Have you seen these lying around your
classroom? Or at your school?
As elementary teachers, we tend to have these little manipulatives coming out of our ears! We use them for math and they are everywhere!
Today, I’m going to give you a tip at the Guided Reading table that utilizes these red and yellow chips to your advantage.
We know that at the Guided Reading table students
should be reading independently in a low whisper voice (or in their heads
depending on their reading level). But
THAT can be hard to manage when five little readers need support and are
staring at you to come help them.
We have to teach problem-solving strategies and
have ways for our readers to keep track of their attempts. One way I do this is by introducing the red and
yellow chip as a learning tool at the Guided Reading table.
Here’s what it sounds like when I first introduce
these chips.
‘Readers, we know there will be tricky words in
our books and it is up to us to solve those tricky parts. We don’t have time to wait for the teacher to
come around and help us - we have to problem-solve on our own!
Everyone at the table will get a yellow chip to
place next to their book. As you are
reading and you get to a tricky word, I want you to turn the chip over to
red. This signals you know this is a
tricky word and you will not be tricked! Once you turn your chip to red, don’t
stop! Use what you know about solving
words to figure out the tricky part (look at the first sound, break the word
into chunks you know, think about what makes sense, etc). Then, once you figured out the word, turn
your chip back over to yellow to show you were not tricked!’
During the first few times students use these
chips, I like to tally how many times students turn their chip BACK TO YELLOW
to celebrate their problem-solving attempts.
I make a big deal of this because I want my readers to take risk and
solve words on their own. This will
transfer to independence.
After students read the text, I make sure to talk
about which words signaled a chip flip and what strategies students used to
solve the word. The more conversation we
have around this learning tool, the more likely they are to use it!
With young readers, it is important to help them
understand that you can only turn the chip over if you get to a tricky part and
solve the word. In the early days if I
notice a student is just turning the chip because other students are turning
theirs, I coach them on real reading vs. fake reading. I also only give tally marks to students who
are solving words (and not just flipping for the sake of flipping!)
As we continue to use this learning tool,
students become self reliant with problem-solving!
All readers are able to stay engaged with their
text and I am able to coach readers one-on-one based on their individual
needs and know who to help and when based on their chip color!
Everyone is WINNING!!!
