Traveling Reading Bin

These past few weeks I have been working at our Summer Camp...to help maintain those skills! We're about halfway through, and I'm having a lot of fun (it's only 4 hours a day for 3 days a week!!).

I'm not actually teaching a grade-I'm what's known as a floater. I'm bouncing between 3rd and 4th grade (Very cool because I get to see some of the kids I had this year, and get a peek at some of the kids I'll have in September!!)

I'm doing different reading groups, and helping out in general. Since I'm traveling, I have a bin that goes back and forth with me. I though I would show you my interpretation of a traveling teacher's reading bin!

First off, I have these resource books in my bin.

Two reader response books, and a poetry book. I use the poetry book on Thursdays with one of my groups-when our time is cut short so they can go the the computer lab.

I have them read the poem (many many times!), and they we work on the rhyming words and other word study from the poem (I do this with my 4th graders who are below level-they both have IEPs but are at very different places reading wise-so it's been interesting trying to find books that fit both of them!)

We usually spend about 15-20 minutes on each poem-so we get through 2 poems before we go to the Computer Lab.  I have them read each poem 3-5 times depending on length and style before we move into talking about the poem and word study.

An important part of my instruction is going over vocab-so I have whiteboards at the ready!

And with whiteboards-you need Expo markers!

I use the last whiteboard-

Along with pencils and post-its

to help the readers track their thinking. This helps them really think about the information they are learning while they are reading-and we can go back and do activities with their post-it markers later.

I use the symbols to track their thinking rather than the different colors because well...it's cheaper to buy a couple of sets with different colors and give each kid one, rather than buying 25 different packs.

Since this is all about reading, I also have the books that each group is reading:

You can see the friends that tracked their thinking!

And for those that struggle a little with text:

Sentence trackers! (I got these from Calloway House- they came in a pack of 12)

When we've finished reading:

I use Jen Runde's Comprehension Question Fan!

I also have a set of crayons;

We use them to color in rhyming words and do our word study on our Poetry sheets.

This all fits nicely into my bin:

Bin from the Dollar Store-LOVE!

...with room for my water bottle during hot summer days!

If you were a 'traveling teacher', what would be in your bin?

Stay cool!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn