Where creativity & learning collide.
Tips for Guided Reading When It Feels Like It’s Not Working Have you ever felt like your students aren’t making a lot of growth in guided reading? Does it seem like they have been working on the same level for a while? Have you found yourself wondering if you should continue doing guided reading? IMore
Literacy centers have such a special place in the classroom. Students love stations that are meaningful, engaging, and purposeful. When a teacher is managing literacy centers well, guided reading can happen without with minimal distractions. Literacy centers can be powerful! Students get to read and write while participating in meaningful literacy experiences. Students get toMore
When teachers ask me about how to help students move forward in guided reading instruction, I ask about what they are doing to also help improve reading fluency. These two things go hand in hand: fluency is just one of the five pillars of reading instruction. But, what if you don’t have time to doMore
I remember in my early years of teaching, sitting at my kidney table after school and looking at my guided reading level tracker. Was it time to move up Susie? How did I know if it was time to move students up in guided reading levels? What did a student do in their reading thatMore
When it comes to completing reading assessments, there is always so much to do! Teachers have to gather their materials, prepare both students and parents, find testing checklists, and keep track of important data. I know you are already doing so much to serve your students, so I wanted to help make reading assessments easierMore
One of my favorite science topics to teach is weather. My little learners always loved it, too! Weather is all around us, and students already have some background knowledge of how it affects them. When it comes to teaching weather while distance learning, it can feel overwhelming to reinvent the wheel. Today, I’m sharing someMore
Use these activities and ideas to help your readers understand determining importance. “No, we don’t need that,” is a phrase I found myself saying a lot to my kids when we leave the house. They are in a phase of wanting to take all their toys and things with us when we leave the houseMore
One of the trickiest things for young readers to learn is to self-monitor and notice their own reading errors. It’s hard for readers to master and coordinate all of the pieces of reading like concepts about print, phonics, reading strategies, sight words, and self-monitoring. So what do we do to help coach readers to noticeMore
When it comes to analyzing running records, circling in the MSV section shows you what’s going on when a student is reading. Once you determine the information a student is using to solve an unknown word, what do you do when you notice that the student is only using syntax or visual cues, but ignoringMore
When things went bananas last year and we were thrown into distance learning, I was excited to figure out how to launch virtual guided reading groups. I had tons and tons of teachers just like you asking for my help in figuring how to do virtual guided reading to keep moving readers forward. Just likeMore
One of the reading comprehension strategies that I love teaching is making inferences. What I’ve learned from being in the classroom (and from my own kiddos) is that kids already make inferences all day long. We just have to bring this abstract idea into a more concrete concept that they can practice in reading. ForMore
Have you ever read a book, turned the page and saw the picture, and thought “That’s not at all what I was picturing in my mind?” This has happened to me so many times! That’s visualizing. When you use the words in a story or book to make a picture in your mind, you areMore
The third Monday of February marks Presidents’ Day. I always have good intentions to celebrate and teach my students about this national holiday, but if I’m not careful, it can slip by! Planning my Presidents’ Day activities and lesson plans ahead of time makes such a big difference! When I’m thoughtful and intentional, I canMore
No matter if you are teaching in-person or through distance learning this year, celebrating the 100th day of school is a big deal. I loved implementing a combination of fun activities and activities that integrated into math and literacy. You have a ton on your plate, so I wanted to help you come up withMore
One of my favorite times of the day in the classroom was when we had our interactive read aloud! I loved having my students close to me on the carpet, their eyes and minds focused on the book we were reading. I loved picking out a book with vivid pictures and characters I thought theyMore
When it comes to guided reading groups, the number one question most teachers have is, “What about the other kids?” As the classroom has changed drastically recently, teaching a guided reading lesson has become even trickier because oftentimes the other kids just log off and have no reading practice happening. As I reflected back onMore
Oh, a fresh start! While I truly believe there is nothing magical about a new year, it’s hard to deny that there is something about a fresh start and turning the page to a new year. Adults and kids both enjoy a fresh start, right? The fresh start is a great time to look atMore
If there is any word associated with 2020, it’s “unprecedented”. I think I have heard that word so much that it doesn’t even carry the weight that it once did. Classroom holiday parties on Zoom are no different, friends. Really, have you ever had to have your classroom holiday party on Zoom? I know it’sMore
