Reading Wonders---My Thoughts After One Year

Hello everyone! Looks like a lot of you will be starting to use the new Reading Wonders basal series this year. My district in Indiana adopted it last year, so I have been through one full year with it in second grade. I have had a lot of questions about what I did and didn't use, etc. I think that it is all going to depend on your school and district and what you do and don't need to use. For example, I am under the impression that we are pretty much expected to use it. (Imagine how much money they spent on it!) Plus, I'm in the largest district in Indiana, so a lot of things are set up for us. Curriculum maps, calendars to keep us on track, etc. That is all district specific stuff. We don't ONLY use this basal, we do use other things. For example, we don't use the spelling or the writing that is in Wonders. So please keep that in mind when you see my outline below. We are required to have a 90 minute literacy block (writing is not included here, that's separate) and at my particular school last year, we did a 120 minute block in K-2. That extra 30 minutes was typically independent reading and independent reading conferences. Also, I teach in an inner city school with very high poverty and a very high ELL population. My whole group is 30 minutes, but the real "meat" of what I do is in workstations and small groups because without differentiation there, I would never meet half of my students needs.

A lot of readers have mentioned that they are very overwhelmed by it all and some didn't have a series before so it seems like a lot. I actually had Treasures for the 5-6 years before Wonders, and it's pretty much set up the same. Wonders just had even more. This is purely MY theory and opinion, as I said before, it all depends on YOUR principal and district, but YOU CAN NOT DO IT ALL! There is no way to do it all. I use this series simply as a tool and guide to follow. Although it has a lot, and I can't do it all, there are also things that I feel it DOES NOT have... like good quality workstations/centers. That is why I've created my own. (Please see other posts and my TPT store for free samples for 2nd and 3rd grade!)

As I said, I have been asked this question before, so I'm actually going to copy/paste/edit the quick outline that I gave someone in a Facebook group that I'm part of:

We have a 30 minute whole group time, then 60 minute workstations/centers/small group guided reading time. So I will focus on what I cover in my whole group (to the best of my memory!)


Mondays-Introduce new phonics skills, high frequency words, vocabulary words and definitions. (honestly that's about all I got through in 30 min on Mondays because of course Monday mornings were so hectic)

Tuesdays-Quick review of phonics skills, high frequency words, vocab. Read the story in Readers/Writers Workshop book together. Introduce comprehension skill and strategy and try to apply them to the story read. (create anchor chart usually)

 

 

Wednesdays-review of words above again, then read the story in the Literature Anthology together. Apply skills for week to story.

 

 

Thursdays-Usually there is a short poem or article to read in the literature anthology. Apply skills. Sometimes I'd do my own read aloud and apply the skills from the week. And overall a "catch up" day to go over grammar skills for week, etc.

 

 

Fridays-Weekly Test **I only gave the first half of the test. One passage (two pages long!) and 10 questions. I did that for probably 75% of the year because they still weren't ready to move onto the full length test. Plus just  half of a test would take them a good hour. Also, I read the test aloud and we worked on it question by question same time until December. After December, I let them try on their own, except my special cases that would sit in a small group with me and I'd read it with them. The kids had a hard time with the tests all year, but we didn't give up. They got better and better eventually. I will have to compare to this year's group because last year's group was honestly very tough, so I don't know if it was Wonders or that class.

Also, I did do one of the written response questions on the shortened test. Usually the written response question included was about both passages, which they hadn't read, so I would just do a little cut and paste (literally) and fix the question so it was just for the passage they read. I made a big deal about the written response and use RAPP in my classroom. See my blog post on RAPP here.

 

 



I'm remembering what I did do everyday for my WHOLE GROUP Time, but it's hard for me to remember what I left out (since I didn't do it! LOL) One thing I STARTED the year with was the Interactive Read aloud. In our quick training we had by the company they made a big deal of this and I felt I needed to do it. I DID try it for a few weeks but in MY opinion, it ended up being a big waste of time, so I discontinued it. With only 30 minutes for whole group, I had to pick and choose, as you are figuring out when you go through the text yourself.

 

Another question I was asked was if I did the "Review Week." For the first part of the year, yes, I had a review week/week between two units where we worked on a big "Unit Test" that was included in the series. However, I chose to do it as more of test taking strategy lessons without a grade. We worked hard on this and talked about how they'd take the state test in 3rd grade. Now, halfway through the year, Indiana was hit with one of the worst winters ever, so we ended up having to skip the review weeks in order to get through all 6 units because our time ended up being limited. But it was still okay, it was nice to do those test taking strategies in the beginning.

 

I'm sure this year will be different and I will use some things that I learned from using Wonders last year. I am also at a new school this year where the weekly test data is required to be turned in. I have yet to find out if they are to take the entire test each week or if I'll be allowed to still cut it in half. This of course worries me. The kids need experience in taking a long "standardized" test since that's what their future is, but I can't imagine how long it will take them and how they will do at the beginning.

You are probably wondering more about what I do in what I call the "meat" of my literacy block: Small groups and literacy workstations. Last year, I used all of the literacy workstations that I created for Wonders, plus some others and differentiated them. If you follow my blog, I had a "Workstation Wednesday" series in the spring where I went into great detail about my workstations. As for small groups, I differentiate those to meet the needs of each group of students and often they are different from year to year. I use many TPT materials and I do use the leveled readers from Wonders, if the level fits a particular group of students. However, sometimes a group will fall between some of those levels and I'll have to resort to other leveled books from my school's bookroom.

 

I know this is a lot, and you might need to read through all of my babbling a few times. But I truly hope that I can at least help if you are overwhelmed with the series, and I hope I didn't overwhelm you anymore!

 

My resource packets that I've made include workstations/centers, graphic organizers, posters for a focus wall, high frequency word cards, vocabulary cards, plus more. Please download a free copy to see if you think it will help you this year! Just click on the pictures below. I have 2nd and 3rd grade resources.

 

Also, here is a picture of my Reading Wonders Focus Wall and you can download the titles/headers for it free!

 

If I think of any other information that I feel is too important not to share, I'll update this post. If I update, I'll let you know on Facebook, so be sure to follow my Facebook page!

Chapter Book Read Alouds

I thought it'd be nice to put together a list of the chapter books that I plan to read to my class this year and have them all put together and ready to go. I asked this question on my Facebook page and OOOOOh my goodness I had a HUGE response! I need to somehow keep that post and/or make a huge list out of it so that I won't forget any of them! I thought I'd share my current (as of today!) plan for chapter books to read to my kids this year. I honestly felt like I was living under a rock because I hadn't even heard of some of these titles and they were ones that some teachers were suggesting over and over again in the post. Where have I been!? LOL

As teachers were responding to my question, I quickly ordered these three titles from Amazon because I realized these were obviously a big hit. They were suggested over and over and over again. I can't wait for them to arrive!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also plan to read some other books that introduce a series to my students, so they are motivated to read the other books in the series. Now, mind you, this is my PLAN, and even though this will be my 10th year teaching 2nd grade, I'm not sure how many books I will actually fit into the school year. I suppose it all depends on my new schedule! But, here are some of my ideas:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also, another classic, mentioned OVER AND OVER (so glad it's still popular!)

 

Christmas in July $1 Sale! July 16-17

The Indiana teacher bloggers are back with another DOLLAR SALE!

 

 

I have four items that are marked down to just $1!

 

 

 

 

Here are all of the other dollar deals included in our Christmas in July sale!

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Start Your Engines! Indiana's DOLLAR SALE!

An InLinkz Link-up

Workstation Wednesday: Read and Retell

Welcome back for out Workstation Wednesday! The year is starting to wind down, but the workstations keep going and of course the kids keep loving them. Today's workstation that I'd like to share is one that we do all year long and all of my students participate in this station because it's easy to differentiate.

I have an old set of leveled readers from an old reading series that are all in leveled baskets and these books are used ONLY for this workstation, my read and retell station. You could use any books that you have leveled to easily differentiate this station though. 

Here is how the station looks: 

On each student work plan, it tells the student which level I'd like them to use that week. After 5-6 weeks, I just change the level on their work plan by going up one. Also, they know if they read every book in that basket, they just move up to the next level basket. Again, a station that doesn't require a ton of work on my part. Are you seeing a pattern in my posts? Lol 

Here is their work plan with their read and retell center assigned:

Students choose a book from their assigned basket, read it, then complete the read and retell graphic organizer. Download it free from my TPT store.

Read and Retell accountability sheet (please follow my TPT store and leave me some feedback if you download this, I appreciate it!) 

Also, here are my basket labels: Read and Retell Center Labels FREEBIE

Hope this station can be useful for you in your classroom! I'd love to see you using it! Feel free to post pictures to my Facebook page of you using any of my ideas or tag me on Instagram! @stuckeyinsecond

Head over to see what Abbie is up to!!
 

Workstation Wednesday: Response to Literature using RAPP

I hope you are enjoying our Workstation Wednesday posts so far. This is #4 already! Just in writing and sharing these, I've been motivated to come up with even more ideas for my kids. I can't wait to share more and the new things I've come up with just in these last few weeks!

Today I'm going to share my Response to Literature workstation, which isn't too complicated or involved, but I'd like to share the work I've done with my kids throughout the year (in and out of workstations) to practice Response to Literature using RAPP.

The station that my students do every week includes a question about our weekly story from Reading Wonders. They have to use their book to go back and use text evidence to answer.

You could write any question from your own stories that your students have read and include "use two details from the text," for example. My students have been trained (conditioned!?) to use RAPP....well, most of them anyway. If you haven't seen RAPP before, just wait, I have lots of pictures to show you below! :)

In order for you to understand how much I teach and RE-teach RAPP and how students should use it when answering a question, let me show you all of the places that students find RAPP in the classroom:

Anchor chart at the back corner of the room
(near my small group table for me to refer to anytime I'm there)

Randomly posted around the room, in case they need a reminder!

Across this long bulletin board on the other side of the room:

And, last but not least...ON EACH OF THEIR DESKS!!!

Yes, I may be crazy...but guess what? Some of them still forget.

Here are some of the tools that I have used to help me along the way. I use these tools on whole group type assignments first, before I let them try them on their own in workstations.

Graphic organizers:

If you'd like to purchase my RAPP Detective Packet, which includes the posters (color and black/white), bookmarks, desk tags, and graphic organizers, click below:

More next Wednesday!

Check out what Abbie is doing with workstations over on her page!

Workstation Wednesday: Scholastic Brain Bank

 

Welcome back for Workstation Wednesday! I hope that you've been enjoying our posts so far! We have loved the feedback that we have had and the fun collaboration! This next station that I'm going to share is another YEAR LONG station (my favorite!)

I created this station by using Scholastic's Brain Bank boxes that were purchased for my classroom by my principal. I know that not everyone has access to this, but if you do, or if you have them sitting around collecting dust (I HOPE NOT!!), then this post will be great for you because you can try using them in the way that I do. However, if you don't have the Brain Bank boxes, I'm sure you may be able to use this "year long workstation" idea with other books and activities that you may have.

First of all, let me share the Scholastic link to the Brain Banks and pictures of what they look like. When my principal first delivered one of these to each of our classrooms (they are leveled by grade level), I was excited enough. Then, a few years later, after I'd created this workstation with them, she bought MORE! I was so excited to add to my Brain Bank workstation! The kids were excited too!

Scholastic Brain Bank

 

Each box has two of each book included (non-fiction) and then laminated cards with activities for each book. Also, there is a guide that tells you the reading level for each book. I went ahead and labeled all of the books right away with the level right on the front so that I didn't have to go back to the guide to figure it out.

Then, I made a folder for each set of books. As you can see in the picture below (all green for me!) All of these folders are in my Brain Bank "crate."

 

Inside each folder is a set of two books. (You could make two folders if you want, one book in each folder.) Then I copied the cards with activities that I found practical enough for my students to do during my workstation time. I have a whole folder of originals that I copied, then I just copy about 30 per folder at the beginning of each year. That's all I do...ALL YEAR LONG.

On my student work plans, my students that are up to this level of work have Brain Bank assigned with a level. This is how it's differentiated. Some students will be told they need to get a level L or M folder, while others might get N or O. They have to choose a folder that is at that level (clearly labeled on the front.) And they can work with a partner that is assigned the same level if they want, otherwise they are on their own. They read the book, then complete the activities that are assigned in the folder. That activity is then put into their workstation folder to turn into me on Friday.



 

How could you use this if you don't actually own a set of Brain Bank books?

Well, you could use any non-fiction book that you have, then have copies of activities that you want students to complete for that book in the folder. Just have 30-40 copies in there at the beginning of the year, then you never have to touch it again! MY FAVORITE!!!

Problems I've had: Kids trying to do the same folder each week and just memorize what to do because they don't think I can keep track of everyone and what they did the week before. Newsflash--they are right, I can't remember all of that! Tricky little 2nd graders. You could also have a class list stapled into each folder and they have to cross of their name as they do that folder, so they can never do it again that year.

This station is a lot like the Animal Kingdom one: year long, nonfiction, have to trust the kids that they won't duplicate the same one every week. But, I still love it! In fact, I'm looking for more stations to create like this. The biggest difference with this one is that you COULD do it with fiction too if you want, and it's leveled, so it can be differentiated easily within the station.

More next Wednesday!

Check out the workstations Abbie is sharing over on her blog today for Workstation Wednesday!