Guided Reading Tools
Small group is so important in Kindergarten. You will need a guided reading toolkit. It really gives you time to work with your students and find out where their strengths and weaknesses lie. My guided reading tools have evolved from the cutesy pin that seems to have gained some ground on Pinterest. I am going to be completely honestly with you… CUTE IS NOT ALWAYS BEST. I know, I know. I want it to be too. It has taken me a while to realize that cold hard truth but I am not here to preach cute vs effective. I’ll save that for another post. The kit above is super fun and it really WILL help build engagement. When the kids saw me pull it out, they couldn’t wait to have their turn in small group. That being said, the best tools that are going to benefit you most are a solid routine! Now, let me go over the cute toolkit that you most likely found on Pinterest!
Guided Reading Toolkit
I got a storage container at Hobby Lobby. It was priced at $8.99 but I used the 40% coupon so it wasn’t that much. So it was about $5.40 but it’s very deep and holds quite a bit which is why I got it. It also has movable trays on the inside so you can put the dividers where you need them based on what you are storing in there. It was very convenient and perfect for what I was looking for.
The Goodies
I found all of these supplies at Target. They were in the party section and some of these were at Hobby Lobby also in the party section. All of the packages were 1.99-2.99 so it wasn’t very expensive. I don’t have witchy fingers but will be getting some when Halloween rolls around this year. 🙂
The Purpose
So how will I be using each of the items?
Cars– Letter Formation and Blending. These are great for tracing letters with your lowest learners. There are some great resources that have roads laid out for this purpose. They are also perfect for blending words. H-A-T. Use your car with a phoneme box and make a pit stop at each letter. Then read it with no pit stops in a continuous rhythm.
Frogs– Segmenting and Sight Words (plan on flipping them into bowls with each correct answer). You will lay out three frogs and flick each one as you say a sound. Also, with sight word flashcards, they can flick each frog when they get a correct answer.
Googly Finger Eyes– Reading and Pointing to words. This will help with tracking. This is a fun way to get your students to understand that they need to LOOK at the word and read it. Some kids will just memorize the short, predictable sentences. The eyes are a good reminder to LOOK.
Wands- Reading and as Pointers. These are fun for pointers as well to keep the engagement high.
Finger Lights– Pointing to Words. This is great for tracking but I honestly used it as a reward. They LOVED the lights so it was great to pull them out as a reward for my students with excellent behavior.
Finger Squishy Monsters– Reading and Retelling. These are also good for tracking but make fun people for retelling.
Slinkys– Blending and Segmenting. These work great if you stretch the sounds and let them go when you say the whole word.
