We’ve been doing the Chunky Monkey Chop a lot recently during guided reading. It’s catchy and easy for the kids to remember! This reading strategy helps my little readers break apart words as they are reading. We started with a blank chart and students gave me different ways they would use Chunky Monkey to break a word. Name the strategy… View Post
It’s time for guided reading groups. The students come to the table, find their seats and get ready to begin. It’s time for a warm up. A brain warm up! We get settled in and warm up our brains to get ourselves ready to read. A quick review helps get us focused and is a great way to review a… View Post
We all know how important knowing sight words is to our students and their reading success. Getting those sight words to become automatic and stick with them in their little brains can take a bit of work sometimes! I use a multi-sensory sight word approach during our guided reading time coupled with a sense of urgency that keeps the… View Post
Isn’t this how it usually goes…the new year rolls around and we decide to get our homes and classrooms organized. I don’t know about you, but word work materials can quickly become chaos! Many student groups, all on different levels needing different words, not enough time and soon enough everything is a mess! Here are some easy to set up and easy… View Post
Happy New Year!! It is almost time to head back to our students and our classrooms- our home away from home! And as I think about getting back to school, I am thinking about student writing and how to encourage students to write even outside of writer’s workshop. When I think of student writing, I try to think of… View Post
Reading levels….and students knowing their reading levels has been on my mind a lot lately. Have you read Jill Backman’s article on Fountas and Pinnell’s Literacy blog: A Level Is A Teacher’s Tool, Not A Child’s Label ? If you have not, you can check it out here. Jackman writes that levels are for teachers and not for students. Students need… View Post
Our groups are working hard on phonics and learning vowel sounds! Young readers that do not achieve a firm foundation in vowel sounds struggle with reading. And for some students vowel sounds are just HARD! Short vowel sounds seem to trip up some of my students. Having vowel posters with pictures to link to sounds really help students… View Post
