My Guided Reading Tool Kit

Hey there Friends!  I must say that I am super excited about this post.  One of my goals for this school year is to make some serious changes in guided reading.  This might sound silly, but I want my students to be really excited to come to guided reading at my table.  I mean like…..knocking each other over!  Well, not really, but you get the point.  :)

I was pinning on Pinterest one day and I came across a couple ideas for Guided Reading Tool Kits.  This was right up my alley.  I would like to give shout outs to Mel-D over at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations, Victoria over at All Students Can Shine, and Courtney at Swimming into Second for their great guided reading  ideas.  Thanks, ladies, for helping me to create my very own tool kit.

Here’s what mine looks like:

Oh my….I just love it!  Here’s what’s inside:

The blue dust busters (Dollar Tree) are used as erasers to wipe of whiteboards. The sentence strips (Walmart) are for word work activities.

I don’t have an easel or board near my small group table, so I thought this little display (Walmart) would come in handy.

I love smelly markers/pens (Walmart/Staples) and crazy pencils (Dollar Tree/local teacher store).  You can never have enough of them.  The markers will be used for highlighting and I am thinking of letting my seconds write with a pen during small groups (ummmm….maybe not) Ha!

The timers (Oriental Trading) will be used for reading fluency.  Each one is a different length of time.  The finger insects and lights (Oriental Trading) are great pointers.  Different sized post-it notes (Walmart) will be great for labeling or stopping to explain thinking. The colorful tape (Target) will be used for some guess the covered word ideas I have brewing.

Each student has a chart for guided reading.  If the students comes prepared, participates, and does their personal best they get a smelly sticker (Staples) on the chart.   My seconds love smelly stickers.  Fill up the sticker chart and they win a cool pencil.

I found these little foam letters at the Dollar Tree a few years back.  They are wonderful for making words and they’re quiet too!

These little “water puddles” (Dollar Tree) are great magnifying glasses.

I plan to use many of these activities from Michelle Hudgeons in the dry-erase pockets.

I came across these adorable reading posters {FREE} from Hope King.  These will be great for my lower level readers.

I’ve been working on a few new products for my guided reading tool kit and for our store.  These interactive response cards will work great during small group reading.

I also made some questions that my seconds can answer before, during, and after reading. I love these!

You can check these two products out HERE.

Finally…..

I found this idea from Polka Dot Kinders.  Thank you Sara.  It’s my new guided reading table!

I couldn’t wait to test it out.  My seconds will have a blast “writing on the table”  using these dry erase spots.

Many of the items above I already had stored around the house or they were in my classroom collecting DUST.  This was great because I didn’t have to spend a bunch of money.  I still may add a few more items eventually, but this is basically it!  I can’t wait to use my guided reading toolkit.  I am sure my kiddos will enjoy guided reading even more now.  If they don’t, I know I sure will.  I’m thinking of making one for math and writing too.  We’ll see what happens.

Wow, that was a lot!  I  hope you enjoyed reading about my tool kit.  What tools do you use for guided reading?  I would love to hear about them.