Guided Reading Glogs

Recently I created two Glogs for a workshop. Thought I'd share them here. Intermediate Primary

Getting Started with Literacy Centers in K-2

Here is a synopsis of the first six weeks to set up Literacy Centers in the K-2 classroom.  This is excerpted and adapted from The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson and More Primary Literacy Centers by Susan Nations and Mellissa Alonso. 

Week 1: Building Community and Collaboration

Have students work in small groups or teams at tables or a specified place on the floor doing activities they can manage with little direction from you.

• Plan a variety of engaging small group activities: puzzles, manipulatives, clay, coloring books, Legos, blocks, or simple art projects. Put each activity into a separate tub and give one to each group.
• Set the timer for 10 minutes.
• Observe the teams and see how they interact with each other. Try not to interact with them at this time.
• When the timer goes off, clean up and bring students together to a gathering place. Praise them for working together and solving problems.

Each day of week 1, redistribute the tubs so that teams can practice working together on a different activity.

Week 2: Begin Teaching Literacy Centers

• Begin teaching ONE Literacy Center this week. Consider starting with the Classroom Library so students really learn that it is the HUB of your center activities. Only teach one team per day. The others can work with tub activities from the previous week.

o Use some of the same activities from week 1: puzzles, manipulatives, clay, coloring books, Legos, blocks, or simple art projects. Put each activity into a separate tub and give one to all but one group.

o Set the timer for 10 minutes.

o Pull one team to the Literacy Center and demonstrate all aspects of it while you are there. Allow them to practice while you observe and coach.

• When you teach a new center: set a purpose for it, identify the materials that will be used, talk about what successful use should look like and what it should sound like, role play use, practice putting materials away.

• On each consecutive day, teach another group the Literacy Center until all groups have been taught how to use it.

Determine a signal for clean-up time like a song or a bell. Make sure to give them a five-minute warning.

Week 3: Expand Time and Teach Another Center

• Teach a new Literacy Center this week. Consider adding a Writing Center this week. Expand your time to 15 minutes daily.

o Use some of the same activities from weeks 1 & 2: puzzles, manipulatives, clay, interesting picture books, coloring books, Legos, blocks, or simple art projects.

o Set the timer for 15 minutes.

o Put one team at the familiar center (introduced in week 2).

o Pull another team to the NEW Literacy Center and demonstrate it. Allow them to practice while you observe and coach.

On each consecutive day, teach another group the NEW Literacy Center and allow another group to PRACTICE the familiar center while everyone else works with tubs.

Week 4: Teach a Center and Expand Time

• Teach another NEW Literacy Center this week. Consider adding Word Work this week. Directly teach one team per day. The others can work with tub activities or the TWO familiar centers.

o If you have five groups, allow two to do tubs and two to do familiar centers while you teach one group a NEW center.

o Set the timer for 20 minutes.

o Remember to make your centers open-ended so that students are never really “done” with them.

• Begin using a Center Management board this week. Show students how to find their name and where their group will be during this 20 minute session.

Week 5: Expand Time and Develop Independence

• Expand to 25-30 minutes. Continue to assess, adjust, and clarify expectations at the centers during this time. Add two NEW Literacy Centers this week. Consider adding Listening and Poetry (with Read the Room).

o Teach BOTH centers to ONE group per day (10 – 15 mins. per center)

o Set the timer for 25-30 minutes.

o Remember to make your centers open-ended so that students are never really “done” with them.

Begin using a Center Management board this week. Show students how to find their name and where their group will be during this 20 minute session.

Week 6: Introduce Guided Reading Groups

• Show the center management chart. Remind students that they know how to work in and complete each of their centers.

• Hold a class meeting explaining Guided Reading procedures:

• Remind students they should NOT interrupt a guided reading group.

• Designate a few “knowledgeable” students as your “center captains”. Give them a clothes pin or necklace to identify their role. Students may ask center captains questions while you are teaching.

• Pull ONE Guided Reading group daily.

• Make sure if a student comes to ask you a question, that you do not acknowledge them. Hold up your hand and continue to teach.

• Be sure students know WHEN it IS appropriate to interrupt: i.e., fire, blood, someone is sick, etc.

At the end of each session remember to gather together and discuss what went well and what needs work.

Gradually increase the time to a full 60 minutes allowing you to work with 2 – 3 groups daily.

Reading Workshop: Oral Language Development

For so long, reading experts and educators everywhere were fixated on the "Fab 5":  Phonemic Awareness, Phonics, Fluency, Vocabulary, and Comprehension.  Now, it seems everyone is realizing that there is no way to condense reading into only five components.  In fact, in some places, they are now calling it the "Sensational Six".   The sixth component is absolutely critical to successful literacy development.  It is also quite simple to implement:  Oral Language. 

Letting students talk with one another regularly is the best way to develop oral language.  In fact, Reading Expert and Author Dr. Brenda Parkes once said in a workshop:  "Teachers need to know when to zip the lip.  You already know how to talk. Children develop syntax and an ear for the language when they practice talking.  How else do you think the kids will learn it?" 

Here are some thoughts on Oral Language Development in preK, K, and early 1st grade:

“The child’s everyday speech is linked to the fluency with which he will read.”  Marie Clay, Becoming Literate
(5-10 minutes daily) 

• Use fun language activities found in your teaching resources or come up with your own.
• Singing and talking support listening and speaking skills.  
• Post a daily song/poem on your board, projector, a poster, or the white board and recite it together
• Use oral language and conversations as part of your morning routine
• Embed opportunities to increase oral language abilities and applications throughout the entire literacy block and the school day.
• Conversation, collaboration, and learning through others are integral to learning. A child's oral language ability is the basis for beginning literacy instruction. They learn from you as well as the other students in your classroom.  

You might consider the approach used by teachers in Buffalo, NY  called "Let's Talk" 

 (LET'S TALK: A Different Approach to Oral Language Development. Woodward, C., Haskins, G., Schaefer, G., & Smolen, L. Young Children, 2004, 59(4), 92-95.):  

Implement "table talk" in the preschool and kindergarten classroom daily.

Identify children with low language skills, and pair them with classmates who have higher language skills for 10 - 15 minutes per day. 

Provide  boxes of carefully selected dramatic play toys and manipulatives.  Tie these manipulatives (or talk items) to other teaching and learning that will be taking place throughout the day.

Wander around the room during the "Let's Talk" time and stimulate conversation, if needed.

BE CONSISTENT---a short amount of time every day will result in dramatic increases in vocabulary, language use and understanding.

Several factors seem to contribute to the success of the Let's Talk approach to oral language development:

* Children work together in designated pairs at the tables, with little intervention from adults.

* Manipulatives used for the table talks are rotated weekly to initiate new conversations.

* Teachers model literature and vocabulary related to the manipulatives each week.

* Opportunities for sharing with others are provided routinely in the classroom.

* Extensions related to the manipulatives are integrated throughout the curriculum.

Oral Language development happens all day long in the busy classroom.  Look for ways to increase their talk with you and with one another.  The paybacks are worth it!

Reader's Workshop Model: Read Aloud

Reading TO Students “There are many little ways to enlarge a child’s world.  Love of books is the best of all.”  Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis

Read Aloud (10 - 20 minutes daily) with a discussion question or writing connection, set a purpose for reading and/or writing---integrate into the total language arts focus for the day. 

Ø     Refer to weekly reading skills from your district curriculum or benchmarks as you think aloud 

Ø    Use any classroom library materials or Media materials that you deem appropriate

Ø     Use a variety of genre (include current events, poetry, picture books, simple chapter books when appropriate, etc.)—See attached list

Ø     Model “book thinking” for students using weekly focus skill

Ø     Kids will want to read what you want to read—make these books available to them to revisit during centers.(If you don't like it, don't read it!  They will know)

Ø     Poetry makes a wonderful read aloud, especially for struggling readers. 

This summer we have begun compiling lists of 100 suggested read alouds for each grade 

level.  It's not that these are comprehensive by any means.  They are simply suggestions as

you are considering what to share with your students during the year.

Classics

The Runaway Bunny by M. Brown

Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton

Corduroy by Don Freeman

Madeline by L. Bemelmens

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf

Swimmy by Leo Lionni

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

Make Way for Ducklings by R. McCloskey

Curious George by H.A. Rey

Where the Wild Things Are by Sendak

Caps for Sale by E. Slobodkina

Freight Train by D.Crews

The Carrot Seed by R. Kraus

Animal Stories  

Stellaluna by Janell Cannon

Bark, George by J. Feiffer

Mama Cat Has Three Kittens by D. Fleming

Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester

Kiss Good Night by Amy Hest

Kitten’s First Full Moon by K. Henkes

A Mother for Choco by K. Kasza

Whistle for Willie by Ezra Jack Keats

The Stray Dog by Marc Simont

Farmer Duck by M. Waddell

Owl Moon by J. Yolen

Old Black Fly by J. Ayelsworth

Whistle for Willie by E. Keats

Folk and Fairy Tales

The Three Bears by P. Galdone

The Mitten by J. Brett

Chicken Little by S. Kellogg

The Gingerbread Boy by P. Galdone

The Three Billy Goats Gruff by P. Galdone

Seven Blind Mice by E. Young

Rumpelstiltskin by P. Zelinsky

The Little Red Hen by J. Pinkney

Goldilocks and the Three Bears by J. Brett

The Three Little Pigs by J. Marshall

Little Red Riding Hood by J. Marshall

Letters, Shapes, Numbers and Colors

Mother Goose:  Numbers on the Loose by L. Dillon

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin, Jr.

Color Zoo by L. Ehlert

Ten Nine Eight by M. Bang

Alpha Oops!  The Day the Z Went First by A. Kontis

Planting a Rainbow by L. Ehlert

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?  by Bill Martin, Jr.

Black? White! Day? Night!: A book of Opposites by L. Seeger

Ten Naughty Little Monkeys by S. Williams

Ten Black Dots by D. Crews

Rhyming Stories/Language Play

Move Over, Rover!  by K. Beaumont

Old MacDonald Drives a Tractor by D.Carter

Is Your Mama a Llama? by D. Guarino

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss

Green as a Bean by K. Kuskin

How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? by J. Yolen

Jamberry by B. Degen

Old Black Fly by J. Ayelsworth

Silly Stories

The Baby BeeBee Bird by D. Massie

Down the Back of the Chair by M. Mahy

Click, Clack Moo: Cows that Type by D. Cronin

Smash! Crash! by J. Scieska

Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus by Mo Williams

Knuffle Bunny by Mo Williams

Sheep in a Jeep by N. Shaw

Fantasy/Daydreams

Abuela by A. Dorros

The Gingerbread Boy by R. Egielski

There’s a Nightmare in my Closet by. M. Mayer

The Magic Hat by Mem Fox

It Looked Like Spilt Milk by C. Shaw

Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini

Duck on a Bike by D. Shannon

Crocodaddy by K. Norman

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by L. Williams

Go Away, Big Green Monster by E. Emberly

Cumulative/Circle Stories

The Bridge is Up! By Babs Bell

Mr. Gumpy’s Outing by J. Burningham

The Jacket I Wear in the Snow by S. Neitzel

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by L. Numeroff

The Great Gracie Chase by C. Rylant

Jump, Frog, Jump! by R. Kalan

Rosie’s Walk by P. Hutchins

We’re Going on a Bear Hunt by H. Oxenbury

Edward the Emu by S. Knowles

Friends and Families

Olivia by I. Falconer

Amazing Grace by M. Hoffman

A Chair for My Mother by V. Williams

Are You My Mother? by P. Eastman

No, David! by D. Shannon

Leo the Late Bloomer by R. Kraus

Guess How Much I Love You by S. McBratney

The Kissing Hand by A. Penn

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good Very Bad Day by J. Viorst

School Stories

Look Out Kindergarten, Here I Come! by N. Carlson

Kindergarten Countdown by A. Hays

Officer Buckle and Gloria by P. Rathmann

Annabelle Swift, Kindergartener by Amy Schwartz

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by J. Slate

If You Take a Mouse to School by L. Numeroff

Froggy Goes to School by J. London

The Twelve Days of Kindergarten by D. Rose

      My Kindergarten by R. Wells 

Tomorrow we will share the list for first grade.