One of the things I do every year that really makes a difference in my students' learning is having them use notebooks to store notes, examples, work, and basically house all of the learning they have done that year. Having these notebooks makes it so easy to spiral content because the students have a ready-made resource to refer back to. On this post, I will share how I ... Read More
Free Reading Posters (4th-5th Grade)
Vocabulary is so important in instruction and the vocabulary of the skills and standards we teach is SO important. If the students can't tell you what theme is, they definitely can't apply that to a story or passage. On this post, I will share free reading posters to help you teach the reading vocabulary of the standards and help your students master ... Read More
FREE Reading Games and Centers for 4th and 5th Grade
While I am a firm believer in students reading real books that they choose and doing this often, I also love to include reading games and reading centers in my instruction. On this post, I will share three of my favorite types of reading games and centers for 4th and 5th grade, free reading games and centers for each type, and links to buy more if you are interested in ... Read More
Texts to Use for Guided Reading (If You Don’t Have a Bookroom)
One of the most common questions I get from teachers who want to implement guided reading is: My school doesn't have a book room. What can I use for guided reading texts? While a book room is the best possible scenario, if you don't have one, all hope is not lost. On this post, I will share six different options for texts to use for guided reading. Magazines One of ... Read More
Guided Reading Management | Tips for Managing Guided Reading Groups
Guided reading is my favorite part of the day, but it wasn't always. During my first two years of teaching I struggled with wrangling my students once they came to me and keeping them on task and focused on reading. Because my guided reading time is super precious to me, I had to quickly come up with some strategies to better manage my groups. In this post I am sharing ... Read More
Guided Reading Binder for Upper Elementary {Free Forms}
Guided reading has always been a staple in my reading instruction. But, as much as I love guided reading, it is so easy (like scary easy) to have a jumbled mess of lesson plans, running records, and other random forms in piles upon piles at my guided reading table. To combat this, I streamlined my guided reading binder into a super functional organizational tool with all ... Read More
Guided Reading Materials for Upper Elementary
I have been using guided reading for the past 7 years, and I really can't imagine teaching reading without using this model. I plan to write a few blog posts about how I implement guided reading in my classroom. To start, I want to share with you the guided reading materials that I use. This post includes affiliate links if you wish to purchase the guided reading ... Read More
How I Teach Reading in 5th Grade
Teaching reading in 5th grade is one of the best parts of teaching 5th grade. The standards and text level are more rigorous than in primary grades, but the students are much more independent. The books the students read are much more entertaining and interesting to read as a teacher. The discussions can be quite meaningful and deep as well. I have always taught ... Read More
Reading Centers for Upper Elementary
One of the most frequently asked questions I get from teachers who want to implement guided reading instruction is "What do the other students do while you are teaching guided reading?" This post will share TEN reading centers that you can easily implement in your classroom and that your students will love. Before we dive into these ideas I would like to say that ... Read More
Guided Reading Organization
I blogged over at All Things Upper Elementary today about guided reading organization! All Things Upper Elementary is a collaborative blog with a wealth of information for upper grades. If you haven't check it out, I highly recommend that you do! For my post this month, I blogged all about my Guided Reading Organization Binder that I use to keep all my reading records ... Read More
Using Poetry in Reader’s Workshop
Hello teacher friends! We have been studying poetry and sound devices, so I wanted to a write a post and share some ideas for using poetry in reader's workshop. This week, I wanted to incorporate poems into Guided Reading and work on their comprehension of poems. I checked out a book on Space poems (our next science unit!) and typed up the poems so I could print copies ... Read More
Sentence Stems for Comprehension Strategies Free!
I am really wanting to push thinkmarks and reader's response this year. Since the majority of my students are English Language Learners, I knew that that I needed a resource to help scaffold their responses to their reading. So, I created this collection of sentence stems to use for thinkmarks during the "Write about Reading" center and Guided Reading. I plan to introduce ... Read More
