Guided Reading…An Easy Way to Put it All Together!!

Happy Tuesday friends!! Lindsey here on this beautiful day!! We may officially be in Fall, but here in the PNW we are still enjoying sunshine and pretty warm temps!! I can’t complain!!

I am hopping on the blog today to talk to you about guided reading resources.

Okay. TEACHER TRUTH…I HATE planning for guided reading. I love, love, love seeing the progress my kiddos make..I mean who doesn’t? But half way through the year I feel like I am a little tapped on resources. So, I wanted to share with you how I make it through the year while making sure that my kiddos are getting where they need to be.

(To get any of the resources in this post click any of the pictures or titles.)

We have spent a lot of time looking at the progress kiddos make. Specifically, how kiddos in high poverty areas struggle and ways that they can be supported. For your average kiddo, they need to be doing 80 minutes of high success reading each day to just make a years growth (to read more info on this, click HERE) That number grows the further behind a kiddo is. SCARY!!! This is why guided reading is so important!

Now, there are many FANTASTIC books that are available to teach your kiddos all they need. Sometimes, it can be overwhelming. Sometimes, pulling a text and knowing what to do with it can be tricky. Plus, you need to spend time going through it and pulling out the vocabulary, etc.

Here my kiddos are using one of their favorite books. I have used this book every year and I already have everything I need for it. But, that took a lot of time. Time that teachers don’t always have.

This is why we have worked hard to create resources that provide easy prep for teachers and all the content and skills that students will need to make the growth they need.

This is why we created Ready, Set Go! Guided Reading.

These are going to SAVE me this year. I am on my 8th year of teaching and I have NEVER been this organized. They are sequential, so once I work through a set, my group should be ready to move on to the next level. Everything that I need to teach my kiddos is included in the set, including a plan to help them get there AND to keep me on track.

In a very unlike me fashion, I prepped and laminated all the pieces so that all I have to do is copy the passages for each group.

I’m going to pretend I hear clapping because being THAT prepared NEVER happens!!! Thank you! Thank you!!

Another resource I rely on, are Leveled Passages Sets. These are theme based, so they are great for supplementing any of the themes we are working on throughout the year. Since each passage set has passages from level A to H/I, I can support the content I am teaching in my guided reading groups as well.

In this example, the kiddos are working on Owls. The topic is connected to what we are learning about nocturnal animals.

These passages are a great break from our normal reading in guided reading groups. They are loaded with content vocabulary and include text based questions. They are a great way to get the kiddos doing close reading and focusing on reading a text to gather information. They also allow me to differentiate the way they are getting their information. All the students are reading the SAME topical information, they are just doing so at their own level.

These sets also have vocabulary activities which are great for helping me to teach that content vocabulary that so many of my ELL kiddos struggle with. They are able to read and understand the vocabulary we are using in class because these passages practice the same vocabulary, but at the level each student needs.

At the same time that we are reading Leveled Passages Sets on a theme such as bats or spiders in guided reading groups, we will also be using Leveled Quick Read Cards in reading centers. This is a new series we have just began publishing, with more topics to come. These leveled reading cards and reading responses match the topic of the Leveled Passages Sets themes. They further extend the kiddos’ learning and give them even more reading time to practice the strategies and content that we have been learning. It “ups” the minutes that students are reading at high success levels, and provides them the opportunity to learn more on a topic independently.

Leveled Quick Read Cards and response activities, also give you the flexibility to use them in guided reading groups. Students can use the included response pages to keep track of the information they are learning while practicing important comprehension strategies and thinking skills. For a little more information on what’s included, read our post HERE.

I hope that I have shared with you some great resources. Planning for groups can be such a headache and having to find sets of 6 books can also be a challenge. Having resources that include all that I need AND that I can make as many copies as I need, is very helpful and makes planning oh-so-easy!

Now I’m off to wait patiently…kind of…for my husband to return with a yummy pumpkin pie blizzard!! Yum-o!!