It's funny--I spend most of my time at the beginning of the year using scripted interventions. Then comes the mid-year data and changes. By this time of the year, I find that I miss guided reading and seeing students in text and finding that love for reading. One of the Title teachers I work with asked me last week what I use for guided reading when phonics and word study still need to happen daily. I use "Jan Richard's "The Next Step in Guided Reading" or Beverly Tyner's "Small-Group Reading Instruction: A Differentiated Teaching Model for Beginning and Struggling Readers" to give students a double dose of guided reading.

Since I don't have access to a guided reading program with lesson plans and books, their plans help me design lessons that help me make sure that students who still need phonics but not Wilson get that. What I love even more is that they work great for Kindergarten--who should be in books. Even if I have a group that still needs some skill work, I can get them in books. Even if with scaffolding they have a blast reading and talking about the books--making connections to their own lives.

The Kindergarten class that I provide support to during Daily 5 has several English Language Learners as well as other high need exceptional needs students. Thoses guys have fallen in love with a couple of mini-books that I have created to pre-teach the vocabulary of the books that they are going to read. I hang on to them for a couple of days while we are working in the book and then they take them home and "read" to their parents or to themselves.

Mini Book Who Lives in the Arctic