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Home » All categories » My Guided Reading Suitcase

My Guided Reading Suitcase

March 11, 2016 •

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You just found out you that you are headed to Hawaii!  It’s time to pack.  You’ll need all the essentials for a warm and festive vacation.  Sounds good, right?  Young emerging readers have that same excitement about the new world of reading they are exploring.  Today, we are packing the guided reading suitcases full of essentials that beginning readers need.

A guided reading suitcase is a place for new readers to keep all of the important items for their reading adventure.  It’s all kept in one spot for easy access.   They even have a handle for hanging.  Best of all, they won’t cost you a premium price. They are made from a recycled paper bag.

Emergent readers will love to have their very reading suitcase to use during guided reading. Fill it with printable books, pointers and more. And, it even hangs!

Guided Reading Suitcase

Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

Making the Guided Reading Suitcase

materials needed for DIY guided reading suitcases

Materials needed: one paper grocery bag with handles, Duck tape (we choose this [easyazon_link identifier=”B00Z6SIPRG” locale=”US” tag=”groboobyboo-20″]traveling theme[/easyazon_link]), scissors

cut the bag into two pieces

First, cut the bag in half.  Cut right above the bottom of the bag section.

step 2 cut the sides open

Cut along the seam on each side to create two separate pieces.

making your guided reading bag

Turn the pieces so that the writing on the bag will be inside the suitcase.  Trim the bottom of the bag to get your two pockets.

using Duck tape for your guided reading suitcase

Now, it’s time to use your [easyazon_link identifier=”B00Z6SIPRG” locale=”US” tag=”groboobyboo-20″]Duck tape[/easyazon_link] and assemble the pieces.

  1.  Place one part of the suitcase on the table followed by the two pocket pieces.  Then sandwich with the last side of the suitcase.  Tape your bottom seam.
  2. Open up the suitcase and place another piece of tape right down the middle.
  3. Tape the two folded pieces on each side of the suitcase.
  4. Put a little extra tape at the top of each pocket to hold it in place.

finished reading suitcase for guided reading

Time to decorate the front and add more tape if you choose.

Filling the Guided Reading Suitcase

Now it’s time to add the reading tools to the suitcase.

First, you need readers that fit the developmental level of the child.  We love to use the printable books from The Measured Mom.  Here are two of our favorite sets.

134 Phonics Readers

108 Sight Word Books

A reading pointer is also handy for tracking.

I also added a dry erase board by slipping a piece of cardstock into a [easyazon_link identifier=”B00006IC89″ locale=”US” tag=”groboobyboo-20″]page protector[/easyazon_link].  Place a [easyazon_link identifier=”B000J0B2YY” locale=”US” tag=”groboobyboo-20″]dry erase marker[/easyazon_link] and paper towel inside too.

Now, it’s time to read, read, read!

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Filed Under: All categories, Learning to Read Tagged With: beginning readers, guided reading

About Jodie Rodriguez

Jodie Rodriguez is a mom of two young boys and an early childhood/elementary educator with over 20 years of experience. Jodie's passion is helping parents, teachers, librarians and anyone else interested in nurturing and reaching ALL of our youngest growing readers.

Comments

  1. Heather H says

    March 17, 2016 at 3:37 pm

    What a cute DIY book bag! My girls love to pretend they’re going on a trip. We may have to add these reading suitcases to their bookshelf. Thanks for sharing your creative ideas on Everything Kids this week.

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      March 20, 2016 at 6:05 pm

      Thank you Heather!

  2. Christa Brown says

    March 11, 2016 at 2:53 pm

    We love making suitcases for our state and country studies. But, Jodie, I like yours better! We make ours out of construction paper. Going to give yours a try next time! If you want to see ours here’s the link. Thanks for sharing! http://littlelogcottageschool.com/2016/01/16/arctic-animal-highlights/

    • Jodie Rodriguez says

      March 13, 2016 at 8:54 am

      Christa, I love the idea of packing for a country/continent study. I love your artic study. Thanks so much for sharing.

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