Find 23 ready to use, effective vocabulary activities your students will love, by The Teacher Next Door!
Discover grammar games that are engaging, rigorous, and fun! These I CAN Grammar Games are perfect for grammar review, practice, and literacy centers!
Take close reading to the next level in your classroom. Use the six Close Reading steps guide from Appletastic Learning for a deeper understanding of text.
In this post, I share my teaching strategies for reading comprehension in my upper elementary classroom. These effective reading strategies are easy to implement and they have been great for helping my students become better readers. Plus you can grab some FREE reading worksheets below! *This post contains affiliate links to Amazon for your convenience. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying
Studying morphology (affixes, bases, and roots) is a great way to connect decoding, vocabulary, and comprehension. Using these morphology warmups is a great way to implement morphology into your instruction in small group, whole group, or even reading centers. Note: If your 5th graders have received morphology instruction in 3rd and 4th grade and are ready for more advanced roots and affixes, this may be too easy for them. What is Morphology and Why is it Important? Morphology is the study of meaningful word parts in a language. It is the “building blocks” of words. These include roots, bases, prefixes, and suffixes. When students understand how words are built, they can use that knowledge to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words, make connections between words, and support their reading comprehension. Morphology instruction can also help students with decoding and encoding skills (spelling). ***THIS GROWING BUNDLE IS NOW COMPLETE. IF YOU PURCHASED BEFORE ALL SETS WERE INCLUDED, PLEASE DOWNLOAD NOW TO ACCESS ALL WARMUPS.*** About the Morphology Warmups This includes 10 sets of Morphology Warmups. To learn more about a warmup or to see examples, click on the title. 1. Morphology Warmups Set 1: Reading Base Word Families - This set of reading warmups has the students reading base word families. The purpose of this morphology warmup set is to: Practice reading fluency with similar word families Potentially expose students to new words with similar bases as familiar words Allow students to see how affixes can be added to create new words 2. Morphology Warmups Set 2: Base Word Creations - This set of reading warmups presents a base word to the students. The students must use the base word and different affixes to create words based on given meanings. The purpose of these morphology warmups is to: Provide students practice with creating new words with given bases Review affixes and how they impact the meaning of words 3. Morphology Warmups Set 3: Adding Affixes - This set of reading warmups has the students reading a base word and three sentences with blanks. In each sentence, the missing word is the base word with an affix added. The purpose of this morphology warmup set is to: Allow students to see how affixes can be added to create new words Familiarize students with the process of adding affixes to change the meaning and function of words Have students determine which affix is needed to make a word that best completes each sentence 4. Morphology Warmups Set 4: Match the Meanings - Focus on Affixes - This set of reading warmups has the students reading a base word, three sentences, and three definitions. Each of the three sentences includes a word containing the base word with additional affixes added. The students read the sentences, underline the word in each sentence, and then match the meaning that best defines the underlined word in each sentence. The purpose of these morphology activities is to: Allow students to see how affixes can be added to create new words Familiarize students with the process of adding affixes to change the meaning and function of words Help students uncover the meaning of words by analyzing affixes 5. Morphology Warmups Set 5: Prefix Warmups - Introduce your students to a variety of prefixes in bite-sized instructional timeframes using these morphology warmups that focus on prefixes. The purpose of these morphology warmups is to: introduce and explicitly teach a variety of prefixes expose students to grade-level words that use a variety of prefixes provide practice opportunities for using and reading words that contain prefixes 6. Morphology Warmups Set 6: Suffix Warmups - Are you looking for way to introduce your students to a variety of grade-level suffixes in small, manageable chunks of time? These morphology warmups that focus on suffixes are perfect for that! The purpose of these morphology warmups is to: introduce and explicitly teach a variety of suffixes expose students to grade-level words that use a variety of suffixes provide practice opportunities for using and reading words that contain suffixes 7. Morphology Warmups Set 7: Root Word Families - This set of root word warmups has the students reading a root word and its meaning, words and definitions, and sentences with blanks. The students read the words and their meanings and then pick the word that best completes the sentence. The purpose of these morphology warmups is to: Familiarize students with common root words and their meanings Model for students how the meaning of a word can be connected back to the root word it contains Allow students to see how knowing common root words can help determine the meaning of unfamiliar words AND help them decode unknown words 8. Morphology Warmups Set 8: Using Roots, Affixes, and Context to Define Words - This set of reading warmups has the students reading a word, a sentence containing the word, and some information about what we already know about the word. Then the students provide their own definitions of words in their own words. The purpose of these morphology activities is to: Allow students to see how knowing the meaning of roots can help them determine the meaning of unknown words Allow students to see how roots and affixes work together to create the meaning of words. Give students practice with breaking unknown words into morphemes (roots and affixes) to uncover the meaning of those words 9. Morphology Warmups Set 9: Two Truths in a Lie - This set of morphology warmups has students reading and analyzing a given word. Then they will read three statements about the word. They will determine which statements are true and which one is false (the lie). Finally, they will prove their answer by correcting the false statement. The purpose of these morphology warmups is to: Continue reviewing affixes and bases/roots with your students Give students practice with analyzing words and the morphemes that make up those words 10. Morphology Warmups Set 10: Spelling with Suffixes - This set of 55 morphology warmups reviews the three basic suffix spelling rules: 1-1-1 Doubling Rule Silent E Rule The Y Rule. ***THIS GROWING BUNDLE IS NOW COMPLETE. IF YOU PURCHASED BEFORE ALL SETS WERE INCLUDED, PLEASE DOWNLOAD NOW TO ACCESS ALL WARMUPS.*** Using the Morphology Warmups Use the printable morphology warmups to start your small group reading instruction. Use the digital morphology warmups for whole group lessons and activities. Use the digital OR printable morphology warmups for independent practice, reading centers/stations, or word study activities. About the Digital Versions Digital versions of EVERY warmup are included. The content is exactly the same as the printable warmups, but the activities have been redesigned to work in Google Slides. Students will need to be in "edit mode" in order to manipulate moveable pieces or type in editable text boxes on each slide. More details about the digital versions are included in each PDF. Looking for more reading warmups aligned with the Science of Reading? Morphology Warmups BUNDLE Morphology Warmups Set 1: Reading Base Word Families Morphology Warmups Set 2: Base Word Creations Morphology Warmups Set 3: Add an Affix Morphology Warmups Set 4: Match the Meanings - Focus on Affixes Morphology Warmups Set 5: Prefix Warmups Morphology Warmups Set 6: Suffix Warmups Morphology Warmups Set 7: Root Word Families Morphology Warmups Set 8: Using Roots, Affixes, and Context to Define Words Morphology Warmups Set 9: Two Truths and a Lie Click here for ALL of my SOR-aligned resources!
Free & funny readers' theater scripts by T. P. Jagger. Use readers' theater (readers' theatre) scripts to improve students' reading fluency.
Okay teacher friend. It’s finally here. And I’m so excited! I’ve had this resource collecting dust on my computer for years now. I’ve been using this strategy in my classroom for the last few years, but haven’t had the energy or time (teacher life + mom life is exhausting, am I right?) to put it all together so that it’s ready to go for busy teachers like you! Well, it’s finally finished and I finally get to unveil it to you! Did you know I have a FREE downloadable reading response menu board that you can print now and use in your
LOTS of FREE Printable worksheets for kids to practice math, literacy, science, & history with kids of all ages from 123Homeschool4Me.
Managing a classroom with multiple classes can be challenging, so I've put together 6 tips to simplify your classroom management!55t5tttttt5
Do your students need help summarizing informational text? Use the TAAMIO strategy to write great informational text summaries.
Follow this step-by-step lesson plan to teach your students how
Use this free printable book report sandwich idea to recall what you read. Print in black / white or color and use with elementary age kids.
Are you one of the many teachers who is struggling to teach summarizing? Summarizing can be a difficult skill for students to master. It requires strong reading comprehension since students need to be able to
Are your mini lessons not going as planned? Want to know my secrets? Come read all about how you can effectively plan a mini lesson for your students!
When I started at my new school last year, I came into a new reading program. I was used to doing almost all of my reading instruction WHOLE CLASS, but my school uses a guided reading model all the way up to 5th grade. I definitely had to rethink my reading block! I had done centers in the past, but wanted a really clear way to maximize the time and make the transitions clear for the students. Here's how I do my guided reading block! ROTATIONS We have Guided Reading/Centers Monday-Thursday from about 1:10-2:00 and I rotate through four groups. This means each center is 12 minutes long, with about 30 seconds for a transition. 12 minutes can fly by, so the students have to work on getting those transitions DOWN. I found a FANTASTIC resource by my friend Kristen of Chalk & Apples, and it has made centers SO easy. There are tons of different icons that can be easily swapped out on different days or weeks. I change mine up all the time! In a typical week, I do guided reading with leveled passages on Monday and Wednesday, and we do literature circles on Tuesdays and Thursdays. GROUPS My students are grouped according to DRA levels, because that is what my school uses. You might use AR, Lexile, or another measure. I have four groups: Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid, and High. Each group has a number, but I assign the number randomly so it doesn't match up to skill level in any way. I have 24 students in my class this year, so there will be 6 kids in each group. If you have a larger class, you can still make it work by having your higher groups work on their own while you work with a lower group and just check in! GUIDED READING I LOVE this close reading resource from Fifth in the Middle. I bought the entire bundle so I have TONS of options. Each reading comes in four reading levels, but they are on the same topic and look the same so students don't notice. There is also a paired text that I try to use for morning work toward the end of the week. There are several pages of activities for each passage, and I often have the students start these at the table with me after we've read the passage out loud. When it is their turn for guided reading, the students come to me at our back table with a pencil and a highlighter. I give them their sheets for that day and discuss what we will be looking for while we read (unfamiliar words usually) and we begin reading. I like to make sure each child reads, so however I have to break it up to make that happen. After reading through, I ask them to scan through again to find specific information. This changes week to week, so one time it might be looking for transition phrases, and another it might be looking for dates to create a timeline. Then, we talk about what everyone found and work on putting together the information on the worksheet. I, of course, provide a lot more scaffolding and support to my lower readers, while my high readers are able to do the activity on their own. LIT CIRCLES On the days that we have literature circles, the students still come to the back table with me, but this time they bring their lit circle book (which varies) and their lit circle binder. In their binder, they keep all of their jobs and their reading schedule. I have used about a GAZILLION resources for lit circles (including online blogs), but this one from Pocketful of Primary is my absolute FAVORITE: It is SOO easy to adapt to groups of different sizes and I found it very user-friendly for both the kiddos and for myself! I organize the jobs using a hanging file I found on Amazon. You can find it here: THE OTHER CENTERS So what do the kiddos do during their other blocks of time? Here's some options I cycle through: STAPLES: Partner Reading Each student has a partner from their reading group that they meet up with for this activity. I typically use "I Survived" books or similar short chapter books. I stock up through Scholastic! I have 6 shared books for the entire class, and I place a sheet inside the front cover so the students can write their names and where they ended each day they read. I always have new books ready to go for the students who finish. I do this strictly for fluency, so I don't do quizzes or worksheets. Silent Reading (KBAR) In my class, we call silent reading KBAR- Kick Back and Read. When we do a whole class KBAR, I sometimes take it outside. Spelling (Spelling City) I typically use Spelling City for centers, but sometimes do a worksheet instead. Vocabulary (Quizlet)Quizlet is AMAZING. I love using this for vocabulary! The students really enjoy it as well. Keyboarding (KWT) This is a tough one since monitoring the students' finger placement is so important. I don't do this OFTEN as a center, but throw it in now and again. Writing If we are working on a longer project (such as the state report), I have the students use this chunk of time for that. Otherwise, I sometimes provide a prompt or allow them to free write. Here's one of the resources I use: NoRedInk If you've never used this site, CHECK IT OUT! It's one of the best ways to get some extra grammar practice into your day! Be aware that the initial set up takes a bit of time because the students have to select a bunch of their favorites from different categories: books, tv shows, movies. What's neat is the site uses their preferences and their name + their friends' names when building the practice sentences. The kids get a kick out of it! Task Cards (small group) Students work with their reading group and record their answers on individual answer sheets. I have a huge selection of task cards that I keep in one of these bad boys from Michael's: Cursive (Can Do) I love that my school teaches cursive, but in fifth grade, we don't have a lot of specific time for it. To keep the kid's practicing, I assign pages from our cursive book during centers. Reading Comprehension (Reading Plus) We use Reading Plus, but there are many online reading comprehension sites. Use whatever your district provides or what works for your class! Games I will occasionally throw in a review game for the kids to play with their small group. The key is they have to be short and not too loud! Comment below if you have other questions or want to add some advice on running smooth ELA centers with Guided Reading!
Discover grammar games that are engaging, rigorous, and fun! These I CAN Grammar Games are perfect for grammar review, practice, and literacy centers!
"The Writing Plan Curriculum" Includes My 5 Favorite Go-To Writing Units! Most of these units consist of 5 initial lessons. At the end of these lessons, students will have the organizational knowledge needed to write a solid paragraph that they can later expand into an essay.
Looking for ways to use comprehension passages in your classroom? Come check out how use mine plus check out my new comprehension one pagers!
45 minute class periods are short and there is much to learn. Check out these tips for structuring your 45 minute class period.
Don't have time in your day to reach every student? My 10 Minute Reading Intervention resource can help you squeeze in lessons that are fast & effective!
The creativity and generosity of the online teaching community never ceases to amaze me. I have spent a couple of weeks collating resources for my department from my Twitter back catalogue, an…
Students will love practicing important reading skills and strategies with these free reading comprehension worksheets. Just PRINT & GO!
Age of Montessori’s Elementary Curriculum Charts, color-coded by subject and year, show the progression of Practical Life, Math, Geometry, Language, Biology, History and Geography lessons from early childhood through grade 6. The Lower Elementary chart covers the preschool to 3rd grade curriculum and the Upper Elementary chart covers the 4th to 6th grade curriculum.
The freebies have moved! Instead of having the freebies in a separate resource library, we have put all of our freebies in our shop. You can find the freebies by clicking right here!
A Book Report Project Your Students Will Love!
A blog full of tips, lessons, and ideas to use in the upper elementary classroom.
Teaching theme is not an easy task! Not only do students need to have a strong comprehension of the story's elements (like plot, setting, and characters), but they also have to be able to make inferences to find the author's message, since most themes are not overtly stated by the author. So, what are some of my favorite activities for helping kids understand theme? I'll list a number of them here. 1. Make an Anchor Chart Anchor charts are a great way to make learning visual and to have a record that kids can refer to when they need a bit of extra support. Theme may be defined in a number of ways. To me, the theme is the author's message or what he/she wants the reader to take away/learn from the story. It is a BIG idea, with a real-world or universal concern and can be applied to anyone. Besides talking about what a theme is, you'll also want to go over what it isn't. For example, some kids confuse the main idea of the story with its theme. To help students understand the difference, it's helpful to use stories that everyone in the class knows, like previous read alouds or classic stories like The Three Little Pigs. You can take each story and discuss the main idea (what the story was mostly about - specific to the story) vs. the theme (the lesson the author wants the reader to know - not specific to the story), to contrast the two ideas. The second area of confusion for some kids is that the theme is not specific to the characters in the story. In the book Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes, for example. The theme would not be that...A little mouse named Chrysanthemum learned to accept the uniqueness of her name. The theme would be larger than the book and would be something like...It's important to accept oneself. Also, you'll want to explain to your students that often times, a book has multiple themes and there are several answers which work equally well to describe a book's theme. Since theme is very subjective, I tell students that I will accept any answer, as long as they have the text evidence to prove it. For example, in the book, Wonder, by R.J. Palacio, one might argue that the theme is about friendship, another might say family, or even courage, or kindness. Any one of these themes would be right, and counted as such, since they each fit the story and could be supported by text evidence. 2. Use Pixar Shorts to Practice Theme Besides the sheer enjoyment which comes from watching these mini-films, your students can learn a lot about reading concepts from these. They're great for ELL students or for struggling readers, and for all readers really since the text complexity piece is removed. You can find these clips on YouTube, but you'll want to make sure to preview them first, so you're more familiar with the plot and are able to focus on theme questions. Here are some of my favorite Pixar Shorts for teaching theme: Piper Partly Cloudy Lava Boundin' 3. Use Mentor Texts Mentor texts are one of my go-to teaching tools as picture books are able to portray examples of just about any reading concept you need to teach. One thing I like to do when using mentor texts for theme, is to vary the types of questions I ask. Rather than always saying What is the theme?, I might ask... What is the deeper meaning of this story? After reading this book, what do you think matters to this author? Which idea from the story do you think might stay with you? What did the author want people to learn from this story?... Once kids answer, you might say, Ah...so that's the theme! Some of my current mentor text favorites for theme include the following: Ish by Peter H. Reynolds I Wish I Were a Butterfly by James Howe Journey by Aaron Becker (a wordless book) Beautiful Oops by Barry Saltzberg The Most Magnificent Thing by Ashley Spires Spoon by Amy Krouse Rosenthal Pete and Pickles by Berkeley Breathed If you're looking for more titles, I have a FREE Mentor Text List for Literature which includes a page on theme which you can download from my TpT store. 4. Use Posters with Themes to Chart Book Themes I like to choose 8 - 10 common themes and place posters of them in the classroom. These are included in my Theme unit but you could easily make them yourself if you'd like. After we finish a class novel, a read aloud, or a mentor text as part of a mini-lesson, I like to have the kids discuss the theme of the book. Once we decide on the theme, I place a miniaturized copy of the book's cover (about 3 x 3 inches or so) under the correct theme poster. You can also make the posters more interactive by allowing kids to write titles of books they have recently read on sticky notes, under the posters as well. 5. Use Songs to Practice Finding the Theme I love to add music to the classroom whenever possible. Not only does it add instant motivation for some kids, but it is also just good for them in so many ways. There are lots of songs you can use to teach theme, from current pop songs to oldies, rap songs, and country songs. While all of these work well, I especially enjoy using Disney songs. Disney songs are easily recognized for some kids, have catchy, fun tunes, and have lyrics that need no censoring (yay!). You can easily find the lyrics online to project on a smartboard or document projector, and the song clips may be found on YouTube, Here are some of my favorite Disney songs which work well for theme: Hakuna Matata from Lion King Just Keep Swimming from Finding Dory Reflection from Mulan Let it Go from Frozen Something There from Beauty and the Beast A Whole New World from Aladdin 6. Introduce Short Texts Using Task Cards Using task cards for theme gives your students a great deal of practice in a short period of time, which makes them a perfect way to begin to practice finding the theme using text. I love the fact that students can read multiple task card stories and practice finding the theme 20 - 30 times, in the time it might take to read a story and find the theme once. You can do task cards as a center activity, to play Scoot, or as a whole class scavenger hunt. One thing I like to do for the scavenger hunt is to make sure everyone has a partner and to pair stronger readers with struggling readers. 7. Add Some Writing After students have worked on theme for a week or two, I like to have students create their own short stories which show a strong theme, without directly stating it. This changes each student's role from a theme finder, to a theme creator and gives students insight into how authors create a situation that allows a theme to unfold. When I introduce this project, we refer back to the task cards we just completed, as an example of story length and rich content. In a matter of 2 - 3 paragraphs, students learn that they can include enough information to let our readers know our message. After students are finished creating these short stories, it's fun to share them in some way, to give more theme practice. Sometimes I have students meet in small groups to share out, with group members guessing the theme. Other years, I leave a stack on my desk and grab several if we have a few minutes. Either the students or I read the short story out loud, and the class discusses the theme. 8. Move to Passages, Short Stories, and Novels. Once we have scaffolded a great foundation for the understanding of theme, there comes a point where kids have to move on to text which is more challenging. I like to use page-long passages which I have created, before using short stories, and ultimately novels. If you're looking for some ready made materials to help you teach theme, here's a packet I love to use which works well for 4th and 5th Graders. Click here to read more about the Theme unit. Want some more teaching ideas and activities to teach theme? Click here to read Teaching Themes in Literature. If you like this post, make sure to share it with a teacher friend! Thanks so much for stopping by! For more ideas and strategies focused on upper elementary, be sure to sign up for The Teacher Next Door's free email newsletter! Bonus, you'll also gain access to my FREE Resource Library which contains exclusive upper elementary freebies that you won't find anywhere else! I'd love to connect with you! The Teacher Next Door's Website Pinterest Facebook Instagram TpT Store
The freebies have moved! Instead of having the freebies in a separate resource library, we have put all of our freebies in our shop. You can find the freebies by clicking right here!
Organize your middle school ELA resources for standards-based learning by starting with the Common Core standards that work together and support each other.
If you are looking for some high-interest activities, try using animated shorts to teach inference. Free handouts focus on student learning.
Help your students master identifying the author's purpose with these fun and interactive Author's Purpose Activities for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-grade students. Students will determine if the author is trying to Persuade, Inform or Entertain by reading the short passage on the task card. These Author's Purpose task cards are perfect for a whole class game of Scoot, a small group activity, a partner or an independent center activity. Also included in this resource is a cut and paste author's purpose worksheet for review or reinforcement. Engage students with these interactive activities instead of another reading passage or just more author's purpose worksheets. Your students will love working on identifying the author's purpose with these fun and engaging author's purpose activities. Get the Author's Purpose Bundle here>>> AUTHOR'S PURPOSE BUNDLE Author's Purpose Task Card Activities includes: 12 Author's Purpose Task Cards Student Response Sheet Answer Key Cut and Paste Author's Purpose Worksheet See What Teachers Are Saying: This was a fun hands-on visual activity that allowed students to think about the author's purpose. It was also a great and quick way to assess student understanding of the author's purpose. My students were struggling with Author's Purpose and this resource made it so easy for them to understand the concept. Students were engaged and loved the activities. This helped students determine the author's purpose. I always prefer interactive activities and this was so helpful! More Fun and Engaging Author's Purpose Activities: AUTHOR'S PURPOSE AUTHOR'S PURPOSE (THANKSGIVING) AUTHOR'S PURPOSE (CHRISTMAS) AUTHOR'S PURPOSE (WINTER) AUTHOR'S PURPOSE (FEBRUARY) ⭐ LET’S GET CONNECTED! ⭐ TEACHING SECOND GRADE BLOG TEACHING SECOND GRADE FACEBOOK TEACHING SECOND GRADE PINTEREST TEACHING SECOND GRADE INSTAGRAM HOW TO GET CREDIT TOWARDS FUTURE PURCHASES! Go to your My Purchases page. Next to each purchase, you will see a "Provide Feedback" button. Click on that button and it will take you to a page where you can leave a rating and a comment about the product. Every time you provide feedback, you will earn TPT credits. These can be applied to future purchases to save you money! Yay! FOLLOW MY TPT STORE Click the green star beside my name at the top of this page or Click Here. By doing this, you will see when I add a new product or have upcoming sales! >>> TERMS OF USE <<< All rights reserved. Purchase of this item entitles only the purchaser the right to reproduce the pages for classroom use only. Duplication for an entire school (system) or commercial purposes is strictly forbidden without written permission from the author. Copying any part of this product and placing it on the internet, in any form (not even on a personal / classroom website) is strictly forbidden. This is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright ACT or DMCA. These items can and will be traced back to the publishing site.
Need some tips and ideas on how to teach making inferences in your elementary classroom? I've got some great ideas and activities to share!
Each classroom brings students of multiple learning styles and backgrounds. It is our job to provide opportunities that reach all of the many different learning styles that come to us. For this reason, it is
When I started at my new school last year, I came into a new reading program. I was used to doing almost all of my reading instruction WHOLE CLASS, but my school uses a guided reading model all the way up to 5th grade. I definitely had to rethink my reading block! I had done centers in the past, but wanted a really clear way to maximize the time and make the transitions clear for the students. Here's how I do my guided reading block! ROTATIONS We have Guided Reading/Centers Monday-Thursday from about 1:10-2:00 and I rotate through four groups. This means each center is 12 minutes long, with about 30 seconds for a transition. 12 minutes can fly by, so the students have to work on getting those transitions DOWN. I found a FANTASTIC resource by my friend Kristen of Chalk & Apples, and it has made centers SO easy. There are tons of different icons that can be easily swapped out on different days or weeks. I change mine up all the time! In a typical week, I do guided reading with leveled passages on Monday and Wednesday, and we do literature circles on Tuesdays and Thursdays. GROUPS My students are grouped according to DRA levels, because that is what my school uses. You might use AR, Lexile, or another measure. I have four groups: Low, Low-Mid, High-Mid, and High. Each group has a number, but I assign the number randomly so it doesn't match up to skill level in any way. I have 24 students in my class this year, so there will be 6 kids in each group. If you have a larger class, you can still make it work by having your higher groups work on their own while you work with a lower group and just check in! GUIDED READING I LOVE this close reading resource from Fifth in the Middle. I bought the entire bundle so I have TONS of options. Each reading comes in four reading levels, but they are on the same topic and look the same so students don't notice. There is also a paired text that I try to use for morning work toward the end of the week. There are several pages of activities for each passage, and I often have the students start these at the table with me after we've read the passage out loud. When it is their turn for guided reading, the students come to me at our back table with a pencil and a highlighter. I give them their sheets for that day and discuss what we will be looking for while we read (unfamiliar words usually) and we begin reading. I like to make sure each child reads, so however I have to break it up to make that happen. After reading through, I ask them to scan through again to find specific information. This changes week to week, so one time it might be looking for transition phrases, and another it might be looking for dates to create a timeline. Then, we talk about what everyone found and work on putting together the information on the worksheet. I, of course, provide a lot more scaffolding and support to my lower readers, while my high readers are able to do the activity on their own. LIT CIRCLES On the days that we have literature circles, the students still come to the back table with me, but this time they bring their lit circle book (which varies) and their lit circle binder. In their binder, they keep all of their jobs and their reading schedule. I have used about a GAZILLION resources for lit circles (including online blogs), but this one from Pocketful of Primary is my absolute FAVORITE: It is SOO easy to adapt to groups of different sizes and I found it very user-friendly for both the kiddos and for myself! I organize the jobs using a hanging file I found on Amazon. You can find it here: THE OTHER CENTERS So what do the kiddos do during their other blocks of time? Here's some options I cycle through: STAPLES: Partner Reading Each student has a partner from their reading group that they meet up with for this activity. I typically use "I Survived" books or similar short chapter books. I stock up through Scholastic! I have 6 shared books for the entire class, and I place a sheet inside the front cover so the students can write their names and where they ended each day they read. I always have new books ready to go for the students who finish. I do this strictly for fluency, so I don't do quizzes or worksheets. Silent Reading (KBAR) In my class, we call silent reading KBAR- Kick Back and Read. When we do a whole class KBAR, I sometimes take it outside. Spelling (Spelling City) I typically use Spelling City for centers, but sometimes do a worksheet instead. Vocabulary (Quizlet)Quizlet is AMAZING. I love using this for vocabulary! The students really enjoy it as well. Keyboarding (KWT) This is a tough one since monitoring the students' finger placement is so important. I don't do this OFTEN as a center, but throw it in now and again. Writing If we are working on a longer project (such as the state report), I have the students use this chunk of time for that. Otherwise, I sometimes provide a prompt or allow them to free write. Here's one of the resources I use: NoRedInk If you've never used this site, CHECK IT OUT! It's one of the best ways to get some extra grammar practice into your day! Be aware that the initial set up takes a bit of time because the students have to select a bunch of their favorites from different categories: books, tv shows, movies. What's neat is the site uses their preferences and their name + their friends' names when building the practice sentences. The kids get a kick out of it! Task Cards (small group) Students work with their reading group and record their answers on individual answer sheets. I have a huge selection of task cards that I keep in one of these bad boys from Michael's: Cursive (Can Do) I love that my school teaches cursive, but in fifth grade, we don't have a lot of specific time for it. To keep the kid's practicing, I assign pages from our cursive book during centers. Reading Comprehension (Reading Plus) We use Reading Plus, but there are many online reading comprehension sites. Use whatever your district provides or what works for your class! Games I will occasionally throw in a review game for the kids to play with their small group. The key is they have to be short and not too loud! Comment below if you have other questions or want to add some advice on running smooth ELA centers with Guided Reading!
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These Proofreading and Editing Reading Passages are a fun way to practice reading comprehension and proofreading at the same time.This product includes 4 non-fiction reading passages for students to proofread and edit. Each worksheet comes with an editing chart. Also included are 4 Answer Keys so that students may check their work independently, Comprehension Questions ... Read More about Proofreading and Editing Reading Comprehension Passages
If you are looking to add some high interest activities for teaching characters and settings, try using the animated short Geri’s Game.
Analyzing character traits is a key fiction reading skill that is needed for successful comprehension. In most cases, authors do not just come out and tell readers the traits that a character possesses. By teaching
Whether your students are reading informational or narrative texts, there are several different ways to use reading logs with questions
