Nikki collaborated with fellow Alta Vista kinder teacher Christine Barbara to develop a schedule that allows them to meet with all five of their leveled student groups on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Students have two separate rounds of centers on each of these days. They start with their Guided Reading block and then break for snack. This is followed by a second round of centers where students work on other subjects such as math and science.
The opportunity to work with every student in a small group setting daily is crucial to the success they have experienced with Guided Reading. Each student group receives differentiated instruction that is designed to meet their specific learning needs, which can range from reinforcing letter sounds and rhyming to reading comprehension practice.
Christine and Nikki have found that they are able to work with the reading groups while the rest of their students are totally engaged. At the other centers, students complete a variety of activities including Word Work, writing practice, reading leveled readers, and listening to stories on iPads from resources like Raz-Kids and Epic!. Students can also use QR codes to access sites like Storyline Online, which features stories that are read by actors and actresses.
The kinder team follows a number of online resources to help them find activities that they can bring to students during the Guided Reading block. For example, This Reading Mama, A Dab of Glue Will Do, and Hello Literacy are sites that offer Word Work ideas almost daily. They also exchange ideas with many educators on Twitter and Instagram as they continue to build their professional learning networks.
In the images below you can see examples of how they organize their days to make sure they have time to work with each group of students. This represents a one hour block of time and each of the three rotations take about 15 minutes to complete.
Monday and Thursday Schedule
Tuesday and Friday Schedule
Follow Nikki on Twitter: @AVGrasshoppers
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