Thursday, November 1, 2012

100 Followers!!!

I am so excited! I have finally reached the 100 follower mark! I have not been keeping the blog updated, and I apologize! This has been a very busy, stressful year for some reason. I hope that everyone is having a WONDERFUL year!

Since it has been forever since I last posted anything, I guess today is a great day to start again! Yesterday, I attended a short training about guided reading. I was curious to find out what some of you do for guided reading. Do you have specific skills you are supposed to work on? Do you use "real" literature or materials provided by your school? How large are your groups? How often do you meet and for how long? What are the other students doing?

I have struggled with guided reading this year because my class is larger than in years past, and my students struggle with working independently. However, I continue to try to work out the kinks so that my students can get a great guided reading experience. Right now, I have been focusing in on the skills/strategies introduced in our basal (Reading Street). I have been focusing more on the leveled readers than the basal stories for guided reading. Honestly, I am not "feeling" either of these. I was blessed with really good readers this year, and I am just not sure that these materials are the best. I am hoping to use a "literature circle" or "book club" approach to guided reading in the near future. We don't have a set format for guided reading, so I am hopeful I can adapt my lessons to include some good books that the students will truly enjoy.

I am using a modified version of the Daily 5 for the students working independently. It has been somewhat successful, but like I said, my students have moments when working independently seems impossible for them.

Feel free to share how guided reading looks in your classroom! 

3 comments:

  1. Hello! Welcome back to blogging! I am a new blogger and stumbled across your blog while exploring...I will be member #102 for you! I am at a lowly 16...it will be a while, I am sure. As for your guided reading questions...to be honest, I no longer do much guided reading--more readers workshop. I do pull small strategy groups at times, but most of the time my kids are reading their own self selected materials! Nice to find you!

    Meg
    www.fourthgradestudio.blogspot.com

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  2. I too teach 4th grade...I have nominated you for the Liebster Award. Click below to see the post! Enjoy!

    Award Post

    Dana :)

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  3. Yayyy!!! I wish I had known you had a blog before today. I'm so excited to have mine up and running. Now to keep it up!!!

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