Hi, friends! Ashley here from One Sharp Bunch! I'm back with my next post in my Guided Reading 101 series. If you missed last month's post about scheduling and organizing, you can check it out here. In last month's post, I mentioned that each of my guided reading lessons is much like a workout, containing a warm-up phase, workout phase, and cool down phase. This month's post will be all about the warm-up phase!
During the warm-up phase, the students complete a quick alphabet, phonological awareness, or phonemic awareness activity to warm up the brain. This activity lasts approximately 3-5 minutes. My kiddos especially enjoy this quick activity, as it is always an engaging (or FUN) way to practice the phonological and phonemic awareness skills we have been working on in class. These activities may include...
- Alphabet Bingo
- Alphabet Chart and Chant
- Missing Letter
- Syllable Work
- Rhyme Time
- Stretchy Snake
- Read and Reveal
- Elkonin Boxes
- Sound Lights
- Slinky Stretch
- CVC Sliders
WARNING: Picture overload to follow!
Since we are well into the school year, I will focus this post on some hands-on phoneme segmentation activities. Phoneme segmentation is the process of breaking a word apart into its individual sounds. It is the opposite of blending sounds together to form a word. However, the two often go hand-in-hand. Phoneme segmentation helps build phonemic awareness and is one of the first steps in the reading process. Oftentimes, students have difficulty orally "stretching out" a word... so we may practice this skill during the warm-up phase of our guided reading lesson.
Of course, I'm going to save my most favorite segmenting activity for last... so keep reading for a FREEBIE sample! :)
One warm-up activity that is relatively simple to complete is using Elkonin, or sound boxes. I like to do this with our "Stretch It Out with Stretchy" mats. This idea came from the fabulous Deanna Jump. You can use the mat in a variety of ways, including pushing sound chips. The students will push a chip into the box each time they say a sound in the word.
As the year progresses, we may spell the word with magnetic letters and push a letter each time we say a sound...sorry I do not have a picture of this. To further differentiate, we also use a dry erase marker to record each letter as we segment the word.
Another simple, yet effective, phoneme segmentation activity is what I like to call "sound lights." I originally saw this idea on Pinterest, and then a coworker recently shared a related post on FB. For this activity, you will need one touch light for each phoneme in the word.
I like to use the "sound lights" with a small group. Each child gets a light and a letter card. The first child will start by saying the first sound and push his/her light on. The second child will say the middle sound and push his/her light on. The last child will say the ending sound and push his/her light on. Then, everyone says the word as they push their lights off. Believe me... this is so much fun (and engaging) and memorable!
My kiddos also love to use Slinkys when segmenting words! I read about this idea on Tara West's blog.
We begin with the Slinkys pushed together and on the table. This is important! Otherwise, you will have Slinkys flopping in the air... trust me! Remember to establish these few ground rules. Then, we segment the word as we stretch out the Slinkys. After saying each individual sound in the word, we push the Slinkys back together and say the word.
The last phoneme segmentation activity I am going to share with you involves color coded beads and word cards. CVC Sliders are my most favorite hands-on segmenting activity! The beads and word cards are color coded for directionality. This helps the students read from left to right. Think of this as a stoplight with colors that slide.
Green is for the beginning sound, yellow is for the middle, and red is for the ending sound (since red means stop). First, we touch each colored dot as we say each sound. Then, we slide our finger across the arrow and blend the sounds together to form the word.
We also use our color coded CVC slider as we segment the word. The students will slide one bead for each phoneme in the word. After sliding all three beads and saying all three phonemes, they will push the beads back and say the word. In the beginning of the year, I like to use the cards with pictures to provide extra support.
As the students become better at segmenting and blending, we will use just the color coded word cards. This is a bit more difficult, as the students are not able to rely on the picture support when blending the sounds back together.
To differentiate even further, we often use the CVC Slider picture cards. These cards require oral segmentation of the word, which is a much more difficult skill.
Want to give CVC Sliders a try in your classroom?!? Grab a FREEBIE sample below!
I truly hope you have enjoyed these warm-up activities! I will try my best to pull out some of the activities I use in the beginning of the year and snap a few pictures. Don't forget to check out my first Guided Reading 101 post all about organization and scheduling.
Next month, I will be back with a post all about the workout phase of my guided reading lesson. This is meat, or nitty gritty as I like to say, of the lesson.
Until next time!
I also use a similar stretchy snake card, the kids love it! Another activity s to take cvc picture cards and cut them into 3 pieces. The students then say each sound as they put the puzzle back together. This works well fir students as there are not letters involved, just segmenting sounds. Abby1378@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteHi, Abby! We love CVC puzzle cards too! I wanted to let you know that I just added a set of cards without words to further challenge the kiddos! You can see a picture of one of them above. Hope this helps!
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Guided reading has to be my favourite part of the day. I have a little (ok it's pretty big haha) full of resources and activities for my kids. My favourite would have to be stretchy snake just because i use it for everything. It is a very versitile strategy. Second would be slinkies - the kids love them. I also use glass pebbles and the kids slide them up into the boxes for each sound. I love the bead idea, especially colour coded. Might have to add that one to my basket :) karls88@live.com.au
ReplyDeleteMy resource basket is pretty big too! It sounds like we use a lot of the same ideas! Anything new, even the simplest of things, is exciting in a child's eyes. Thanks for taking the time to comment, Kahlee!
DeleteGuided reading is still a challenge for me this year as it is the first year in my teaching career that I've had the freedom to set it up rather than use a scripted reading program. Currently I work with 4th & 5th grade special education students many of which read between a kindergarten and 2nd grade level. It's been challenging for me to find material on their level that keeps them interested. Currently we use scrabble tiles, elkonin boxes, and puzzle pieces. I will definitely be adding your CVC sliders to my collection as it's a great way to make them slow down and read each sound! I'm also ordering the finger lights as we speak :) Thanks for all the great ideas!! morseb01@midlandu.edu
ReplyDeleteI love having the freedom to structure my own guided reading lessons! I really feel like I am able to target and differentiate so much better than using a scripted program. Good luck to you, Bobbi! Feel free to email me anytime!
DeleteMy kiddos enjoy stringing the letters of a word on a pipecleaner (using bead letters). They can then segment each phoneme and/or chunks. eaglepride1984@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteI think I may need to head to my favorite online store (Amazon) to purchase some bead letters! Thanks for the tip, Tina!
DeleteI use the 3 sound lights for my kids when working with cvc words. They love those lights! I would love to add these sliders to my guided reading groups. They would be awesome for my ESL students! jgreene@emsd37.org
ReplyDeleteYou are the lucky winner, Jennifer! Check your email soon!
DeleteI've used the slinky to stretch out the sounds. Would love to win your CVC Sliders!
ReplyDeleteecoan88@gmail.com
Thank you for commenting, Ellen! The slinkys are one of our favorites! I think I may try to find some finger sized slinkys, since they tangle less.
DeleteLove these ideas. Always looking for new ideas so the kiddos don't get bored. Cara.homan@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteThanks, Cara! I like to pull a few tricks out of my bag to keep it novel for the kiddos. They always get so excited for something new!
DeleteI love all of these ideas, and have used all of them, except for the touch lights and your CVC cards!! My students love to use the slinkies and pipe cleaners/beads to segment words. We also sometimes "pound" our hand in our fist for each sound, and then clap to say the whole word. Thanks for sharing!! reder_erin@yahoo.com p.s. Where did you get the touch lights?
ReplyDeleteI got the touch lights from the Dollar Tree! Totally worth it! The kiddos love them!
DeleteThanks, I'll have to go shopping this week!!
DeleteI love your ideas. Where did you get the touch lights? I may need to add that to my group. I am going to try your word sliders. Many of my struggling students are having difficulty on identifying the beginning, middle, ending sounds. Thanks for the great ideas. BrandiRoth03@gmail.com
ReplyDeleteHi, Brandi! The touch lights actually came from the Dollar Tree, and they work great for only $1.00 each!
DeleteI also use stretchy snake with a variety of different materials. I try to change the items based on the season or what we are learning about. I also have some items that I am purchased from TpT that the students use in centers and are self correcting. I LOVE the idea of the Dollar Tree lights. I have seen them on the store and have tried to think of something to use them fir, now I know. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteMeredith Malik
meredithkm@yahoo.com
My kids can't get enough of the touch lights! Worth every penny! Now, I need to stock up on batteries!
DeleteNow, I will really have to buy those lights. I've read several posts that describe using them for sementing activities. I know the kids will love them!
ReplyDeleteThe lights are a super buy! I paid more for the batteries than I did for the actual lights! LOL!
DeleteDid you get a chance to blog about the workout and cool down phases of your guided reading lesson? I'm interested to know what comes next and can't find anything. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI am also interested in reading about the workout and cool down phases of your guided reading!!
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ReplyDeleteHi! Love these ideas. Where did you get the colored beads (red, yellow, green) and do you thread them on pipe cleaners?
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