Guided reading is important work in every grade, but especially first, where students must move through a lot of levels in a year.
Guided reading offers students meaningful instruction that is intentional. Texts are at a student’s instructional level of reading {ie: not easy, not too hard, just a little challenge}.
Planning and prepping for Guided Reading can be overwhelming. Guided reading lessons can be overwhelming for students, too. I am going to share with you some of the best tools I use to help my young students stay engaged and focused throughout the 15-20 minute lesson.
If you are interested in reading more about how I structure guided reading, check out this blog post.
If you are interested in reading more about how I structure guided reading, check out this blog post.
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First graders love these pointer rings. We use them to remind ourselves to point to the words. The eyes remind students to look at the pictures and words.
If you teach first grade you know that novelty is KEY! These are another great tool to help students to remember to point to the words.
Magna doodles are great for practicing words we will encounter in texts. Students can write the words big, small, fast, slow and then find them in the book.
Flashlights are a fabulous way to engage your littlest learners. They can use them to “point” to tricky words or find clues in the text.
We use this tape all of the time! It helps us locate and highlight tricky words that I have introduced in the text. It helps us get our mouth ready when placed on the first sound of a word. I use it on punctuation so students can see how to read a sentence. Students place it on chunks in words so they may practice the chunky monkey strategy.
The majority of first graders have no clue what whispering is. They are loud! Whisper phones help students modulate their voice. These are perfect to use at your guided reading table while you are taking a running record. The child you are taking a running record on does not need one – the rest of the group does!
First graders need hands on activities. These retell sliders are a great way for your students to retell the books they read in guided reading groups. Simply slide the bead to tell characters, setting, beginning, middle and end. Grab these free here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17e3yS9xmq_gpqa_0-0BBGFntnCyrR8ZD/viewusp=sharing
What guided readinng tools are your favorites? Add them to the comments so we have a list of tools to choose from!
