A Short, but Sweet Month
February may be a short month, but it still can be difficult to keep readers engaged. They begin thinking of warmer weather…even if it isn’t actually near. Students are also antsy from being inside so much for the last few months. As a teacher, it’s important to keep the excitement alive in small groups to combat those feelings!
I’ve got a few ideas and a freebie for you to help make your readers stay excited about reading this month. I grabbed two different items from the Valentine’s Day section at Target that you can hopefully find too. The heart shapes glasses and the little airplanes are perfect for motivating little readers.
Ways to Use the Heart Glasses
The heart glasses can be so motivating for readers in Guided Reading groups, literacy centers and independent reading time. Simply keep a container of them at your small group table or somewhere in the room that is easily accessible by all. Readers can then grab a pair and focus on being good readers with their special glasses. The glasses are a great way to encourage a LOVE for reading all month long!
Student Choice
Letting readers choose their own pair of glasses goes a long way. They feel like they’re making a decision in a time when most of the decisions are made by you. Always give the option of not using the glasses too, of course!
Fluency Center
Placing these glasses at your fluency center is one way to get readers excited about working on fluency. They can put on a pair and start working on their fluency passages. Once readers feel confident in reading the passages, they can read to you, or another adult. They can also then record their reading to assess how they’re doing.
Check out more tips and lots of freebies on setting up a Fluency center in your room here!
Guided Reading
This same concept can be applied your Guided Reading groups. Readers will be excited for the new glasses to be worn while they read in small groups. I’m all about any little thing that is extra motivating!
How to Use the Airplanes
The airplanes can be used by readers a few different ways:
- When reading individual sentences, outside of the text.
- As pointers, while reading their texts.
- Reading words, out of context.
Flying in February Freebie
I also made a freebie to use with the airplanes. These phoneme boxes are perfect for getting readers to practice saying each sound in a word. When they focus on each sound, they can then put all the sounds in the word together to read the actual word.
To do this, you can tell readers what letters to put in each box. Or, for a slightly more advanced version: you can say the sounds of each letters and have readers find those letters to place in the boxes. Either way, readers will then use the airplane to “fly through the sounds.” The opposite of this can also be done where you give students the word and they break it down in the boxes. Download the freebie here to use with your readers this month!
I included 3, 4 and 5 sound boxes so you can differentiate based on the current focus of your different small groups. I love these for the beginning of Guided Reading groups or a small group focused on word work.
Reading Response Freebie
One other freebie you can use this month: this reading response page- download it here!
This is a great way to focus on characters this month. Add it in as reading response pages for literacy centers or within Guided Reading groups! Printable in black and white or color. 🙂
That is all! Hope these help your readers stay excited about reading this month!
