Organize Guided Reading Materials

This post is the third in an 8 part series that I will write about implementing guided reading into your classroom.

Today, for my third post in this guided reading series, I will share not only what materials you need to successfully implement guided reading into your classroom, but also how I organize those materials. Let’s get started!

I have 5 resources that I use every day in my classroom as I meet with students in small reading groups.

MUST-HAVE Guided Reading Resource: Engaging, leveled texts

This sounds pretty obvious, but I feel it is worth stating and emphasizing the “high-engaging” part. I am very grateful that my school has a closet filled with leveled texts that teachers can check out to use with their reading groups. However, many (if not most) of these texts are NOT engaging. Most of the books are very old, worn out, and not relatable for the kids anymore. Simply put, they are outdated. It is essential to find books that are high-interest for your readers. (( Don’t know where to find multiple copies of texts to read for guided reading, don’t you worry, as that is my next post in my guided reading blog post series! Stay tuned!! ))

While I really like to use hard copies of books, REAL books, I also like to use photocopied leveled passages. For example, when focusing on finding text evidence to answer comprehension questions, I like using a hard copy of a text so my students can mark up a page by highlighting the answers to the questions. This also helps prepare them for our district common assessments.

When selecting texts for my groups of readers, I try to match books that appeal to the time of year, their interests, or what we are learning about in other subject areas.

For example, if we are in the middle of cold, snowy winter weather, I will use my winter snow passage with readers who are reading books at a level E. Or, if our city’s favorite football team (G0 Chicago Bears!) is playing really well, then I will pull out a football passage.

I also correlate the field trips that we go on to our guided reading group passages. For example, we go to the pumpkin patch and visit a farm for two of our field trips. I love to read texts that mirror what we will do on our field trip as a way to build their excitement!

If you are looking for engaging, leveled texts to use for guided reading, please check out my resources listed at the end of this blog post!

MUST-HAVE Guided Reading Resource: Bins for Each Group

Now that you found high-engaging texts how do you organize them for each one of your groups? I like to use different colored bins to organize the books for each group.

In the picture above, you can see I store all of the books and reading folders for group one in the pink basket. All of the books and reading folders for group two are in the green basket and all the books and reading folders for group three are in the yellow basket. (All the reading folders are red.)

Want to snag these guided reading group label templates?? Click on the image below to download them for FREE.

In the picture below, you can see how I also have book bins for where I place the leveled passages that I am reading with that group for the next few weeks. I also keep some of them in a file cabinet, but this is just an easier way to quickly take whatever I need for that group.

MUST-HAVE Guided Reading Resource: Teacher Reading Binder

I wrote an entire blog post on this must-have guided reader resource, just because there is so much information to write about! You can read the entire blog post here–> Creating a Guided Reading Teacher Binder. For the purpose of this blog post, I will write the cliff note version!

Simply put, your teacher reading binder is a place for you to keep all of the following:

Anecdotal records
Running records for each student, codes to use when taking a running record
Lists of books read with each group
List of flexible groups and changes
Guided reading schedule
Reading conferences templates
General information about best practices for guided reading

Did you get your copy of my editable guided reading schedule yet? If not, click on the button below and add this schedule to your guided reading binder!

MUST-HAVE Guided Reading Resource: Sticky Notes

I can not even begin to estimate how many sticky notes my students and I go through every school year. We use them EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Not only do my students know to “write me sticky note” when they need to tell me something that happened at recess or if I am working with a group and they have a burning question, but I use them in my guided reading groups every day. Look closely at the sticky notes coming out of these books…can you see them??

One example of how I use sticky notes…In the picture below, I was teaching a character study unit for reader’s workshop. All of my whole group mini-lessons were structured around strategies and skills about studying and analyzing character traits, motivations, changes, and developments. When my students finished reading a chapter in the Amber Brown book, they wrote three character traits that described Amber. They included the page number as evidence of their answer. For the group of students reading the Horrible Harry book, I had them write about the main character’s problem in the story.

We also use sticky notes when I am teaching about non-fiction text features. In the picture below, you can see in the upper right hand corner the “I Spy with My Detective Eye…” Text Feature Bookmark. As my students are reading a non-fiction book during a guided reading group, they use the sticky note to identify the different text features. For example, the blue sticky notes are for when my students find a caption and photograph (they go together like PB and J!), the green sticky notes are for charts, maps, or graphs, the yellow sticky notes are the for index, the pink sticky notes are for the glossary and the table of contents, and the green sticky notes are for the subheadings.

It is important to note that once we are done with the chapter and/or book, the students do not throw away their sticky notes. Instead, they stick them down inside their reader’s notebooks. Which leads me to my next must-have guided reading resource…

MUST-HAVE Guided Reading Resource: Readers’ Notebooks

Similar to what I said earlier about the guided reading binder, I also wrote an in-depth blog post about readers’ notebooks and you can read about it here—>> How I Use Readers’ Notebooks in my Classroom

For the purpose of this blog post, I am going to write about the cliff notes version of how I use notebooks with my guided reading groups. After my students complete their response when I am working with them in a small group, they then transfer that sticky note to their notebook. This is a great way for students to organize all of the work that we are doing in our small group. I can also use the notebooks to share with parents at conferences or use them as a student work sample during RTI or IEP meetings.

Below is a picture of the anchor chart I created, which explicitly teaches my students about how and when to use a sticky note to show their thinking. I taught this mini-lesson over the course of several days, at the beginning of the school year, to my second graders. I want them to know that yes sticky notes may be “fun” to use, we are using them as part of our work we are doing for reading.

Other times, I am very specific about the questions that I ask my students to respond to on their sticky note. An example might be:
– What clues do the author give to help you identify the theme? What page number? As you can see, I am ALWAYS using sticky notes with my reading groups!

I currently am using composition notebooks with my readers, instead of spiral notebooks. I find that the pages don’t rip as easily and they just hold up better throughout the entire school year. I wait until the back to school sales are over in August, and I can usually find composition notebooks for as cheap as $0.25 at Target or Walgreens. In other years, my parents donate the composition notebooks or my students bring them as a school supply.

What are YOUR must have resources to use with your kiddos in guided reading groups?? I would love to hear from you!

Want to keep learning more about how to implement guided reading into your primary classroom??

On August 8, 2016, I posted a video on my Facebook page about implementing guided reading in a primary classroom at the beginning of the new school year. You can view this video by clicking HERE or by clicking on the image below, where you be taken to my website to the view the video.