Reading Comprehension Passages Level J-N Video

Hello friends! I hope you are all surviving the long winter! I don't know about you, but it seems like our family has been trampled one week after another with some virus or another! Yuck! We will certainly be ready for spring to come sooner rather than later! 

Today I am going to share with you my newest video on TpT explaining the WHAT, WHY and HOW behind my best selling Reading Comprehension Passages Bundle Levels J-N! Click on the image below to see the video....

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                                        >>> Video <<<
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It's pretty crazy to me that we are doing videos now... Andrew and I that is... It's TOTALLY out of my comfort zone. I would much prefer to be in front of a group of 7 year old children than publishing videos for the world! But I do have to admit, it's been a great thing for Andrew and I to do together. He's so talented when it comes to all things technnology, and I have a STEEP LEARNING CURVE, so we're a great pair. 

Anyways... here's the gist of it: 

These passages are short and high interest for students, designed to allow students the opporunities to use their decoding and comprehension strategies. The passages are leveled using the Fountas and Pinnell leveling system. In the past I have taught in districts using DRA and F&P. I am personally a fan of Fountas and Pinnell... I LITERALLY love their work and subscribe to their weekly newsletter because I'm a nerd like that --haha! But if your school uses another leveling system, take a look at this chart to help you figure out which passages would meet your students needs. 

I am also attaching a K-5 chart for you to use for future reference, if you'd like to download it and save for a later date! 

Did you know that research shows that using SHORT, HIGHLY FOCUSED passages are most effective for teaching guided reading? These passages have been designed for students to find TEXT BASED EVIDENCE, a major shift in the common core. 

Before moving down to my 1st-2nd grade loop, I taught 5th grade for two years. Now, I am not a fan of all things common core, by any way, shape, or form.... However, I can tell you I would have liked it if my kiddos came into 5th knowing how to prove their thinking!!! I can also tell you that after I embedded into our daily routine in guided reading... my first graders could do it, no problem by the end of the year! And it taught them how to pay attention to detail, too!

Teaching kiddos how to activate higher level thinking at an early stage is a must as well... It sets them up to think deeply and critically. Strategies such as predicting, inferring, synthesizing, drawing conclusions, analyzing, questioning, making connections, and so on, are all crucial to this development. It may seem overwhelming at first, but it becomes more natural overtime... and I have included questions that activate higher level thinking in this bundle to make your lives easier!

Now, I am an advocate of flexible grouping... mixing kids up, keeping it fresh. However, not when it comes to guided reading. It is SO IMPORTANT to assess your students to find their instructional reading levels and then teach them at that exact level. If you are giving your students passages and questions for reinforcement during centers or for homework, you'll want to use their independent reading level so they do not become frustrated. 

If you are not sure how to find your students instructional or independent reading levels, check out this freebie... It has a running record template and the algorithms to find their appropriate levels  >>>  Running Record Template and Reading Level Algorithms Freebie

So there you have it, I hope this is helpful for you with your reading instruction in your classrooms! 

If you are interested in purchasing the Reading Comprehension Passages J-N Bundle, you can find it here >>> Reading Comprehension Passages Bundle J-N

Or if you'd like to check out the Sampler Freebie, you can find it here >>> Reading Comprehension Passages Bundle J-N Sampler Freebie

Determining Importance

In a previous post, I raved about Tanny MacGregor's book Comprehension Connections. It is just full of great ideas. Even though our Smashing Strategies for Guided Reading series is finished in the spring, I am still going to continue with a few more helpful tips that may aide in making your guided reading a little easier!

One strategy that I find very difficult for my primaries to grasp is Determining Importance. I am sure you have been there... you ask for a quick summary and then get a five minute, play-by-play retelling of an ENTIRE BOOK! So cute, but not exactly what you asked for!

Because primary aged students are concrete thinkers, I love how Tanny demonstrates what determining importance looks like in a practical and tangible way. The first thing that I did, was pull our my personal handbag (aka purse), which is shamefully messy. Having a two year old, I always just end up throwing things that I need and wait, what seems like months, before cleaning it out again. So, to kick off our lesson, I became a bit vulnerable and showed my students the reality of my deep, dark purse! I pulled out many of the objects in the purse and asked them to help me figure out which items I needed to come to school that day. They had to DETERMINE what was IMPORTANT for me to bring to school.

Of course, they thought it was hilarious when I pulled out a bottle of nail polish, coupons for a box of Popsicles (yum!) and essentially, other useless junk. They were quickly able to deduct that I only really needed my keys, to drive to school. My wallet, which contained my driver's license and the colored pens that I use for correcting. Aside from that, there wasn't much else that I needed. It was all just extra fluff. (Don't mind my bare feet... preggo problems...)

The next demonstration was hands-on and the kids flipped when they got to participate! We talked about how sometimes when we read, there is extra stuff, that is just not important. Kind of like when parents cook pasta on the stove. I asked them to walk me through the steps...

First, their parents have to put water into a pot and let it boil on the stove.

Then, they had the pasta to the boiling water to let it cook.

STOP. I asked them, when the pasta was finished cooking in the water, if they just ate it right out of the pot? Like soup, pasta in hot water. NOOOO! They all shouted! After that, water had to be strained right out of the pasta.

WOW! I stopped them here. "So you mean, that the water strains out of the pot, and all the important stuff (aka pasta) stays in the pot. Just like when we read... we want to get rid of all the extra information and only remember the MOST IMPORTANT information. Determining Importance."

Ahhh... light bulbs went off in their little brains, like the 4th of July! So fun!

At this point, I introduced our FOUR THINKING STEMS that they would be using to complete their sticky note assignment during guided reading that day.

* What's important here...
* One thing that we should notice...
* I want to remember...
* It's interesting that...

The kids then went on to do their quiet reading at the guided reading table. I listened to each one, checking for fluency and comprehension. All the while, they were using the thinking stems to complete sticky notes for information in the book that they determined important. I tell you, if you haven't used sticky notes for your guided reading yet, I would highly recommend it. They absolutely love it and it's a great quick check for you, the teacher, to assess their understanding of the strategy at hand.

At the end of the guided reading session, which flies by in what seems like two minutes, I asked them to each choose the sticky note that they were most proud of for the day. They would then share it with the group. With some groups, if time ran short, I had them share their sticky note with the friend sitting next to them, and I listened in to each conversation.

The following week, I gave the students half sheets of paper with these Determining Importance thinking stems listed to use during their Daily 5 stations, This way I could see the progress, if they were able to Determine Importance at their independent reading level without my support at the guided reading table! Happy Teaching!

The Best School Year Ever GIVEAWAY

As many of you may already know, the Teachers Pay Teachers website is running a HUGE SITE WIDE PROMOTION  August 1st & 2nd! Everything in my store will be 28% off and the sale will continue in my store for the rest of the week, too!

And to piggy back off the sale... I am going to have a $50 TpT Gift Card Giveaway AND be running new promotions every day Monday - Friday including:

- $1 Daily Deals
- Daily Freebies 
- Daily 50% Off New Releases

Here's a little sneak peak for what is coming on Monday >>>

Don't forget to enter the giveaway to win the $50 gift card... Refer a friend and double your chances to win as well! Just send them this link so they can follow along and enter in the drawing too!

Send this link to a friend >>> http://bit.ly/2apkAUq

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Here's to planning the BEST SCHOOL YEAR EVER!

Text Based Evidence

Welcome to the second post of Smashing Strategies for Guided Reading, a monthly-link up between 8 teacher bloggers! Each of us will share a guided reading strategy, a teaching tip, and sometimes a freebie! Each month, you’ll have the chance to win a product relevant to each different strategy we blogged about! Time to build up those guided reading resources!  

Teachers everywhere hear "Common Core" and cringe... It can be so intimidating having to teach something new! After attending several workshops, I have yet to drink the cool-aid, so to speak... But I am a fan of teaching kids at an early age to find TEXT BASED EVIDENCE. As a primary school teacher, too often children are merely reading words, not reading for comprehension. You may have heard me rave about my school district before, and the incredible PD they have offered. One of the most beneficial PD workshops I ever attended was when 2nd and 3rd grade teachers sat down and talking about learning gaps... We found out our 2nd graders were not able to find text based evidence when they got to 3rd so it's been a big shift in my guided reading groups!

There are two different ways in which I teach finding text based evidence. The first is using sticky notes. In our third day of guided reading (2 read, 1 write) we always write about what we read. I give my students a few short questions to respond to in their Readers Notebooks and then give them a pile of sticky notes. They must go back in the text and pull out the answer record it in "note form" on their sticky note. Finally, they go back to their readers notebook and record in compete thoughts and sentences.

For my more visual learners, I was finding this approach difficult. So, I decided to write my own reading comprehension passages in which they could go back and highlight in different colors showing where they found their answers. 

As much as I hate New York State testing, it is a reality. These passages provide them with  a more authentic way of practicing "finding the answers" for the test as well.

I give my kiddos a bucket of colored markers and let them choose which color they'd like to use (always a treat)! They then proceed to use a different color to find text based evidence for each different question, labeling the highlighted portion with the corresponding question number. 

This also allows for teachable moments about only highlighting pertinent information as well as organizing their thoughts! Crucial skills as they get older!!

These Reading Comprehension Passages have revolutionized my teaching... If you're interested in some freebies... Click on the images below!

I am also giving away my BEST SELLING Reading Comprehension Passages Bundle Guided Reading Levels J-N to one lucky winner! Enter below to win!

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Don't forget to check out all the other teachers that are sharing their own Smashing Strategies for Guided Reading! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Paired Reading Passages

Common Core has mixed connotations in the world of education... regardless, it's a reality and it's important that we keep our students abreast on the standards given by the government. The district I work for is absolutely incredible... I cannot sing praises enough! One great PD they had us do as 2nd grade teachers was sit down with the 3rd grade teachers and figure out where the deficits were coming across the grade levels. In New York, state testing begins as early as 3rd grade.. BLAH! And unfortunately, it comes across as a large stress inducer for the poor little babes subjected to THE TEST. That being said, there were a few things that came to my attention that showed gaps in my teaching in 2nd grade... finding text based evidence (Instructional Shift #4 demanded from Common Core) was a big one and also integrating information from two texts and then writing about the subject knowledgeably (CCLS.ELA.RI.2.9, CCLS.ELA.RI.39, CCLS.ELA.RI.4.9). 

Oh boy... those are big ones! And I ABSOLUTELY DID NOT want to become one of those teachers that started teaching to the test. So I thought about how I could integrate these two DIFFICULT concepts into my 2nd grade classroom as authentically as possible... Then it came to me, Guided Reading! I love teaching reading and I often write my own guided reading passages and questions so that I can focus the short amount of time we have as much as possible. 

So that was the answer! I created passages that not only forced students to go back and look for text based evidence to answer questions, but also were paired fiction & non-fiction topics. 

My friends that really struggle with reading, were not quite developmentally ready for this undertaking of paired passages in second grade. However, my students reading as low as Level K were ready for the challenge! 

As I said, I started by creating a fiction and nonfiction passage about the same topic. Then created multiple choice and short response questions for each one. I then created short response questions that required information from both passages! Synthesizing is such a difficult but crucial skill for kids to learn! High up on that Bloom's Taxonomy, am I right?! 

At the higher levels (Fountas & Pinnell levels M, N & O), I also included a "pre-reading" component where kids would activate their prior knowledge for the nonfiction passages. They were required to make predictions for the fictional passages as well! 

To conclude, the kids were given a venn diagram to compare and contrast the two texts. This again triggers higher level thinking, and invites the kids back to do close reading and find text based evidence in both passages! Phew! Hard work! 

Have any other questions on this topic? Leave them in the comments section below! If not, how do you teach this difficult concept of paired passages to your little guys? I'd love to hear your ideas! 

Literature Circles

This week I had the AWESOME privilege to go into my friend's classroom and get a literature circle started! It was so much fun!! I first began using literature circles when I taught the 5th grade, gifted and talented blend. It was a HUGE change for me, seeing as I had always taught students with disabilities. But of course, it turned out to be awesome. In my 5th grade class, I had a chart created and posted next to our classroom library. My students needing enrichment would be given their role for the week and assigned chapters.

They were expected to complete their reading and their literature circle role BEFORE they came to group. My job was simply to observe discussions, the "discussion director" facilitated conversations! It was INCREDIBLE! Talk about kids taking ownership and responsibility for their own learning... and let me tell you... that was the year of book on tapes for me in the car driving back and forth to work! I had a hard time keeping up with all the different chapter books I had to read before I assigned them!! Ha! Click on the image above for a copy of the literature circle assignments I gave each child to complete before they came to group!

Now, when I moved down to 2nd grade... these assignments were a bit too complex for their little minds! So I modified it! I still had kids that were ready to have additional responsibility for completing reading outside of our guided reading group. But they needed accountability and a challenge to go with it. So I created reader's response questions to several book that kids could read and discuss at their independent reading level. To make things more fun, I even set up a kidblog account and had them blog their responses to each other.. but that's a story for another day!

So this week when I went into my friend's class, I taught the kids how to read the question before they read their chapters in the book. We chose the book Magic Tree House Dinosaurs Before Dark because it's a guided reading Level M (Fountas & Pinnell) and that is the independent reading level for the group. We discussed how good readers are detectives and need to search for the answers to the questions while they read! We also talked about how good readers will also come up with questions of their own to discuss with the group. 

The kiddos set off to read their chapter and record their responses. We gathered at the end, to discuss their answers. The collaboration was AWESOME. Before we discussed as a group, they shared their answers with a partner... using TEXT BASED EVIDENCE to support their thinking! If one partner noticed something the other one hadn't, they just added the details to the response sheet! They were so proud of themselves and I was proud of them too!

Thanks for stopping by! If you are interested in using these Magic Tree House Dinosaurs' Before Dark literature circle questions, click on the picture above!

Food Critics

While I am LOVING being on maternity leave for another year... I do miss the classroom! I feel so fortunate to have the opportunity to do some tutoring on the side this year to keep me, "in the loop," so to speak! I am tutoring one kindergartner, a few second graders and a third grader PLUS a doing writing group... which is AWESOME because it's basically a guided writing group for AN HOUR a week! AMAZING! I never had that much time for direct instruction with one group of kids at a time in the classroom!

This week during my writing group, I decided to modify a lesson I used to do in the classroom for descriptive writing. Each child became a food critic in order to emphasize the importance of using JUICY DETAILS in writing. To begin, each child was given a plate of food. (I had previously checked to make sure there were no allergens for students in the group).

Each plate included a few kidney beans, cucumber slices, butterscotch morsels, a frosted animal cookie, shredded cabbage and a few golden graham cereal squares. When I handed them the plates, the kiddos had the most excited and bewildered looks on their faces!

I explained how we were going to be "Food Critics" for the day and our job was to give an opinion , along with three words they would use to describe each food. We reviewed how we can use each of our senses to come up with descriptions of each including what the food looked like, smelled like, tasted like, felt like or sounded like when they bit into it!

Each child did a GREAT JOB coming up with their opinions and then using descriptive language to paint of picture of each food. Words like green, GROSS, slimy, crunchy, sugary and more were used with great expression!

After we finished tasting, I read aloud The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant. We looked for ways the author used descriptive language to paint a picture of what the characters were doing and feeling in the story. We also noticed how the pictures supported the descriptive language. The children made many discoveries as we read. It was also a teach-able moment for visualizing and how reading and writing really have many connections!

Finally, to wrap up each child was given a piece of paper with a box to make a sketch. They were given the opportunity to write a personal narrative (something we've been working on) using JUICY DETAILS and descriptive language, just like we used while we were critiquing the food! The kids got really into their writing, and we verbally discussing how they were using "juicy details" to paint a picture in the reader's mind! I was *SO PROUD* of them! :)

Click on the picture below to download the freebie documents I used for my kiddos!

I am also attaching some pictures showing how I implemented this activity in small group stations in my classroom last year. Our foods were mangoes, dill pickles, garbanzo beans, artichokes, lentil chips, and gelato!

I had parent volunteers, including my wonderful mother-in-law come to help facilitate a few of the groups so I could circulate and check-in with each kiddo! You will notice that with a whole group, I had plates and forks for kids to bring with them from station to station. Each food was clearly labeled for the kids to record on their recording sheets, which I did not need to do during my small group tutoring session!

Either way, large group or small group, this activity was a HIT and I HIGHLY recommend it for bringing writing to life for your kiddos!