Guided Reading in Kindergarten

This is my first year teaching kindergarteners reading and I. love. it. I seriously can't get enough. They are just so precious and reading instruction is always so fun with those kiddos. I created a set of guided reading activities slowly and I've been testing them on my students and on my son who is learning to read right now. So far, they've been a hit with the kids and I've seen a lot of growth as a result.  So, if you're looking for some guided reading activities for your kindergarten kids that are hands-on, eye-catching and effective, you might like this set!

I made some short, simple stories (as in one-two sentence stories). Believe it or not, these one-two sentence stories have a character, an event, and most have dialogue. I have my students "whisper read" them, using their strategies to read accurately. Then I have them reread them a few times for fluency and to work on expression with the dialogue and stopping at punctuation. Of course, this is at the basic level, so it's not perfect, but I think it's so important to introduce and model this skill anyway.  After reading, they can spin the story spinner to answer questions about their mini story. Comprehension...check. fluency... check. using strategies to read accurately... check. Gaining confidence... hopefully check!

In the picture above, he is pointing out who the character was in the text.

Here the student is underlining what the character is saying.

My favorite might be these sequencing cards. Each "story" has four cards. Students read the cards and put them in order. 

My son was all about this! 

I love using fluency sentence strips. It gives students an opportunity to practice reading sight words, sounding out words, and using picture clues. These are perfect for my newest readers.

Shawn's favorite was the sight word spin. He loved going through and mastering each list. When he read a column correctly, he could color in a smile. 

If you are looking for activities to spice up your guided reading groups for those beginning readers, come by my blog to see more:

Going on an Easter Sight Word Hunt

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you are starting your week off well. As you know, Easter is right around the corner. I blogged a few weeks ago about some Easter activities. I have two more for you! (And both are freebies.) I love a good sight word hunt. I use these sight word hunts in my literacy center packs for kindergarten, but I didn't include one in my April pack. So... I thought I'd make one to share with you all today.

My students LOVE these sight word hunts, and so does my son. It's a great way to practice those tricky words! Cut out these cards and put them around the room.

When your students find them, they read them and write them on  their student sheet.

Click on any picture to download.

The other freebie is an oldie but a goodie. It's actually meant to be an at-home activity. It's a scavenger hunt for Easter morning. Kids will read the clues that lead them to their special Easter surprise (a book).

Click on the picture to go to the old blog post with this freebie.

I hope you all have a great week! 

Spring into Science, Hop into Reading, and More!

Hello! I am currently enjoying my spring break in the rain. Seriously though, I WILL enjoy my rainy spring break. I had one sunny day, so I can't complain. ;) Since it's spring break, it is time for me to start thinking about spring and Easter activities for home and the classroom. I have a few different ideas to share with you today.  Here is just a teaser, but if you head on over to my blog, you'll get all the details. :) One of these will be a freebie over there too!

Spring into Science:

Use the scientific method to figure out how to make an egg float:

Take a classic experiment and give it a twist to get your students thinking about the scientific method.

Hop into Reading:

Use the bunny to hop through words as you sound out. 

(I also included some vowel teams to replace the short vowels)

Build some "egg-cellent" words:

Place eggs in the basket to make words.

Make "egg-cellent" Inferences:

Read clues and make an inference about what is inside of the egg.

Head on over to my blog to see more!