Reader's Theater Celebration

Last year I was introduced to Kristin's Reader's Theater partner plays and I fell in LOVE!! I wanted to add a little fun into reading groups so we decided to totally 'run' with these awesome plays! 

My students had been practicing their plays on and off for about two weeks. We really worked on reading with expression, pausing at punctuation, and fluency.  Each student went through the dialogue in their play and decided on what puppets they needed to make for their show.  Adding in puppets was adorable, but they definitely needed a little more practice reading their plays and holding their puppets at the same time! 

I knew I wanted to make this show special for them after all of their hard work, so we decided that we needed to invite some people to come see their plays!  I was introduced to this awesome website called Treat greeting cards. They have cards for every occasion! The neat thing is, you can totally personalize each and every card (you can even have the card scheduled in advance and directly sent to the recipient...perfect way to make sure you don't miss any birthdays, anniversaries, etc). Anyways, I wanted my students to make their own invitations to take ownership in their show.

I sat down with some of the kids and let them look on Treat to pick out which card they wanted to use. We ended up going with this super cute World of Hellos blank card.  We took a quick picture of the 'performers' in front of the puppet show, added that to the card, and ordered them!

The kids were so excited to receive the cards in the mail! We sat down right away and wrote out our invites! 

We ended up inviting another kindergarten class, administration, and parents! Eeks...just the sound of all those people was making me a little nervous! These kids are so brave!

We put our finished cards into the envelopes and we were off to deliver them!

This little one was beyond excited to deliver his invite to our principal, Mr. Peters. He was asking me all sorts of questions on the way, 'Do I get to go in his office? What is in his office? Do you think he will say yes?' So precious!

One of the little girls delivered her card to a fellow kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Ames. It was so cute to watch them deliver the invites and wait there excitedly for the persons response. Everyone loved the personalized invites and of course said 'yes' to attending. ;)

On the day of the show we pushed some tables out of the way and set up chairs for our audience members.  I had my class sit on the floor, the other kindergarten class on the chairs, then administration and my students parents stood behind them. 

Each puppet show is quick.  They only take about a minute each, but they are beyond cute!

The students read with such expression that they had the entire audience laughing and clapping. I was so proud of them!

We performed 6 different shows on this day.  Half of my class performed and the other half will perform on a later date.  The other students are so motivated to practice their plays now and are so excited for their big day!  Even the other kindergarten class that came to watch borrowed our puppet theater to practice their own plays.   

That's when I realized how important this small production was! It got students excited about reading, it made parents excited to continue practicing reading with their children, and the looks on their faces when it was finished was priceless! They were all so happy and proud of what they had done!

When the shows were over, they received a standing ovation! My students took a quick bow before they were quickly congratulated with hugs from their parents and high-fives from the principal.

It is so easy to take something as simple as Reader's Theater and turn it into a really special day for the students and parents!  We received so many compliments on our invitations from Treat and the parents were so impressed with how well the students were reading.  This is definitely something I will continue every year!

Guided Reading: Wrap Up!!

I have been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to share my thoughts on the last couple of chapters in the Freebielicious summer book study! I did finish reading The Next Step in Guided Reading and really enjoyed it. I am looking forward to using a lot of it in my classroom this year--especially the Pre-A and Emergent reading suggestions.

Some of my favorites already shared their thoughts on Chapters 5 and 6 and you can read those below:

Chapter 5 HERE at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits and HERE at Fun in First Grade. 

Chapter 6 HERE at First Grade Blue Skies

In Chapter 5, Jan Richardson suggests having students use a personal word wall. Keep in mind, this chapter discusses students that are 'transitional readers'. So this is for kids that are already reading and they are now concentrating on vocabulary and fluency. This is not something that I have done in class before, but would be interested in trying it out. My class word wall is placed on my biggest bulletin board in the back of the room for all to see and use. My students have had problems in the past locating specific words on the wall (but these are typically my 'lower' students). But, I wouldn't mind trying this out!! It couldn't hurt, right?! ;)

You can grab the word wall by clicking on the image above. I think they would work great glued inside a manilla folder.

During a transitional reading group, you will want to spend the first 3-4 minutes discussing the book. Point out important images or new concepts. Then you will want to move on to discussing new vocabulary words. If the word is defined in the text, then don't tell them the definition. If it is not defined in the text, then give them a simple definition, connect it to the text and to their background knowledge. Lastly, which is my favorite thing to do, have the students turn and talk to each other about the definition. I always clap my hands two times and say 'teach'. Then, the kids clap their hands two times and say 'okay!' I love it!!! For the next 10-15 minutes students will read the book independently. During this time, you will conference individually with students. You can work on fluency, comprehension, characters, etc. Keep track of who you met with since you may not work one-on-one with everyone. For the last 1-2 minutes of the reading group, you can choose a strategy that you want to work on with all of your students. They may beed to do a word study where you focus on digraphs or even the silent e rule! 

On the second day (or when the book is finished being read) of a transitional reading group you will spend 15-20 minutes doing a guided writing portion. Their writing should be a response to the book they read. It is great to use the 'Five Finger Retell'. You can grab your copy below.

Alright, if you are still with me, let's move on to Chapter 6: Fluent Guided Reading Lessons :) 

Spend the first 3 to 4 minutes of this group doing the same as you would with your transitional readers: preview the book and discuss new vocabulary. Keep in mind that you will not tell students the definition if the text provides it. (I use this same exact idea when I do whole group vocabulary).

For the next minute, introduce and demonstrate the focus strategy. This way the students will know exactly what their goal will be. They will spend the next 10 minutes reading silently to themselves. No round robin reading <----totally guilty of this! While the students are reading, you will meet with individuals to discuss vocabulary or comprehension.

When students are done reading, you will come together again for a 5 minute discussion/teaching point. You can ask students about challenging words and you can even add new words onto their 'new word list'. This list can be kept in their guided writing journals for access during guided reading groups. Click below for your 'New Word List' copy.

If you still have time, you can start your guided writing portion. If not, you can save your guided writing portion for the following day. During this time, students will write a response to the text with a comprehensive focus. 

Some options for guided writing with a fictional text:

-Character Analysis: Students will choose one character and write about their traits using examples from the text.

-I Poem: Students select a character from the story and write a poem from the character's point of view (I am ____, I wonder ____, I see ____, etc)

-Alternate Ending: Students will write a paragraph describing a different way the text could have ended.

Some options for guided writing with an informational text:

-Chapter Summaries: Each student selects one chapter from the

table of contents and writes a paragraph that describes the most

important information she/he learned in that chapter

-Compare/Contrast: If the text structure is description, students

could select two topics and write a paragraph that compares

the ideas and one that contrasts them. They could compare and

contrast two animals, two landforms, etc. (whatever matches the information in the text).

-Main Idea/Details: Students will write a paragraph that uses details and examples from the text to describe the main idea. 

Believe it or not, I am working on my Guided Reading Pack: Part 2. This pack will be useful for Emergent Readers :)

Guided Reading: Chapter 4

Welcome to week 4 of the Freebielicious Summer book study!  When discussing Chapter 3 last week in The Next Step in Guided Reading, I posted a couple pictures of my Guided Reading Starter Kit. Well...it is ready! This pack discusses how to start teaching rotations/centers to get your students ready for guided reading. It has initial assessments, rhyming cards, syllable cards, etc. You can see a preview below or click HERE to take a closer look on TPT.  

This week I am lucky enough to host the study with 2 of my wonderful friends, Maria from Kinder-Craze and Krissy from Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business.

This chapter discusses students that are in the early reading stage. These students know their letters and sounds, but may still be learning how to apply their knowledge in reading. They also know how to read about 20 sight words.

Preparation

Just like I discussed in the previous post on Pre-A and Emergent Readers, you will assess your Early Reading students to see their exact level. You will want to pay close attention to their comprehension and self-monitoring skills. You will also want to keep a sight word list available.

This way you can track the sight words you teach and easily write them down.  Jan Richardson suggests to not only keep track of the sight words that students know how to read, but also whether or not they know how to write the sight word. You will maintain this record and use it to help select guided reading books, plan your word studies, and create your dictated sentences for guided writing.

I keep all of my materials for my 4 different groups in these bins

They stay right on the counter behind me and definitely help me keep my materials easily accessible and organized!

Description of Lesson (a 2 day plan)

Sight Word Review(1 minute): Quickly pass out white boards and have the students write a couple of sight words that were taught during previous guided reading lessons. If they can spell the word correctly, check it off on their sight word checklist. Students should have about 6 checkmarks next to the same sight word before they actually 'know' the word. This way, they have spelled the word 6 separate times and spelled it correctly 6 times.  I LOVE these white boards and so do my kids. I actually bought an entire class set. They love to flip them around like they are 'revealing their sight word to me...somehow they turn everything into a game 

Introduction (3-4 minutes): Introduce the book you are going to read. Tell them the characters names and the problem in the story. Have students conduct a picture walk. While they are looking through the book, point out any new sight words or any new vocabulary that they may come across.

First Reading (8-10 minutes on the first day and 5-8 on the second day): Allow students to quietly read to themselves. As they are reading, you can work with individual students on a target strategy (self-monitoring, decoding, fluency, comprehension). This will be the best time to differentiate your instruction! If other students finish early, they can reread the book.

Teaching Points (1-2 minutes): Decide what your students really need to work on. If they need to work on monitoring, then you can read a sentence incorrectly and have students pick out the error. If students need to work on rereading, then you can choose a difficult page and have them read it again. You can also teach a specific decoding strategy at this time or have students reread an easier page to practice fluency. I know a major teaching point in my class always seems to be comprehension! 

Discussion Prompt (1-2 minutes): Prepare an open ended question about the book for students to answer. I think this is a biggie with Common Core too :)

Teach One Sight Word (1 minute): If students already know between 50-60 sight words you can eliminate this activity. Otherwise, try to choose one new sight word to teach per book. Jan Richardson mentions some of my students' favorite activities to help teach sight words! What's Missing, Mix & Fix, table writing, and whiteboards are all fun and help kids learn new words.

Word Study (day 1 only-5 minutes): Pick one word study activity that matches your students decoding/phonics needs. One of the activities that I do a lot (because my students usually need it), is a digraph picture sort. I love that Jan Richardson said to only concentrate on sh, th, and ch and leave out wh. I find that wh confuses children! I also do A LOT of making words. I don't use magnetic letters, mainly because I don't have that many, but instead I use small letter cards that came with my Treasures reading series. When I get the letters our for the making words activity, my children are usually like 'YES!!' They love this!

Guided Writing (day 2 only-5 minutes): Make simple journals for your students by folding a piece of construction paper in half and adding lined paper. I add paper without handwriting lines at the beginning of the year and then change over to handwriting lines when they are ready. Some options that I like for the guided writing portion are dictated sentences and writing about the beginning/middle/end of the story you read. During this time you can make sure children are spelling their sight words correctly, using the correct letter formation, and sounding out unknown words correctly.


It's A Blog Hop!!

Make sure to check out my other wonderful hostesses thoughts on this chapter by clicking on their blog below!  We would also love for you to link up too!!

Guided Reading: Chapter 3

I can't believe we are already in week 3 of the Freebielicious Summer book study! This summer is just going by way too fast! In Chapter 3 of The Next Step in Guided Reading, Jan Richardson does a great job of explaining exactly how to start guided reading! This week a few of the Freebielicious girls are hosting. We have Marsha from Differentiated Kindergarten, Jeannie from Kindergarten Lifestyle, Mandy from A Special Kind of Class, and Lidia from Kinder Alphabet.

This chapter was a biggie for me. Not just because I teach kindergarten and have a lot of emergent readers, but because I teach at a school that is heavily populated with ELL students. We get a lot of new students from South America, in all grades, and some need to start from the beginning as well! I honestly learned so much from this chapter and will be adjusting my reading groups this year for sure!

Letter Tracing
After reading this chapter I realized I don't have my emergent readers do this enough. So, I have a new plan! Jan Richardson suggests that students should use letter tracing books that include  the same pictures that are used elsewhere in the classroom. Right now I have the same images on my ABC posters and on my word wall.  

Every morning we sing the ABCs, 'A for apple, /a/, /a/.'
What I did today was create another version of my ABC posters on half size pages.

 I am going to print these and bind them into a book. I will have enough copies made for a reading group. These books will sit at a center. The first couple of minutes of that center, students will trace their letters and sing the same song we sing in the morning. I also made a black and white version to print and have students keep in their book bins.

Preparing/Teaching Pre-A lessons
Jan Richardson suggests keeping groups no larger than 4 students. Sometimes this is just not possible. I usually have 5-6 students per group; however, I do try my best to keep my struggling readers in a smaller group. Groups should last between 15-20 minutes and  should include 4 different items:
Working With Letters and Names- (3 to 4 minutes) It is important to know exactly what letters students need to work on within each reading group. Jan Richardson suggests creating a letter names and sounds checklist for each group-with all students names/scores on the same page. I have created one here that you are more than welcome to use. Just click on the image below.

Run the page, seen above, front and back so you have enough space for each child in your group. Having this checklist in front of you will be a huge help. If you notice that one student needs to work on a particular letter than you can specifically ask them to locate it in a book you are reading, etc.

Now, in a sheet protector, put an alphabet chart (with the same pictures that are used throughout your room) and a sheet on the opposite side for Rainbow Writing. On the Rainbow Writing sheet you will write the child's name to be used during the group. It is important to start letter knowledge by teaching the letters in a child's name. Children will trace over their name with dry erase markers.

Working With Sounds- (2 to 3 minutes) During this portion of your group, students should clap syllables, work with rhymes, and conduct picture sorts. Most of these activities I always include in my thematic packs on TPT. It is great to use those lesson activities during this time. However, when you clap syllables, you can just use the students alphabet chart or words that are in their guided reading book. I have syllable pictures included in my Guided Reading Starter kit that you can use as well. 

When working with rhymes, students should be able to hear 2 words that rhyme. The teacher should say 2 words and students should be able to give a 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down' depending on whether the 2 words rhyme or not. You can glue these thumbs onto popsicle sticks for students to use:

I am also including rhyming cards in my guided reading pack. 

When students are ready, they should be able to match 2 rhyming pictures together. 

Lastly, during this 2 to 3 minute time period, you should do a quick picture sort. Give each student 4 picture cards (2 for each sound you are sorting) and tell them what the picture is. Write the 2 letters you are sorting onto a white board or piece of paper. Have students take turns saying their picture, the letter sound, and the letter. Then, let them sort their picture. Don't rush them...you don't want them guessing. In my guided reading pack I am including pictures for a consonant sort as well.  

Working With Books- (5 minutes) Choose a simple guided reading book for this part. The book should be small enough for each student to hold in their hands. Start off by doing a picture walk, encouraging students to use complete sentences. Then, read the book with the students before having them read independently.  During these 5 minutes make sure to work on concepts of print as well: concept of a word, first/last word, concept of a letter, first/last letter, punctuation, etc.
Interactive Writing- (5 minutes) Dictate a simple sentence to the students with four to six words. This sentence can relate to the book you just read to keep students engaged. Have the students repeat the sentence to you. As they are repeating the sentence, pass out their alphabet charts and a dry erase marker. Make a line for each word in the sentence on a sentence strip. Have one student help you write. As you sound out the sentence with the group, one student will write the sounds they hear while the other students will find those sounds on their alphabet chart. During this time, don't use inventive spelling. For all of the sounds the students cannot hear, the teacher will write on the sentence strip for them. After you are done writing the sentence, cut the sentence apart and have students work together as a group to put the sentence back together. 
You can find all of the above information and activities in my Guided Reading Kit:

Preparing/Teaching Emergent lessons
Now students are ready to learn sight words! Similarly to how you keep track of students letters/sounds, you will keep track of the sight words that they know. You can write the sight word in the first column and make a check in the students' column as they learn that sight word. You will have one form per group (click below for your copy).

When choosing the 'just right' book for this group, consider the following: 
-Story makes sense
-Strong picture support
-Mostly familiar concepts
-some familiar sight words
-some repetitive phrases
-one new sight word
I am using Journeys reading series this year and haven't had a chance to look at their guided readers yet; however, all of the series that I have used in the past have great emergent readers. I also have Maria's, from Kinder-Craze, Bundle of Books. They are fantastic! They introduce a new sight word, they are repetitive, they have familiar vocabulary, etc. Here is a student working with Maria's books.

I also love how students can add these books into their book bins to practice independently. 

Looking Ahead
Next week I will be one of the ones hosting Chapter 4. I am looking forward to it!! As always, let me know if you have any questions!!

Guided Reading: Chapter 2

Welcome to week 2 of our Freebielicious book study! This week we are digging in deeper to Chapter 2 in the Next Step to Guided Reading by Jan Richarson which is all about assessments! Our favorite ;)

Initial Assessments

The first week of school it is usually easy to assess whether the students can write their first/last name and their capital/lower case letters. I actually give them a page for their memory books that says 'This is how I write my name.'  This page is a perfect page to keep for memories and also for me to see who is capable. Going into the second week of school I begin to test their letter names and sounds knowledge and I give them a very simple list of sight words to read (if they know majority of their letters/sounds). About a month into school I FAIR test. This is a Florida assessment that is done three times throughout the year and it tests vocabulary, phonemic awareness, letters/sounds, listening/reading comprehension, etc.

I also take an informal writing assessment the second week of school. Most of my students are usually not writing at all, but some will surprise me and be able to sound out an entire sentence!  Like Jan Richardson says, a writing sample can show you a child's phonemic awareness, vocabulary, and concepts of print. You can look at the writing samples and ask yourself- Did the child create a story? Did the student record sounds in sequence? Did they spell any words correctly? Can they hear digraphs and blends? Did they write left to right?

Using These Assessments to Form Reading Groups

After I am finished with their initial assessments (usually the end of the second week of school) I can place them into a reading group. I make my groups; however, I don't officially start an actual reading group! We are still practicing rotating and I am still teaching them their literacy centers as discussed in week one of the book study. I like my groups to be no larger than 5 students; however, there are times where I am at 6 due to increasing class sizes! I am very flexible with my groups. One student that only knows half of their letter names and sounds may get placed in a middle level group. But, that same student may progress surprisingly fast and have to move up a group. They may even trade places with a student who knows almost all of their letters and sounds, but is not catching on to phonemic awareness. So these groups have the capability to constantly change.

Some Questions Teachers Ask About Assessment

Should I introduce the text used for an assessment?/

Should the student read the text silently first? No, a text that you are using for an assessment should not be one that the child has ever seen before. If the text has pictures, you can allow the child to do a picture walk. However, our FAIR test does not have pictures and the students will not be able to see the text at all prior to reading it. This is because you want to be able to see and note all of their initial mistakes.

What if the student asks for help? You try to remain as neutral as possible. Ask them to 'try again' or 'continue reading'. In our FAIR testing after a certain amount of time I can tell them the word that they are having trouble with, but I also mark it as a miscue. 

How do I assess comprehension? After my students read a book I ask them to close their books and tell me everything they remember. I listen to see if they remember the characters names, things the characters said, etc. I also ask them questions informally. Our FAIR test will test their comprehension more formally than I would in a reading group.

How are texts leveled? We use a reading series, Journeys. This will be my first year with it (we are switching from Treasures). The reading series comes with leveled readers-beyond, on-level, and approaching. 

How do I know when to move a student to a higher-level reading group? In my opinion, you just know! You can tell that a student is progressing faster than his/her group. They are reading their text fluently, accurately, AND they understand it. This means they need a more challenging group.

It's A Blog Hop!

Mary from Sharing Kindergarten is hosting this week. You can hop over there to read how other teachers assess their students or you can link up your own post! 

Next Week

I am so excited to be one of the hostesses next week! Come back and join me to discuss Guided Reading Instruction for Pre-A and Emergent Readers.

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I wanted to let you all know that I have redone a couple of my old units! Make sure to re-download them if you have already purchased them! You can see them by clicking on the images below :)

Guided Reading: Chapter 1

Welcome to the summer book study! I am so excited to start this study of The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richarson. Each week a few of the Freebielicious members will rotate hosting the book study, but each week you can link up with us and share your experiences or thoughts! If you don't have a blog, that is fine! Share your thoughts by leaving us a comment!

Establishing Routines and Procedures

The first two weeks of school I literally follow the exact routine that Chapter 1 discusses. I have 4 main tables in my classroom where students sit. After my lesson I send the children back to their tables. I put 4 different bins at each table. They usually consist of play-doh, puzzles, manipulatives, and white boards (or something I know the students can do independently). After 10 minutes I ring the bell. I say, 'Simon says clean up' followed by 'Simon says push your chair in' and 'Simon says point to your next center'. I quickly look around to make sure all of the students are pointing to the correct table, if they aren't I help them. Then I say, 'Simon says switch!' and they are switch to the next center or bin. 

The second week of school I will do the same thing; however, with only 3 bins. The 4th center is now the 'teacher' center where I will be introducing a literacy center to them: listening to reading, something from word work, something from work on writing, etc.

The only difference between what I do and the book says, it that I have each group go to each center everyday. In the book, they will go to each center at one point during the week. This way I can teach more centers in a shorter amount of time. If your class is not ready to move this fast, then it would be a better idea to follow the schedule in the book.

The third week of school I have 2 independent bins out, one center that they already know, and the fourth center is with me, learning something new. This continues on until I feel comfortable enough knowing that my students can work independently at all four rotations.

Independent Literacy Activities

I combine my own literacy centers with the Daily 5 and I LOVE it! You can read more about the way my centers are set up here.

Reading: My students each have their own book bins. In their bins they have books that can be used for buddy reading or read to self. Some of my students will even work on readers theater. All my students also keep their poetry books in their book bins. Their poems are a wonderful way to practice reading fluency and they LOVE to read them!

Work on Writing: I introduce different writing activities one at a time, but eventually I can leave all of the options out for students to choose from! As they learn the writing activity I add it into the organizer seen below: 

Students that go to this center are given the choice of what they would like to work on for writing. All of my writing activities can be found HERE and HERE. Once these are taught, they are totally independent! 

Word Work: My word work center is full of different activities! Sometimes I let the students choose what they want to do and other times I assign them a specific activity. Most of my word work center activities are from my thematic packs that I sell on TPT, but other go-to word work centers that my students love can be seen by clicking on the images below.

 ABC books (great for the beginning of the year)

 Play-doh word work

Great for white boards or writing with magnetic letters, play-doh, etc.

Working on beginning sounds, CVC words, etc. with magnetic letters at the word work center.

Listen to Reading: I use this center for a couple different things. My students can listen to a book on c.d., on the computer, OR on or iPad.  We also have a great reading program we use called iStation, so this is where they would complete their online work as well.

Star Table: Now this is the center I have that is different than a center you would find in the D5, but it is where you would include the centers that Jan Richardson discusses such as; social students and science. The star table is a designated table in the classroom where I usually have a parent volunteer assisting students!

Minimizing Interruptions and Making Sure Students are on task

Both of these are ALL about practice, practice, practice and model, model, model!! The better you teach each center and activity (take your time!), the better the students will be at that center. You have to have high expectations and remind them DAILY of those! Before each center I tell them what I am looking for! My students always want to impress me! I also am always using my clip chart. When I see a student doing really well at read to self, or two students reading to each other wonderfully, I ask them to move their name up! This alerts all students to be on their best behavior.

It's a blog hop!

Make sure to click on one of the blogs below to read more about the first chapter of Guided Reading. There are so many great ideas!

 

Next week...