What Is Guided Reading

What is guided reading? Describe it.

·  A teacher working with a small group, 3-6 students

·  Each child has a copy of the same text

·  The text is a little challenging (at the instructional level)

·  Teacher provides an introduction to the book which is conversational

·  Each child reads the whole text

·  Teacher listens to each child read independently and confers with him about his reading

·  Teacher decides on a teaching point as she listens to students read independently

·  The groups are dynamic and change over time

What might the teacher include in a guided reading book introduction?

·  Hook the children into the story by activating prior knowledge, making connections, providing a frame of meaning

·  Discussion of title, author, genre and a sense of what the book is about such as an overview or summary

·  Introduction of any new vocabulary or structure or “tricky” words and parts that may be unfamiliar to the children

·  Introduction of proper names that are not easily decodable

·  A preview of each picture or a “picture walk” to help students get the gist of the story

What should be in your teacher’s Readers’ Notebook to document guided reading?

·  Schedule for guided reading groups

·  Names of students in each group

·  Name of the book studied

·  Level of the book studied

·  Anecdotal notes

·  Running records

·  Graph of reading levels for each student

·  List of the strategies taught

What are some strategies that you could teach to students reading at the A-B (early) levels?

·  Tracking – use your finger for one-to-one word matching

·  Moving your finger left to right, top to bottom and practicing return sweep

·  Using the pictures to predict the story and the words

·  Looking at the first letter in a word – get your mouth ready

·  Looking through to the end of the word

·  Picking out some known, high-frequency words

·  Reread for fluency – echo reading, choral reading

·  Making connections

What are some strategies that you could teach to students reading at the C-D (early) levels?

·  Noting spelling patterns

·  Using meaning – does that make sense?

·  Using visual clues – does that look right?

·  Using syntactical clues – does that sound right?

·  Skip and return – skip the word and return to it after you read the rest of the sentence

·  Reread for fluency - Read like you are talking

·  Looking at the punctuation when you are reading to help you know how to say lines

·  Making connections that help you understand the story

What are some strategies that you could teach to students reading at the E-G (transitional) levels?

·  Making predictions throughout the story and then confirming or revising the predictions as you read

·  Making a story map – characters, setting, problem, main events, resolution

·  Retelling

·  Making a character map

·  Rereading to clarify meaning

·  Stopping and thinking about what you are reading so you can hold the whole story in your head

·  Examining the Table of Contents to see what clues it holds

·  Making connections to other books by the same author or in the same series

·  Visualizing – creating mental images in your head while you are reading

What are some strategies that you could teach to students reading at the H-I (fluent) levels?

·  Timing yourself to see how many words you are reading in a minute

·  Using intonation when you read

·  Recognizing quotation marks and talking like the character talks

·  Reading stamina

·  Identifying series books that might be interesting

·  Inferring

·  Asking questions while you read

·  Summarizing

·  Identifying non-fiction features such as appendix, bold print, charts, diagrams, glossaries, graphs, index

·  Identifying genre features for biographies, fables, fairy tales, fantasy, mysteries, nursery rhymes….

What is happening in a guided reading group before the children begin to read?

·  Teacher selects text that is supportive but provides some problems to solve

·  Teacher introduces the story

·  Teacher activates prior knowledge

·  Teacher connects to other stories the children have read

·  Teacher has children predict and anticipate story events

·  Children raise questions and engage in conversation about the story

·  Teacher sets a purpose for the reading by leaving some questions to be answered while the students read

·  Teacher points out “tricky” parts

What is happening in a guided reading group while the children are reading?

·  Teacher “listens in” by having each child read orally one at a time

·  Teacher observes the child’s use of strategies

·  Teacher confirms child’s problem solving strategies

·  Teacher interacts and assists with problem solving difficulties

·  Teacher makes notes about strategy use

·  Teacher decides on a teaching point to examine when the students come back together

·  Students do not read “round robin” (each taking a turn), but each child begins reading the story independently and continues at own rate

·  Students read the entire story softly or silently, but read out loud when it is their turn to read to the teacher

·  Students reread the story if the teacher is not finished conferring

What is happening in a guided reading group after the children read?

·  Teacher talks about the story

·  Teacher invites personal response and connections

·  Teacher returns to the text for any “tricky” parts

·  Teacher sometimes engages students in an extension such as retelling, drama, writing, art, partner reading

·  Teacher may take a running record on a single child after the others leave

·  Students talk about their comprehension of the story

·  Students check their predictions

·  Students share connections

·  Students take the book with them and put it in their book bins to reread during independent reading