Teaching With Style: small group instruction

Showing posts with label small group instruction. Show all posts
Showing posts with label small group instruction. Show all posts
Welcome to November's Bright Ideas! This month we are rounding up all our best posts into one!


I'm sharing some fun ideas for Guided Reading and small groups!

First up, I love to open my groups with some warm-ups.  Sometimes I use slinkies to practice stretching out the sounds in a word for phonemic awareness.

 Sometimes I do some dictation and have the kids practice writing and then blending CVC words on whiteboard dots that are stuck right on my guided reading table.

Then you'll want to see how I level books and organize my take-home books.

And lastly, kids will need to reference the word wall.  See how I set mine up to be interactive!

Do you use any of these ideas in your classroom? Make sure to check out all the other amazing ideas in the Round Up below!
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Hello there! My Bright Idea for October is all about using these spiffy whiteboard dots for small group instruction! 




A few months ago I was making an OfficeMax run and happened upon these cool adhesive whiteboard dots, called Wall Pops.  They are made to go on a wall in an office or cubicle, but I thought "Hey, those would be cool on my guided group table!" 

So now, every time my students come to my table for either reading or math groups, they bring their marker and little eraser I got in the Target dollar section a few years ago.  

Here we are in reading, doing a little short e dictation warm up before reading our guided book.


In math we are working on number sense as well as basic addition.  I found these laminated ten frames in my room when I moved in this summer and they have been great for subitizing.  We've also been working with Rekenreks, so the kids are getting good at recognizing 5's and 10's.


We are also learning basic facts, including turnaround facts.  The kids loved using dominos and writing the turnaround facts! 
I love that these are quick and easy.  The kids love writing on the tables, making group time a novelty.  I love it when I hear them say, "Yes! Group time!"  You can do so many different activities as quick warm ups with these, the possibilities are endless!

If you liked my Bright Idea, please consider following me on Bloglovin' or Instagram! 

Don't forget to visit my friends in the hop and read all their awesome ideas, too! 
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Anyone remember Cuisinaire rods?  They are like unifix cubes, but with words or letters?  They are great for developing readers to practice blending sounds and making words from individual letters.

The smart people who make Cuisinaire rods (ETA Hand2Mind) also make another great product: VersaTiles!  VersaTiles are a hinged plastic mat that hold square tiles.  One one side are numbers and on the other, a design.  There are multiple books that teach students different skills in math, reading, and science, depending on the set you buy.

Here are some of my kids playing VersaTiles in a small group. The instructions for my set suggest setting up a borrowing system so students can do this as homework.  It's so fun! 

The kids love to play.  They take turns reading the questions at the top of the page, then they scroll to the bottom and find the answer and the letter.  If the answer to number 4 is G, then they place the number 4 tile on the letter G space (number side up), below the hinge.

Here is a student placing the number tile over the letter space.
Here they are finding the correct answer together in a small group.
Double checking their work.
Moving on through the list of questions.
All finished!
Close the lid.
Flip it upside down.
Open it back up.
Check the pattern against the pattern at the bottom of the page.  If it's the same, success!
I got the Level 2 Reading/Language Arts Starter set.  It comes with one VersaTile and 8 different activity books: Fun With Phonics, More Fun with Phonics, Ready! Set! Spell!, Read for Meaning, Read to Understand, Reading for Everyday, Fun with Language, and Language in Action.  It meets a variety of needs and really is fun for the kids.

The great people at ETA Hand2Mind are giving away one extra set of the winner's choice!  Enter the Rafflecopter below.  Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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