Picture Sorts

Dabbling in Guided Reading and Daily 5 has led me to more research than I’ve done since my Master’s Degree in the early 2000’s (not fun but necessary!)  So, I’m reading Jan Richardson’s The Next Step in Guided Reading.  I’ve had it for two nights (should have had it about 2 weeks ago but, story of my life, I put the wrong zip code on it and it traveled a vast majority of the mainland states {exaggeration} before it got to me!)  Anyway, I’ve read over 140 pages and am EATING IT UP!  Such great ideas – some I’ve heard before and others that are challenging my thinking. 

One thing that I REALLY LOVE is the part of the lesson that involves students in picture sorts.  We do ALL kinds of sorts in my classroom = just pictures, just words, pictures & words, etc.  But for this activity, the teacher is specifically focusing on target phonics skills and building phonemic awareness. She even goes so far as to give specific skills that varying levels are expected to learn (page 125).  This book is a MUST HAVE if you are teaching Guided Reading but still have some questions about lesson plan format, content, etc.  I highly recommend it!

So, back to the picture sorts . . . I found a few on TpT.  But the variety is limited and the quality of the free products isn’t always great (and I NEED it to be free!)  So, I googled “l blend picture sorts” and “r blend picture sorts” and found http://www.carlscorner.us.com/sorts.htm - I HIT PAY DIRT!  (Thank you, thank you, thank you, Carl's Corner!) There are so many files that I’m taking a break in downloading to write this article and will go back to it later.  In each of the files provided, there are great quality pictures and words to accompany them.  I will use only the pictures for Guided Reading, but may include the words in sorting activities for Daily 5 Word Work. Click on the links below to find this and MANY more picture sorts.

I’m not going to say much more because I want to get this article published in case there’s anyone else out there reading the same book and wondering where to get the sorts!  ENJOY!

Smart Board Rotation Schedules - CHECK!

There have been SO many things to complete in the past couple of weeks that I’ve had to make a list and check off each as I complete it.  I got one more “check” done this weekend by tweaking my Smart Board Rotation Schedules for Guided Math (Math Workshop) and Guided Reading/Daily 5.  I found some cute backgrounds (mycutegraphics.com) and made some charts with timers, buttons, etc.  For the Guided Math Rotations, the students don’t really have a choice where they go but can choose what to do once they are at centers.  For the Daily 5 Rotations, students will be given a choice of activities when they are not meeting with the teacher (guided reading groups).  I will move the “T” to the appropriate spot for each student once I know where they will be going and then save that as the daily template.  They will then be responsible for choosing their activities for the remaining rotations.  I’ll let you know how it works!

Students will move the buttons to the appropriate boxes to indicate their choice for each rotation.     R=Read to Self,   RS=Read to Someone, LR=Listen to Reading, WW=Word Work, W=Writing, T=Meet with Teacher.

Students are placed in groups and then complete the guided practice during "Meet with Teacher" time, complete the independent practice portion of the packet during "Independent Practice," and Math Centers (topics vary) and xtramath.org (once we've learned addition).  We tried this rotation schedule last year and the students LOVED it!
Like it? Wanna use it?  A colleague of mine, Sara Schlickbernd, designed this and generously allowed me to use it!  Here is a link to her newest version on TpT.

Find Five

I've been perusing pinterest and working on a few things for TpT!  I dabble in Guided Reading, Daily 5, and the use of centers to reinforce concepts we're learning.  With that in mind, I have seen a GREAT Word Wall game several times and wanted to make it my own but I've never posted anything like this on a blog!  So, I'm going to give it a try to see if it works! 

             

Click here to get find this at my TpT store.