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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

Guided Reading with Chunky Monkey

I should have shared this activity with you about a month ago...when I did it for my classroom observation.
Where has time gone?  What on earth have I been doing?
I tell ya, the struggle is REAL people. 
I can't believe the school year is half over! CRAZY!

Back on topic...Guided Reading

First, I should note that it is important to understand the dynamics of my student groups.
I am a Title I teacher teaching students with disabilities.
Students who are qualifying for IEPs...
so the work that we do during our guided group time is at their level (just like you would do)
and the skills/words that I have chosen to use in our activities are things I've noted in which they need help.

**WITH that said, my students are showing growth and retaining the use of these strategies, so I hope that these mini-lessons will help another group of struggling readers.  

Okay--now back on topic--Chunky Monkey
When I first did this lesson with my 2nd graders, I was being observed for my teacher evaluation for OTES.
I haven't been observed formally for a couple years, so I was a little apprehensive, we have a new principal and I didn't know his expectations--therefore I decided I best NOT take pictures during my lesson. :)

*Side note, he enjoyed the lesson and liked the differentiation as he stayed for TWO of my groups! EEK!


Today, I did a modified version of Chunky Monkey with a group of firsties. 
I tried it with two of my groups, but truth be told, only one group was truly ready for this strategy.


We have been working on word families during our group time.
I was hoping this would also help them learn small "chunks" to aid in reading.
They've loved playing the CVC Roll and Read Games.
 I have placed each page from the unit below into a sheet protector.  
They are two to a page-back to back.
The activities are easily marked by word family choice in the top corner of each page.
You can read more about this activity HERE or by clicking the image below.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Roll-and-Read-Fluency-Games-for-Beginning-Readers-2813893

 We have even been learning to identify word family chunks by reading them 
from our sentence strips.  You can see them written on the blue in the image below.
I used one vowel per strip.
Today, we read a big book and I was teaching them how to chunk words 
using the word families they have been exposed.   You can see this on the green 
sentence strip above.  Our school uses Wilson's Fundations so I choose to use several words from am, an, and all to get them used to looking for those chunks. They did very well.

I also wanted them to realize that if they are able to chunk the word, it is much quicker than using Stretchy.

We did an activity that I had previously made before class using the word small.
I wrote the word on a sentence strip. I also had just the letters of the word, and then two pieces that read sm and all.  The activity consisted of them building the word small with all of the letters, and also building the word small with the two pieces: sm and all.  They determined it was quicker to put together the chunks than looking at all the letters, and made the connection.  Mission accomplished!



Then it was time for them to try to look for chunks on their own.
Maybe it was a word they recognized.  Perhaps it was a word family.
*Note, I simply placed our activity in a sheet protector and then I have it to refer back to when/if I need to encourage the use of this strategy again.  I also stored it in a big gallon baggy labeled Chunky Monkey so that I have it for other groups (or next year).  

My 2nd graders are doing well with this activity as well as the previous ones we've worked on.
My first graders can tell you what each decoding strategy is that we've worked on and how it helps us.
I'd like to say these activities are helping my students with their reading, and I do believe they are working.
They are enjoying them too, so that's always a win! 

If you'd like a copy of this activity for your students, here is what I've designed.





I also like them to have a strategy page to take home.
They like to use the last few minutes coloring him too.
This gives me time to ask each student 1-1 how the strategy helps us decode.

If you would like this activity for your own class, click on the image below to download it FREE.
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B3D5Bsh09DJKVTJZMzR0eDRtTHM




 

 


1 comment:

  1. Do you have the rest of the animal reading strategies? I love the strategy pages and would like to send them home with my students each day. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete

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