The purpose of Guided Reading is to teach and re-teach Reading to a small group of students, based on their current level of learning. It also is an opportunity to teach new skills a little bit above thier learning level, in order to challenge them and teach new reading skills. For Kindergarten, some of the skills that can be taught are: beginning sounds of words, sight word discovery, letter discovery, noticing capital letters and end marks along with spaces between words, finding words with long or short vowels, counting words in sentences, identifying characters and setting, recalling what happened in each part of the story, retelling the story, contractions, silent e, word chunks, and many more.
Guided Reading takes much preparation. Gathering the materials and books before the lesson ensures that no time is wasted. Here is a simple lesson plan and all the materials needed for a guided reading group. The lesson attached to the link below can be used to teach letters and sounds along with sight word discovery. I plan to use this lesson for my students who do not yet know all of thier letters and sounds and know some sight words. This lesson will help them to gain confidence in reading as they touch and read the sentence.
Research shows that when children learn how to rhyme, then they will be better readers. Also, some dyslexic children have difficulty with rhyming. Practicing rhymes and making them fun will encourage the brain to remember rhymes. Repetition is the key, so if a child cannot “find or notice” a rhyme right away, than the adult should try something new. Animations, just like t.v., computer interaction and movies, is one way to grab the brain’s attention. Here is a YouTube video of a cute little Humpty Dumpty. Enjoy!
I love reading all the many versions of “Goldilocks and the Three Bears.” It is fun to listen for similarities and differences between all the versions. There is even one featuring Santa Claus! Here are some of the many 3 Bears stories:
Watch the story live, here! This one is “Santa and the Three Bears”
Here is a Golilocks “Fractured Fairy Tale” version. It’s old, but cute!
This is a puppet show re-enactment of the story. I bet children in school or at home could do this too. Acting out stories is a great way to ensure comprehension.
There are so many version of this book. I am sure there are more, but these are some of my favorite versions. It is fun to talk with the kids about the similarities and differences between each story. I found all of these images at Google images. There are even more here than I thought there would be! How exciting!
The first video is one of the original readings. I love this video because it reads aloud the story and shows the words at the same time-and it is animated! Enjoy!
Here is the book to music!
Here is a cute little old lady reading “There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed a Leaf”
I had no idea that YouTube had so many of my favorite children’s books, but in video form. Last week, Mrs. Garner, an amazing teacher that I work with, sent me a link for a story on YouTube. Now I am going crazy finding new links for stories. Children today still love to hear stories, but when you put the story to music and add animations, it makes it even better!
Eric Carle is the author and illustrator of many amazing books. You have probably read or listened to at least one of his stories.
Here is a video of Eric Carle reading his newest book. Enjoy!
Eric talks about his book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” here. Find out how his book was different when he first started writing it. He edited it and changed it to make it what it is today.
Here is an animated reading of the book, “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”
A WebQuest is like a field trip online-for kids. I made this one about Pumpkins because when I searched online, I could not find any that were useful. Most links on existing WebQuests, had links that no longer existed. This was really frustrating because I have some students that could benefit, but they too would become frustrated if the links did not work. I was inspired by what I found online. So, I hope others can benefit from this webquest! Enjoy! You can begin the quest below, online-or you can print the student page so that the student can write on it, to document their journey. Be sure to read the teacher form to find out the many uses of this WebQuest. Have fun!
You are going on a WEBQUEST! Your job is to be a detective and find out many facts
about pumpkins. After the WEBQUEST you should know the following:
· Different types of pumpkins-similarities and differences
· The life cycle of a pumpkin
· When pumpkins should be planted, how long they take to grow and when they are harvested
· Many uses of a pumpkin
· The weight and size of pumpkins
Tasks- Your Job
Task 1- Mouse practice!
The first thing a Webquest detective needs to know is how to find the hidden pumpkin pictures. Click the mouse on the
underlined words. http://www.aftonapple.com/pumpkins.htm Good Job, you found the first set of pumpkins!!! What did they look like?
___________________________
Task 2 – Pumpkin Types
Pumpkins come in many shapes and sizes. Click on the following links to see! Styrian and little green seed http://www.liseed.org/snackseed.html
Can you draw your own pumpkin patch? Try it and count how many pumpkins are in your patch.
Conclusion
I am so proud of you! You have completed your detective work! Now you can choose
a product to make, so you can teach us about what you learned! Here are your
choices. Circle the thing you have chosen.
Option 1- Create a non-fiction book with each page containing new
facts
Option 2- Create a pumpkin poster that contains facts and
illustrations or even the life cycle of a pumpkin
Option 3- Create a Power Point about pumpkins
Option 4- Create a short informational video, using a web-cam, iPod
video recording, etc… which tells the details learned during the WebQuest
green bean kindergarten 
