Guided Reading

I've been working on becoming even more "structured and organized" in my planning

I'm someone who constantly re-does something attempting to find the "perfect" method, 

even though what I was doing before was efficient.

Lesson planning is no different.  

I'm always trying make it easier, more efficient, and smoother.

Each week staff at my school are asked to meet with a leadership team member

 about what is going on in our classroom, 

where we are going next week,

 and making sure we are using data to drive instruction.  

The main focus is in reading.

It is one way for the "team" to know more about what is "really" going on.

I do believe it is another way to make sure everyone is doing their job:)

I've tried a few different guided reading lesson plans with no real luck 

in finding something that wasn't taking more time for lesson plans.  

My district already requires a lot for lesson plans already.

I came up with this little thing the other evening.

A format that I simply handwrite in the information in.

All of the "basic" set-up is pre-typed.

Each group has one sheet for the entire week.

For a copy, click here.

{Please ignore the messy handwriting!  I was doing it in-between groups this week. 

 But hey, next weeks is already done! And I didn't have to do it at home or during plan time!}

For whole group, I use the plans below.

I use to have groups on the bottom of this sheet, 

but it just was too much of a pain to delete things each year, etc.

I meet with every group, every day for at least 15-25 minutes.
No ifs ands whats about it.
Reading is from 9-11, granted it never starts until 9:15
 due to late kiddos, bell-work, you name it.
Whole group goes from 9:15-9:30, once in awhile until 9:45.
Routine and structure is the only way to get whole group accomplished in 15 minutes.
We touch on everything required and mentioned in our basal plus some.
I pre-look at what is expected and combine things as I see fit throughout the week.
We work HARD on big word strategy, also.

Here is a break down of a group.  

We stick pretty close to the same format every day/week.

  *Voc. words and high frequency words covered in whole group for the story of the week

*Dry erase slips to practice dictation sentences using our high frequency words.

*3-4 voc words are from the leveled reader of the day to help us be successful

*Writing assignment changes daily based on skill/needs. 

It is always started in group then finished at desk.  

We discuss it briefly the following group.

 *Students immediately begin to re-read their book 

from the previous day the minute they join the table. 

 This also gives me a few minutes to switch gears.

Re-reading the previous book daily improves reading scores drastically.

I also follow the LLI setup for the hard/easy days.

Allowing kiddos to read a book on an easier level every other day helps them build confidence!

This week I decided to bring in some word work centers based

 on our skill of the week into groups. 

 I'm trying to work smarter and not harder! 

 Each week I kept trying to come up with new things to do and hello! 

 I have all of these games created in my Journeys unit!  

The kiddos never get to use every game for each story I have created 

because there is only one word work center weekly

 Kiddos worked with a partner in their group to work on a skill of the week.

Then they rotated.

I will be doing this weekly!

I keep all running records in one binder.

Students are assessed on informal running records based on needs.

Below level- once a week

On Level- every 2/3 weeks

Above Level- every 4 weeks

I normally try to do on level and above level kids more often, 

just to keep myself in a routine!