Guided Reading Essentials

Yesterday I shared a Periscope about the essentials that I keep behind my guided reading table. Thank you to all of the viewers and hearts! :) Just in case you missed it, I thought I would do a round-up of the things I shared.

This is what my small group table looks like. On the top you will see that I have a numbered bin and binder for each group. I keep the lesson plans, data, and notes for each group in their individual binders. I also keep each groups' books and written work in those bins.

Under the bins you will see two green buckets. This is where I keep all of my essentials for guided reading and math. These are products and resources that I want at my fingertips because we use them all the time!

Here is a peek into the contents:

Alphabet Charts and Flashcards

These are especially important at the beginning of the year, but I use them all year long. The chart is from our Breathrough to Literacy program, but you can download them off of Teachers Pay Teachers as well. We use these to practice letter identification, sounds, and for reference when writing. 

Alphabet Game and Paper Keyboards

I found this alphabet game at Walmart last year and the kiddos love it! They asked to play it all year. They draw out a cookie and have to identify the letter that is on it. If the cookie has a bite taken out of it, they have to put all their cookies back into the jar! As the year progresses, I have them identify the letter sound or a word that starts with that letter. 

The keyboards are a free download from the blog Primarily Speaking. We get these out to practice typing sight words.

Sight Word Flashcards

The Crayola flashcards are from Dollar Tree and have examples of words with digraph and blend sounds. I keep these so I have a word list ready for any sounds we are practicing. I made the sight word flash cards with index cards. Often I spread the cards out across the table and have the students find and "slap" a card as quickly as they can.

Elkonin/Sound Boxes

I actually have sound box stamps, but you can print off many free versions. I put ours in page protectors so we can wipe them off and use them each week. (These need to be cleaned from last year!) We always start with two sound words and work our way up. Love using these to help students segment sounds!

Question Spinners

This set of guided reading question spinners is from Creative Teaching Press. They include a book preview, story elements, and reading comprehension questions. We don't use these every day, but they are a great way to keep the kiddos interested and volunteering to answer questions.

I also shared some books that have been extremely helpful to me when planning guided reading lessons. You can see all of the tabs I have marked in there! Both of these books are great for primary students of all reading levels.

If you have any questions about our guided reading or any of the resources, please feel free to leave a comment below!