Re-Visiting Guiding Readers- How It's Helped In my Class

I first read Guiding Readers by Lori Jamison Rog a few years ago when I hosted a book study for it here on my blog. I saw Lori speak at Reading for the Love of It in Toronto and when she was done I immediately went to the publisher's display to purchase her book!

Her workshop was that amazing. 

At the time I had recently switched from being an intermediate teacher to a primary teacher and didn't really know anything about guided reading. Lori's book really helped me to understand what a guided reading program 

The first big take away for me was the idea of how to structure a guided reading lesson over the course of a few days. 

This is a format that I try to follow for all of my guided reading lessons. 

The second big take away for me was the chapters that outlined how to guide readers at each stage of their development along with lesson and activity ideas.

Very helpful!

3. Guiding Emergent Readers
4. Guiding Early Readers
5. Guiding Developing Readers
6. Guiding Fluent Readers

This has come in handy, especially this year, has the reading levels in my class range from D to U! 

Lastly, there is an entire chapter about connecting non-fiction and guiding reading which was great to see. I love teaching non-fiction and introducing the features to my students. Doing so in a small group setting is especially fun I find.

Nothing better than a features of non-fiction scavenger hunt!

If you are looking to develop your understanding of guiding reading and working with a wide variety of reading levels I would highly recommend Guiding Readers by Lori Jamison Rog. 

National Sweater Day

My class has taken on the challenge of organizing the Spirit Days at my school this year. 

We are using it as a year long data management project and obviously as a way to promote school spirit and to have a little fun.

Last week when the teacher who is in charge of the Green Club at my school asked if we could add in an extra spirit day to help our the Green Club of course my answer was YES! 

And what a fun, educational spirit day it's going to be.

If you haven't yet visited the World Wildlife Fund's page- 

Schools for Living Planet 

then I suggest you head over there now! 

When you click on the About chick let this is what you will find-

WWF-Canada's Schools for a Living Planet program empowers educators and students of all ages with the tools and resources they need to lead us into a sustainable future. Schools for a Living Planet is grounded in the principles that make WWF a global success — including strong science and a focus on solutions.

WWF has developed free, curriculum-linked lesson plans for elementary teachers to download and integrate into their classrooms. These lesson plans connect directly to conservation priorities in Canada's forests, lakes and Arctic. Educators can take their students' learning beyond the classroom by participating in WWF events, like Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup.    

Secondary and post-secondary students can use Schools for a Living Planet toolkits to make an impact through WWF events like National Sweater Day, Earth Hour and Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. Students can get involved as individuals or engage their school's WWF Club / environmental club to take part. 

Join the Schools for a Living Planet community and learn how you can inspire your classrooms and classmates to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature!

Pretty good, right?

The event that my class is going to be organizing is

National Sweater Day.

After I introduced it to my class we spent some time brainstorming all the reasons why this would be a good event to be involved it and went through the necessary information that we would like to share with the school. I was very happy to see how excited my class was about this.

Then they broke off into pairs and started to gather ideas for a promotional poster 

(Notice the tie-in to media literacy! Go integrated teaching!)

I am excited to see where this idea takes us as I would like to move forward with it as a collaborative inquiry project. It'll be interesting to see what my Grade 3's come up with for sure.

Some ideas I had that I'm hoping we can work in:

- used sweater/sweatshirt drive

- PSA campaign about the dangers of greenhouse gases

- Bumper sticker creation (visual art integration)

If you are planning to participate in National Sweater Day or a similar event to raise awareness about energy conservation in your school/community I'd love to hear more about it.

And, I promise I'll be back soon with an update on our progress.