Guided Reading Literacy Work Stations

I am in the process of making Literacy Work Stations for my students to work on during guided reading.  I don't use the Daily 5 (gasp) because I prefer work stations.  I usually start the second week of school and I don't have to wait for my kids to build stamina in order to work independently for 15-20 min.  I am not saying that my way is better, but it works for me.

I meet with every reading group, every day.  I know I have said this before, but it is still true today: Guided Reading is the BEST part of my day.

I usually have one group (4-5 students) working with me, one group (4-5 students) at their desks working on an assignment, one group (4-5 students) at Literacy work stations, and one group (4-5 students) on computers and chrome books (I have 4 computers and 3 chrome books in my room right now.)  Depending on the number of students in my class, those groups could increase to 6.

My rotation poster looks like this:

Students working independently at their desks may be working on:
1.  a spelling or phonics assignment (early in the year)  Here's an example of us working on ai/ay ~ we did ai one day and ay the next day

2.  a writing assignment (later in the year)
3.  science or social studies activities
4.  math facts or more math practice
5.  or anything else that I need to do during that time

My early finishers usually read AR books and take tests or write in their journals.

My school still uses the Journeys reading series, but we are up for a new adoption this year and I have no idea what we will pick.

So, I am creating work station packs that are generic and can be used with any reading series.  I have Week 1 in my TpT store now.  I started with short a CVC words.  (while I am putting them in the order I prefer, they can always be rearranged according to your needs.)

I do not like to grade a ton of papers, so I have been putting the recording sheets inside reusable Write & Wipe pockets like the ones found  HERE.  Slide the recording sheet in the pocket, students write answers with a dry erase marker and erase when finished.  It saves me time (no grading) and it saves paper for those of you with paper limits.  I also use them at the reading table.  Here is a picture of my kiddos using them during guided reading:

I have also attached the TEKS and Common Core standards to each work station.  This will be helpful for anyone who has to attach standards to lesson plans, like me~😢.

Note:  I do not claim to be a Common Core standards expert, so if you see a mistake, feel free to give me constructive feedback.

If you are interested in checking out this pack, click on the picture below.  And if you would like more info on how I do my Guided Reading block, comment below and I will try to answer your questions in a future post.

Happy Teaching!

No Interruptions Please

One of my goals every year is to figure out how to run reading groups without any interruptions from the students who are at centers or working at their desks. 

One idea I ran across was from a video I watched on Teaching Channel.  The teacher tells her class not to interrupt unless it is one of the 3 B's:  burning, barfing or bleeding. You can check out her video HERE.

I recently made this poster to hang close to where I do reading groups.  Students can see it and hopefully be reminded that they don't need to bother me during reading groups unless it is something really important like one of the 3 B's.   (you can grab a copy by clicking on the picture)

 

 

I also wear a purple necklace (like the one pictured below) that I picked up at our local dollar store.  I got 5 of the necklaces for $1.  My students know that if I have the necklace on, they are not to interrupt the reading group.

 

We are now on our second week of reading groups/centers and a handful of my little firsties are still working on not interrupting.

 

I would love to hear ideas that work in your classroom that help minimize interruptions.

Reading Group Rotation

Thought I would share how I do my reading group rotations.  I have three reading groups and I meet with every group every day listening to them read, working on sight words and other skills.  Here is the chart that I use and by about the end of the third week we start this, the kids can pretty much do this without much guidance from me.

Here is how it works:

Before we start, I give everyone their seatwork assignment and this is done "at your desk".  I usually tie this into whatever theme we are studying and right now that would be apples. 

I read a book about it, then give an assignment.

When we start the rotation (see the picture below):

Group A would be at their desk while B is a the reading table and C is at centers.

After 15-20 min. we switch

Group A goes to centers, B goes to their desk to do seatwork and C comes to reading table.

After 15-20 min. we switch again

Group A comes to reading table, B goes to centers and C does their seatwork.

I only have 5 centers because the kids only go to one center a day and by Fri., they have visited every center. 

My centers are:

ABC (which is my word work center)

123 (which is my math center)

Science/Graphing center

Writing center

Art center

In the picture below, you will notice that each group is color coded: the red names are group A and if you look at only the red names you will notice that 2 students are the most that will ever be at a center together so this helps cut down on noise in the classroom while I work with reading groups. 

Sorry if this seems as clear as mud.  It may seem really complicated at first, but once you understand it, it flows pretty easily.  If you have any questions, please ask and I will do my best to answer.