Are you looking for a great way to help your kiddos practice their comprehension skills? I’m happy to be reviewing Comprehension Connection’s recently-released Reading Comprehension Learning Mats. The first thing I noticed about this product were the fun fonts and borders. I also enjoyed the truly unique ways kids can show their comprehension skills, such as tree and chain graphic organizers.

These mats are designed for you to laminate and make a spiral bound book that can be used over and over. I love that once you make the books, you can use them with different reading groups. Also, it’ll surely save you a lot of paper and time making copies! You’ll just need fine point dry erase markers and a tissue to erase.

Some of the mats, like the visualizing and making inferences mats, are great for kids to use items like unifix cubes, etc. to show their thinking. This is definitely one thing I want to highlight about this product because I like how interactive and simple it is. They would just simply put their unifix cube(s) on the word(s) that they thought represented one of the characters.

A total of 16 different mats cover a variety of comprehension concepts. They include character, setting, plot, conflict, main idea, inferencing, and facts from nonfiction texts, etc. This product would be ideal for 2nd grade and above, since some of the mats have a variety of written responses. These mats can be used for any book (guided reading, read aloud, independent reading), so they’re very flexible.

View the full product in Comprehension Connection’s TpT store. Also, here is the link to Carla’s Comprehension Connection blog, where you can find a sneak peak of her classroom decor, as well as other great teaching tidbits!

~Carrie

We had two 13 hour drives a few weeks ago. Along with the typical activities to help keep the kids occupied, they really enjoyed this one.

I gave them my older digital camera and let them take pictures as we were driving. They took turns and had a great time. They took pictures for about 30 minutes. Even if you don’t have a road trip coming up, you can see if your kids would be interested in doing this on a regular trip around town.

Tip: Tell them not to take pictures of people driving their vehicles. I think it’d make people uncomfortable to have their picture taken as they’re driving down the road or if they’re stopped in traffic. So just steer clear of that.

But, as for you, smile! And have fun looking at all of the interesting pictures your kiddos take!

-Carrie

 

 

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Are you looking for a simple activity to do with your kids?

Gather:

Umbrella(s)
Hose

Now, make it rain for your kids while they hold their umbrellas. I did it from my deck, but it will also work great without a deck. Enjoy what’s left of summer, everyone!

~Carrie

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How can you maximize your precious Guided Reading time? Below is an example of a Guided Reading Monitoring Sheet. I have removed the student names that were on the top of each column. You will have a teaching point for each group and then you can easily monitor how each child is progressing for that teaching point. You can also include other important information about their reading on the sheet.

I have used these Guided Reading Monitoring Sheets for years. I love them because you can keep so much information on one sheet of paper. One sheet can last you up to six weeks. I keep all of the sheets on a clipboard that I grab each time I start one of my guided reading groups. Then I flip to the sheet for the group I’m working with. Sometimes I also do on the fly running records on the back of the sheet.

See even more about the Guided Reading Monitoring Sheets (including blank Monitoring Sheets that can be used for groups ranging from 1 to 8 students per group). You can purchase them in my TpT or TN store if you’d like to save yourself some time! In any case, happy monitoring!

~Carrie

Follow My Book Boost on Facebook to hear more ideas about guided reading in the future!

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