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Wednesday, March 28, 2012

R is for Reading Block

I've had a fellow Treasures user ask me to explain how I use it in my classroom. Some of the things I do might work for other programs as well. I wish someone could have broken it all down for me back when I was new and using Houghton Mifflin.

So here goes!

For those of you who use Treasures as your Reading curriculum, you know there is A LOT to get into the 5 days "suggested" plans. I feel that as teachers, we know what our students need and have the right to pick and choose which things to really focus on and which topics to quickly cover.

We have a mandatory 90 minute Reading Block, so we have to be creative on how to get all of the skills/standards taught.

This is my focus wall that keeps us on track.


The Whole Group portion of my time is usually the same every week:

Monday - Phonics skill and activity, Oral Reading cards
Tuesday - Vocabulary Words/Story
Wednesday - Read Main Selection with comprehension graphic organizer
Thursday - finish Main Selection if needed/Vocabulary Skill
Friday - 3rd Selection with Text Feature/Literacy Skill/Weekly review

This is an example of the Vocabulary page we do on Tuesdays:


We turn those words into a word splash:

We take pictures of our things on the board on our iPad.
We draw little picture clues and relate it all to the topic. Do you see the double lines on "muscles". My darlings had two different connections to the word and topic. The dotted line was their connection that aroma and scent mean pretty much the same thing. (And that came from my lowest darling!)

I also use the free smartboard lessons for each week that the wonderful Mrs. Fox created a few years ago. I hope I never lose mine, because she was asked to take hers off her website. Boo.

After Whole Group comes Centers.

Now, this is where things get crazy fun. I found that the center flip-books provided with the series were leaving some serious gaps in practice for skills. This post by Serenade to Second Grade inspired me to created some Treasures specific centers.

This system was born:


This is what it looks like on my board. Students pick their own partner each week (with my discrection of course) and do two centers each day. I just simply take off the top center card and push them all up. The top one goes to the bottom. There is always an empty center since I have 10 centers and only 18 kids.


The colors of the sign borders match the center bucket that holds all of the materials. The colors also match the skill on the Focus Wall. The colors around the student pictures match what reading group they are in. (Call me color-coding crazy...I know!)


The front of the folders have Must Do/Can Do directions on them.

Students have a center folder (color of reading group) and a To-Do list which I initial at the end of center time (while they work on the grammar skill...Writing time needs its own post!).





I've created files for each of the stories since Unit 3, Week 5 (aka the week we came back from Winter Break) and they can be found in my TPT store. UPDATE: Over the summer, I will be working on the beginning and catching up. Stay tuned!

I hope that helps some of you "bored" Treasures users to jazz it up.

I will work on a post for what I do during Reading Groups and Writing/Grammar.

Let me know if you have any questions! I love to answer questions!


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10 comments:

  1. I love how organized this is! I think the color coding is a great idea, definitely something I'll have to look into for next year. I also entered your giveaway! :)

    Tales of An Elementary Teacher

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  2. Thanks! I think the kids like the color coded tubs too. And it's easy to refer to the "orange sign" when teaching. =)

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  3. I absolutely love how you organize your week for Treasures and how you do a Focus Wall! Okay, I have sort of a random question. I have been trying to find a blog, website, actually anything for 3rd grade Treasures reading series.
    Not much luck on my part. Do you know of any teacher who has created any materials, ideas, etc. for that level? If I could stumble upon someone as creative as you, it would be pay dirt. Any ideas??? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I absolutely love how you organize your week for Treasures and how you do a Focus Wall! Okay, I have sort of a random question. I have been trying to find a blog, website, actually anything for 3rd grade Treasures reading series.
    Not much luck on my part. Do you know of any teacher who has created any materials, ideas, etc. for that level? If I could stumble upon someone as creative as you, it would be pay dirt. Any ideas??? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Since Mrs. Fox had to take off her smartboard files any way you want to share them by e-mail?? I would LOVE to use them as well! :)

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    Replies
    1. Send an email to ebuckler@hotmail.com and I will do my best. =)

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    2. I would love her smart board files too.
      Notch8@cfl.rr.com

      Thanks,
      Sally

      Delete
    3. I would live a copy of her smart board files too.

      Notch8@cfl.rr.com
      Thanks,
      Sally

      Delete
    4. I would love a copy of her smart board files as well! Kljames21@yahoo.com.

      Thanks!
      Kelly

      Delete
  6. http://www.stageforlearning.com/thirddownloads.asp

    Very detail with powerpoints, anticipation guides, focus wall content, etc...

    ReplyDelete