1st Grade Guided Reading Lesson- Jan Richardson Model

Guided Reading

Guided reading is where the teacher leads a small group lesson. The lessons usually come from students needs after learning whole group lessons. Students are grouped dynamically or flexible, which means they can be moved from one group to another if needed. The goal of guided reading is to create independent readers who use reading strategies successfully (Fountas and Pinnell). The teacher models strategies to use while reading the text to promote higher level thinking and then uses a gradual release technique to give students the opportunity to use the strategy on their own while reading. When in these small groups students should each have their own leveled text. This does not mean that each student must have the same exact book. As long as the books are the same genre and the strategy can be taught from that book it is ok. Allowing them to have the choice of leveled text will also help to create independent readers. This gives the students the opportunity to find a just right text for themselves that they can use to try out the new strategies. We want students to have texts that aren't too easy but aren't too hard. The texts should be a ladder of progress, just challenging enough so that they will help the children grow as readers (Fountas and Pinnell). Why don't we see teachers giving students in the same group different texts?

While the teacher is meeting with these small groups the other students should be actively engaged in centers provided around the room. You could follow the Daily 5 model with centers such as:

read to self, listening to reading, read to someone, word work or work on writing. You can even use the Daily 5 but also incorporate centers on other subject areas. 

What are the Parts of a Guided Reading Lesson? 

(From Guided Reading The Romance and the Reality by Fountas and Pinnell)

• Introduction to the text: to scaffold the reading
• A reading of the text with some brief teacher interaction: students read the text softly or silently
• Discussion of the text (for comprehension)  
• Teaching points on strategies
• Word Work

What to have at your Guided Reading Area:

• Ipads
• Graphic Organizers
• Clock/ Timer
• List of Teacher Prompts (on clipboard)
• Organizer at table or behind the table
• Binder with forms/ lesson plans
• Whiteboards or contact paper 
• magnetic letters
• highlighters, markers
• postits 
• motivational tools for students

I have found tons of blogs and pins on pinterest about guided reading organization! Here are some of my favorite organization strategies I have found:

Books on Guided Reading:

Science doesn't occur too often in the classroom but these fun and simple science experiments can include common core in reading, writing and math! Science is a fantastic way to get children to do higher level thinking. They will develop their own questions and figure out ways to answer their questions through experimenting and observations. So stock up on those mason jars and get ready to experiment!

10 Science Activities:

1. How Arctic Animals Stay Warm

Ever wonder how arctic animals like polar bears, stay warm in icy water? This activity will have you experimenting with crisco to demonstrate how animals blubber (or fat) keeps them warm in cold conditions.

2. Ocean Layers in a Jar

This activity will give students the opportunity to see that the ocean isn't just a big body of water, but that it is made up of different layers. Within each layer lives different creatures. Explore with your class the different creatures that live in each of the layers.  

3. Tornado in a Jar

Kids will be fascinated with how a tornado forms. Since most children don't ever experience a real life tornado (thank goodness) this will allow them to see how they look without the danger. 

4.  Water Beads

Watch how the water beads begin to expand as they absorb water. Children can experiment to see how the expansion, by absorbing water will change the bead's shape and other characteristics. 

5.  Will it Dissolve?

Lay out several different substances and use water to see which ones will dissolve. Have children learn how to make predictions by deciding which substances they believe will dissolve and why. 

6.  Gummy Bear Experiment!

This sweet activity will have all children saying whooaa!! See what happens to a gummy bear when left in water overnight. This activity even has a scientific method sheet to use with the children when doing the experiment. I've also found you can use different liquids with the gummy bears to expand the experiment.

7. Elephant Toothpaste

Have children take full control of this exciting experiment. Show the children what happens when you use water, soap and oxygen! Then let them make predictions about what would happen if they added more water. Let them add more water to find out what happens!

8. Ballon Powered Lego Car

This STEAM activity will have students fully engaged. The students will build a lego car, attach a ballon to the lego car and then they will blow the balloon up and watch their car go-go-go! Have them see what different car structures will work with this activity. You can even hold races between the cars and talk about why one may have gone farther or faster than the other. 

9. Walking Water

Kids will get to watch how colored water will walk across paper towels to fill up an empty jar! You can even use the experiment to demonstrate what happens when two different colors mix together.

10.  Magnetic Force

Children will conduct this experiment to find out how magnets work. Have children come up with their own questions about the experiment and to find ways to answer their questions through exploring with the pipe cleaners and magnets. 

10 Good Science Reads:

Take a look at some of these science books that will really draw students in! You can even use some of these books as a way to get the students engaged on different topics and use them before  experiments to help students have an understanding of the background information.

(Source: Amazon)

1. All the Water in the World by George Ella Lyon

Through this book children will learn about the cycle of water. Where does it go after running through the faucet? Where does it go after falling out of a raincloud?

2. Growing Patterns by Sarah C. Campbell

This book uses photography that will have the students seeing real pictures of different plants and flowers. The book goes through and talks about Fibonacci numbers, which involves number patterns. Students will find out where these number patterns can be found naturally all around us. 

3.  Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

We may not be able to have our students physically see all the different animals in the world and their sizes, but with this book the animals will be brought to life. Students can compare themselves to the different sizes of animals. Just how much bigger is an alligator's head than yours?

4. Change It!: Solids, Liquids, Gases and You! by Adrienne Mason

This book will help children to understand about the matter around them. It also zones in on each form of matter: sold, liquid, and gas. 

5. What's Alive? by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld 

Children will learn how they are similar to their pets, whether a dog or a cat or even a fish. But they will also learn what makes them different from their toys or other objects around them. It all has to do with what is alive and what isn't. 

6. Over in the Ocean: In a Coral Reef by Marianne Berkes

Learn about what lives in the coral reef and how animals have differences. Children will be able to make observations throughout the book about the different characteristics of the animals that live in the coral reef. This book also incorporates math and throughout the book children can have fun counting the animals on each page. The book even includes extension ideas for curriculum. 

7. The Next Time You See a Firefly by Emily Morgan

This book will give children the opportunity to explore science and to think about fireflies differently the next time they see one. They will have a whole new view on these dazzling insects. Children will learn why they light up and what kind of life they live underground before appearing in the nighttime. 

8. From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

Find out how plants and flowers reproduce and what the process includes. It takes a lot more than just planting a see into the ground. 

9. What If You Had Animal Feet? by Sandra Markle 

Animals have all kinds of different feet. Read to find out why animals have their very own unique feet and what their functions are. 

10. Your Skin Holds You In by Becky Baines

A book all about skin. It tells about the different colors skin comes in, how it shrinks and expands and it even talks about animal's skin!

10 Science Websites/Blogs:

1. Primarythemepark.com

This blog has a bunch of different printables for units on plants. This blog has graphic organizers on how seeds travel, how gardens grow, parts of a plant and so much more!

2. Tornados on Zunal

Have students learn all about tornados by becoming a storm chaser! They will look around on different websites about tornados and keep track of their findings in a tornado journal. 

3. Technologyrocksseriously.com

Organized into topics, this is your go to place for resources on a variety of different science lessons.

4. National Geographic for Kids 

Watch youtube videos, play games, take quizzes and so much more on many different science topics.

5. Kidsbiology.com

Learn about all the life on earth through interactive games and activities. 

6. NASA Space Place

NASA just for kids! Let kids explore the solar system.

7. Weather Wiz Kids

Explore all the different types of weather with meteorologist Crystal Wicker.

8. Around the Kampfire

This blog provides many science unit activities, like the life cycle of plants and the butterfly cycle. You can even find classroom ideas related to other subjects.

9. Splash ABC

Watch videos, read articles and play games on dozens of science topics. Resources for teachers are also available. 

10.  Global Climate Change

A student's guide to global climate change. Let students learn how our world is always changing.

Science Investigation Box:

Plan a week around science while still meeting common core standards. A science themed investigation box filled with different tasks or different objects to explore, will make science come to life. I did one of these based on animal survival. The investigation box was created so students could learn more about animal habitats and adaptation. In the box I included the following four tasks along with some books that related to the theme. 

Task 1

Adaptation:

Fill tub up with ice-cold water. Stick your hand into the water for 20-30 seconds then remove your hand from the water. Now stick the same hand back into the water. Does the water feel as cold as it did the first time?

Task 2

Body Fat:

Keep the tub full of water but this time before sticking your hand into the water place a plastic glove over your hand while making a fist and cover it with shortening. After the hand is covered, place plastic wrap over the shortening. Now you can place your hand into the water. Does the water still feel as cold?

Task 3

Habitat:

Using the three habitat pictures, the plastic animals and habitat mat, place the animals under their correct habitat

Task 4

Hibernate/Migrate

Using the hibernate/migrate mat and cut out animals, categorize the animals by the ones that hibernate and the animals that migrate.

Grab your Hibernate or Migrate mat here: Hibernation freebie

Books that were related to the theme to give students more background knowledge on the different animals and their habitats

I hope you enjoyed this post and can now find ways to include science in your classroom!

How Do Children Learn?

Preservice teachers are always finding creative ways to teach the students, while still following common core and the curriculum, but do they really understand how children learn?

When teaching new vocabulary I always want to try to connect to the child's prior knowledge or background. Anytime I can hook onto something they already know, I know they will learn something new. I will go over the words again and again and again and have them use the words repeatedly. I want them to be able to speak and write the words. I teach explicit strategies through word work for example. By using new to known, repetition in context, deeper processing, use/application and explicit strategies I'm confident students will learn new words.

Thank you Dr. Slattery!<-------Helped me to understand how children learn : )

Kindergarten

Each semester for school we are to complete 35 hours in a classroom. I happen to be placed in a kindergarten class and I absolutely love it! Not only do I love this grade but the teacher I am with is amazing. I'm hoping I'll be given the opportunity to student teach with her next spring. She's going to be the perfect mentor teacher for me as it seems our philosophies in education are very similar. 

This year has been has been mind-blowing! It's the first time I had the chance to be with the kindergartners from when they first arrived to school to the near end. I can't believe all that they have accomplished. I mean some of these kids went from not knowing letters of the alphabet to reading books! I enjoy the time I get to work one on one with the students, improving their reading and writing skills. Each week I am given a lesson plan with a word chunk focus that I work on with different students. I go onto Pinterest, of course and look up all the different activities that relate to the word chunks. Here are a few of my recreated examples that I did with the students:

When the students did this activity, only the picture would be showing and the word would be covered by folding the paper over and clamping it with a clothes pin. The students knew their focus was on -all words, so they had to look at the picture to figure out what the the -all word was. Once they thought they knew what it was they would make the word then write the word. When they finished making and writing the word they could undo the clothespin to see if they had the correct word. 

Here the students worked with -sh words. They would look at the picture and then write out the word in the sound boxes. I was excited when the students were able to identify the -ar sound in shark because that was a sound we had worked on a few weeks before this.

The students and I had already worked on the -or words, so here the students had to choose if the word had -ar or -or in it by saying the picture that was on the popsicle stick. They would place the clothespin with the star over the -ar or -or. You could make this a self correct activity by placing a red dot on the other side of the popsicle stick behind the correct answer. I'm not a fan of self correct, I would probably have them fill out a graphic organizer and then I'd  look at their answers instead.You can get them from http://www.classroomdiy.com/2013/02/r-controlled-vowel-sticks.html

I also wanted to share what I experienced while at my placement. A couple weeks ago the school had a major water break! Thankfully a church in the community welcomed the students and teachers to resume teaching there for almost two weeks. The teachers did a terrific job with adjusting to their new temporary classrooms. While they weren't quite able to follow the curriculum, they still focused on common core standards. Lets just say I saw adaptation at its finest. The students even did a wonderful job with the adjustment. One student said she wished they could have school at the church everyday.

CAAEYC Conference 2015

At Shippensubrug University I am a member of the club SU CAAEYC. SU CAAEYC is a branch of CAAEYC, which stands for Capital Area Association for the Education of Young Children. CAAEYC is then a chapter of NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children). Each year CAAEYC holds a local conference that serves as a professional development for educators. 

CAAEYC Mission Statement

The purpose of the Capital Area Association for the Education of Young Children (CAAEYC) is to enhance the lives of children by providing support for adults working with or on behalf of young children.

more can be found at www.caaeyc.org

Group Photo of us SU CAAYEC members at the conference

The conference was held at Messiah College. Registration started around 8:00 and after you registered you were able to go enjoy a complimentary breakfast in the cafeteria. At 9:00 the first session began. My schedule looked something like this:

8:00-9:00 Registration/ Breakfast

9:00-11:00 First Session: 

STEAM: This was my favorite session from the conference. I already knew about STEAM and what it meant (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math), but this session gave me ideas to incorporate  into my future classroom. Activities that we did included:

Math- Addition Towers: 

Here you would have students use blocks to build two towers (size depending on age group). After building the towers they would count the number of blocks in each and then create an addition sentence using those numbers. So for example if the first tower had 4 blocks and the second had 5 their addition sentence would look like 4+5= or 5+4=. They would then combined the two towers to make one. After they had the one tower created they would count the number of blocks in that tower. This would show them that the 4 blocks from their first tower plus the 5 blocks from the second would equal 9.

Science- Magnetic Painting:

We took paint and put it onto a cookie sheet, then put something metal on top of the paint. When we put a magnet under the cookie sheet, right underneath the metal object we were able to move it all around causing it to swirl the paint around the cookie sheet. 

Engineering- Gum Drop Structures:

We had to build a structure given 10 gumdrops and 20 toothpicks that would be strong enough to support a large textbook. 

Here was my gumdrop structure:

Art- How do you turn a drawing of a show into a fish?

After tracing a shoe onto paper you could use crayons, colored pencil or paint to make it look like a fish. A book that I thought was super cute that they paired with this activity was called, Swim Swim by  Lerch.

Technology- Web Cam Zoo Keeping

We watched a panda live at one of the local zoos from a webcam. The idea of this would be to check to see what the panda was doing throughout different times of the day and to record the pandas behavior on a chart. This could be done with any animal that was available on the webcam. 

After we completed these small activities were had to do a group challenge. Each group had to pick 3 supplies to use and try to create the highest structure. My group chose paper plates, styrofoam cups and wooden spoons. We didn't use the wooden spoons, however we did use the paper plates and styrofoam cups and won the challenge!!

11:00-1:30 Lunch/ Keynote Speaker:

The keynote speaker was Jason Kotecki. He's a writer from Wisconsin and let me just say he is hilarious!!! He had me in tears, he was so funny. He talked about how once we become adults we often suffer from adultitiss. He wants to help us adults realize that sometimes it's ok to be a kid again and to laugh while having a good time. You should defiantly check out his books. He has a new book coming out June 23, 2015!!

1:30-3:45 Second Session: PA One Book, Every Young Child-

My second session was suppose to be Reading Between the Lines, but unfortunately it was canceled. I ended up attending a session called 2015 PA One Book, Every Young Child. Each year the program chooses one book that they hope will reach every child in PA that year. This years chosen book was Number One Sam by Greg Pizzoli. For this session we talked about how this book could be used across all curriculum areas for different age groups. A kit is made to go along with each book to help get the readers be engaged and to become interactive with the book. These kits are only available through local libraries, but can be borrowed to become a great asset in the classroom. The kits often include games, manipulatives, big books, etc. 

This was the second CAAEYC conference that I attended and each time I go I find it to be beneficial. While sometimes the sessions end up being on something I already have knowledge about, I still find myself learning more information to build onto what I already know.

Grammar Matters

Last Saturday I attended a presentation on the book Grammar Matters by Lynne Dorfman and Diane Dougherty. These two ladies are amazing at teaching grammar. Grammar is something I've always struggled with, but just by attending this presentation and reading the book my confidence with grammar has improved significantly. I always wondered how I would go about teaching grammar so my students would really understand it and so it was relevant to them. Grammar Matters provides numerous amounts of activities and little lessons to use when teaching grammar in the context of reading and writing. Now I'm excited to have the opportunity to teach grammar!

Tips for teaching grammar:

• Teach grammar in the context of reading and writing Grammar should not be taught in isolation. You can use mentor texts to demonstrate how writers use grammar throughout their writing. 
•  Learn what your students need by examining them as readers and writers When embedding instruction on grammar you should look to see what it is that the students need to learn. These lessons can be taught to the entire class if they are on errors that are repeated and frequent among a significant number of students in the class. Mini lessons with small groups can be done for students who have errors that are not seen as frequently among other students in the class. 
• Community Building This must be a continuous priority throughout the year. This community helps with student relationships and gives them a better chance of becoming committed readers and writers. They begin to learn from one another during shared writing and peer conferences. During shared writing time ask the students to share something that a peer had tried out that they would like to try, too. 
• Reflections Before sending the students to work on their writing independently be sure to discuss what it is they are to be thinking about while writing. This will be the grammar focus from the lesson. Now when they go to share their reflection on their writing, it will be relevant to the lesson. This will show what it is they have learned about writing/grammar and how they applied it to their writing. Reflections can be used as a closing for a lesson or it can be used to make an anchor chart to record the students' thinking. 

Teaching Grammar develops a love of words and learning grammar means learning the language of literacy<3

I highly suggest reading Grammar Matters, to learn how to teach grammar in an effective way to our young writers.