Simply For Teachers

 Free Reading Poster Set in Time for  Read Across America! Visit my TPT store Simply Primary to grab this versatile set of Reading Posters.  Help foster a love of reading in your classroom through creating a space that shows the importance of reading.  Make a reading space a priority in your classroom.   Follow me here to get the most up to date freebies and resources.  Find me on Instagram @simply_for_teachers and on Pinterest at Simply Primary. Leave a comment and let me know how you help promote reading at your school. Thank You! Kristin

 Read Across America Theme Ideas I L.O.V.E. Read Across America!  I don't know any reading teacher, reading specialist, or primary grade teacher that doesn't enjoy a time when we shine a light on the importance of reading.   When I became the reading specialist for our district, aligning our schools for Read Across America was a goal of mine.  I wanted to give this week the attention it deserved with the hope that it would bring joy to children and adults.  I have to say, mission accomplished!  This is our fifth year of celebrating RAA as a district and I could not be happier.  What makes me most excited is that the events that we have promoted during RAA week have become activities all year long in some classrooms.  Total win for reading!  To honor the success of our RAA times I'd like to take a look back at some of themes.  I hope these inspire you to make a big deal over Read Across America in your schools and if you already...

 How To Plan A Guided Reading Lesson Guided Reading is a systematic approach to teaching students various areas of reading (accuracy, fluency, comprehension, & language) while using text that students can read but still need support.  This approach has been proven over time to be a highly effective way to grow readers.  It can seem overwhelming, but once you have a good structure in place you'll be successful regardless of the group.  The first step is know how to get started and that is all in the planning! Step 1: Assessment You need to know what to teach! This is a critical step otherwise you are not getting the most out of your time and your students are not getting exactly what they need. Run a running record based assessment on each student.  This could be a simple benchmark passage from Reading A-Z or something more formal like a Fountas and Pinnell Benchmark Assessment or even a DRA (Diagnostic Reading Assessment).  There are several option...

  Developing a LOVE of Reading..... A Personal Story First Not all students gravitate towards reading.  It may be for a number of reasons....reading is too hard.....reading takes too long....books are boring.....rather do something else.....and many more.  I completely understand because these were all things that I felt growing up too!   I am a slow reader that was given books I HAD to read not books I WANTED to read.  Sure we had books in the classroom and I got to go to the school library every week....but I didn't have anyone asking me what I liked and working to pair me up with something that may make me actually LIKE to read.  I always loved books from a young age.  I use to sit and page through encyclopedias at my Grandmom's house looking at pictures.  She would take us on walks to the local library and I would grab all sorts of books (I never read) but that I liked to look at.  Books I loved, reading I didn't. Finally, I was intr...

  Guided Reading....Simply Let's talk about Guided Reading, but let's keep it simple. Guided Reading is a strategic and systematic approach to growing reading competence through data driven, differentiated instruction.  Wow!   Yet, something that is SO BIG can actually be quite simple if we break it down to it's parts.  In this post we'll unpack each component of Guided Reading while getting at its most foundational pieces.  Through this walk through Guided Reading, we'll pinpoint exactly WHAT is most important!  This is so important right now as many of us are experiencing shortened days and less instructional time with students for ELA. The Guided Reading format has 3 major components: Before Reading During Reading After Reading Each one of these components has a group of strategic actions, let's break it down. Before Reading This is where you are conducting all pre-reading activities.  These activities vary by guided reading level....that'...