half sheets.

You can have the kids glue their comprehension quizzes into their reading notebooks!

Mix and fix sentences are also included in Level D!  They are included for your choice to use or not use!

In Level D, the Think and Writes are completely open ended.

The students will be completing them with their own sentences.

As in all of the other levels… material is included in Spanish!

Below is a look of the interactive version placed onto an Ipad!  The interactive versions will work on ANY device that has Microsoft Powerpoint!  You do have to have that!  On my Ipad, I downloaded the PPT app!

If you are interested in trying KinderReaders,  you try it for FREE!!!!  I’ve compiled all of the material for Level D, Let’s Go Swimming!  You can click HERE to download or on the image below!  Note that this is a zipped file and will most likely need to be downloaded on a computer!

You can also download the reading journals label HERE!

You have seen what is included in KinderReaders, but let’s take a look at a KinderReaders lesson in ACTION!

Below is a look at the materials included in the video!

Would you like to snag the word work cards shown in the video?  Click HERE or on the image below!

You can click on the images below if you’re interested in purchasing KinderReaders!

Below is a detailed list of what I explained in the sound bite above!  You can see the two bundles are similar, but vary still!  I didn’t mention it in the sound clip, but the units are completely separate of each other!  The easy readers, packets, etc do not overlap!  A lot of teachers have both bundles for even more differentiation options in the classroom!

 

 

We do work on fluency in other areas as well!  Below the kiddos are working on my Chunkin’ it cards!

Build Background for the Book

Shared Read