Independent Reading in Kindergarten

Getting kindergarten students to sit in one spot and read for an extended period of time can be a daunting task. I’ve been interested in moving to an “independent reading” model in my classroom instead of centers/Daily 5, but I’ve struggled to build the reading stamina to 45-60 minutes. But... in my final year of teaching, I think I’m finally getting somewhere. My students are directed to find a comfy spot in the room and read their book baggies which are filled with 8-10 texts that are on their independent and instructional level. They are expected to read the whole time and can move to the word work table to take a brain break while working on differentiated phonics skills. Once they’re done with word work, they go back to their books and continue reading.

 I created these interactive, adapted CVC books for my students who needed a little more engagement while reading. These students read the books in their baggies, complete word work activities when they need a brain break, and continue reading throughout the block with these laminated books. I’m excited that my students are reading, building foundational phonics skills, and building their stamina all at the same time!! The best part is they LOVE reading them and their confidence in reading has gone up so much. Below is another adapted book set that I created for my students to use during independent reading.

My students are expected to complete a graphic organizer at least 3 times throughout the week during independent reading. All of the graphic organizers have been directly taught so there’s no confusion as to how to complete it. Some students may take 2-3 days to complete 1 graphic organizer or reading response which is why I only make them complete at least 3 per week. 

Has anyone else tried independent reading in kindergarten? I would love to hear of more ideas!

Want to know how I made these books? Click here to see a video tutorial of a similar book!

I use these tools DAILY!

Kristin

Comprehension & Phonics Books | Primary Reading Resource

My students were literally begging me to give them more of these books! I am so excited to share them. This set includes CVCe words. CVC, digraphs, blends, and vowel teams are all coming soon!

Click here to download this resource!

This resource can be used in so many ways- homework, guided reading, independent reading...

Here is how I use this in my kindergarten classroom. 

On Monday, students review the sight word flash cards and phonics words. I usually split the differentiation into two groups, sometimes three or more depending on the time of year.

 They complete page 1 and 2 and read the passage one time, coloring in the first star.

On Tuesday, students re-read flash cards and phonics cards. Read the passage for the second time and color in another star. They then complete page 4 by listing all of the phonics “focus” words. Students highlight the phonics words in the passage.

On Wednesday, students re-read all flashcards again, re-read the passage for a third time, and complete page 5 by listing the “focus” sight words. Students highlight the sight words in the passage.

CVC Word Family Flip Books | Primary and Special Education Resource

LOVE how these little flip books came out. They were pretty simple to make to! If you don't have a binding machine, you could always use binder rings or leave them apart so students can sort them into word families! :)

CVC Journal Activities

The 2015 TPT conference was a wonderful experience. I not only learned so much from such great teacher-authors, but I gained tons of motivation to get my ideas finally finished, ok at least started. 

One of the things that has been on my mile long "tpt summer list" was redesigning my CVC mini-books, part of a much larger "project" to redesign the entire Phonics Focus Toolkit. I'm not sure if it's because I have a tendency to impulsively change something for no reason (e.g. my blog design, classroom furniture, classroom decor, living room furniture, my entire life) or because I know that I can continuously improve something to make it better. I felt that "mini-books" were getting to be a little tedious. By changing to this format, it leaves much more focus on the students' learning, and less focus on when I'm going to find time to prep 18 sets of -et word books. I begin by cutting around the rectangles for the students (It really doesn't take long doing 6-8 pages at a time). After a few weeks of completing the activity, they will understand how it all works and fits into a journal. At this point, I give the two sheets of paper to my students and let them cut around the boxes. If you're like me and are afraid hesitant of having your kindergarteners cutting during instructional time, then have them cut everything for morning work and keep in a zip lock bag or "word work" container. This way you can honestly say there is no instructional time lost due to cutting.....with scissors...in kindergarten. I'll just get to the pictures. ;)

Another way to use these activities is to complete one slip each day. Students can eventually learn to label the top of the slip with the day of the week or the date. 

E.P.I.C. Word Work

Interactive Word Family Book

Guided Reading Organization

A few people have asked how I use journals during guided reading so I decided to make a post on it and also share how I organize my groups!  I use Daily 5 in my classroom while I pull small groups.  I have 5 different groups and 4 rounds of Daily 5 so I meet with my lows every day and my highs every other day.  

So if you didn't notice from the picture... I'm a little bit obsessed with color coding. Each of my reading groups is a different color.*  I use cardboard magazine boxes (from Ikea) and colored sentence strips to keep all of my materials for the week.  Books, journals, word work- anything that I plan on using goes in the box.  I also keep my guided plans color coded and in the box.  I realized I'm much more likely to follow my plans when it's brightly colored and right there in front of me!  

*I've heard a lot of people tell me that they don't use colors for groups because students realize who the low/high ones are.  Also, some students may be used to seeing "red" as bad on a behavior chart so being in the "red" group may make some students feel like they are low/bad at reading.  In my classroom, we do not use a clip chart or anything related to colors for that matter.  My students have never been exposed to red = bad, so they actually do fine with the colored groups.  It all depends on your class!

There are a lot of fun things that go inside the boxes! I use my guided reading journals DAILY- even on the days that we only have 2-3 minutes to complete some word work! Here are a few things we use in our journals.

If you're looking for a place to start, these interactive guided journal activities can be found here:

RTI Lessons Guided Reading

Sight Words Guided Reading

CVC Words Guided Reading

Guided Reading Bundle Part 1-3

Letter Sounds & ID Guided Reading

Here is what I use to plan each lesson! I just fill out one per book and write in everything I am going to do with the book. This way I can jump ahead or slow down depending on the students needs. 

Click the picture below to grab it from my TPT store for free! 

Below the shelf with my boxes, I have a few tubs of guided reading "supplies".  I use at least one thing from these tubs each day!  Dry erase markers, boards, picture cards, alphabet cards, etc.  A couple of favorites are the witch fingers and magic wands. :)  

Witch fingers are AMAZING to use as pointers and to practice one-to-one matching.  My kids also use wands when they are searching for sight words! After they find a certain sight word in their book they rainbow write them in their journals. 

Great Student Resources

Just made lots of updates and changes to my healthy food blog so I'm going to make this post a quick one!  Just wanted to share a few things that have been working so well in my classroom this year.

I made this resource to help my ELL students with their number sense.  They are loving it and it really is working!  I have one copy at the math center and when a student needs it they use it.  (I only have two students that use it so there's never an issue of it not being available.) If you have lots and lots of extra time like all teachers do, you can make multiple copies for each student to keep at their desk ;) *summer project*

The flip book has numbers 1-40 in English and Spanish and has a ten frame for each number. You can get it here from my TPT store!