Strategy Group Lesson Plan
*Keep strategy groups to a small number. No more than 3 in a group. If you have 6 students that need to work on the same strategy, just split them up into 2 groups.
*Strategy groups should be clear and concise. Depending on the strategy most will last approximately 8-13 minutes.
Day 1-Introducing a New Strategy
Materials:
· Read Aloud Book/ Mentor Text (preferably one already read to the whole class)
· Pensive/Binder/Notebook with your strategy group form
· Writing utensil
Steps:
1. Discuss the strategy these students are working on. Explain why is it important to use this strategy and when do you use it. (ex. Check for Understanding)
2. Model for students through read or think aloud on how to use this specific strategy. (ex. Read a page or 2 from your book and stop and say “I just read…) Model using the strategy a couple of times. (3-4 mins)
3. Ask students what they noticed about how you used the strategy.
4. Practice. Have the students practice their strategy. (students should bring their own book to the group) Listen to one student at a time read a page or paragraph from their book. The other students should be quietly reading and working on their strategy. Give immediate and specific feedback to each student on how they used their strategy. (ex. I noticed that you stopped after 2 pages and retold “who” and “what” you just read. That is what good readers do to understand what is happening in the book.)
5. Review the strategy with the students. Teacher states the strategy that the students are working on. Teacher verbalizes how and when to use that specific strategy.
Day 2
Materials:
· Read Aloud Book/Mentor Text
· Pensive/Binder/Notebook with your strategy group form
· Poetry, reader’s theatre scripts, word collectors, graphic organizers, dictionaries, thesauruses, literary response questions, etc. (this are items you may need depending on the strategy the students are working on.
Examples: Tune into Interesting Words- word collector
Use Punctuation to enhance phrasing-poetry or reader’s theatre
Recognize and explain cause and effect- graphic organizer
· Writing utensil
Steps:
1. Discuss strategy students are focusing on.
2. Model for students how to use that strategy. Again do a read aloud/think aloud for this specific strategy. Model strategy a couple of times.
3. Ask students what they noticed about how the strategy was used.
4. Practice. Have students practice their strategy using their own book. Listen to one student at a time. The other students should be practicing their strategy quietly to themselves. Give immediate and specific feedback on how they used their strategy.
5. Review the strategy with the students. Have students name the strategy they are working on. Have students discuss how to use the strategy and when to use the strategy.
Day 3
Materials:
· Pensive/Binder/Notebook with your strategy group form
· Poetry, reader’s theatre scripts, word collectors, graphic organizers, dictionaries, thesauruses, literary response questions, etc.
· Writing utensil
Steps:
1. Discuss strategy students are working on.
2. Practice. Have students practice their strategy using their own book. Listen to one student at a time. Work on vocabulary words that the student is encountering in their book. As you listen to a student read, talk about 1-2 words in their books that are unfamiliar to them. This will look different with each student. Can they use context clues to figure out what the word means. They can look it up in the dictionary. You can tell them what the word means. The other students are practicing their strategy quietly on their own. Give immediate and specific feedback on how they used their strategy.
3. Review the strategy with the students. When do they use their strategy and how are they going to use it?
4. Assignment. Give students an assignment or task to complete related to their strategy. (Ex. practice and perform a reader’s theatre, write a summary, complete a Venn diagram, use 2 words from your word collector in writing, etc.)
Day 4
Materials:
· Pensive/Binder/Notebook with your strategy group form
· Poetry, reader’s theatre scripts, word collectors, graphic organizers, dictionaries, thesauruses, literary response questions, etc.
· Writing utensil
Steps:
1. Discuss strategy students are working on.
2. Review assignment. Have each student share their completed work with the group. Have students engage in each other’s thoughts, ideas, and work. Use higher thinking questioning (ex. What if…, what might happen…).
3. Practice. Have students practice their strategy using their own book. Listen to one student at a time. Work on vocabulary words that the student is encountering in their book. The other students are practicing their strategy quietly on their own. Give immediate and specific feedback on how they used that strategy.
4. Review the strategy with the students. When do they use their strategy and how are they going to use it?
5. Assignment. Give students an assignment or task to complete related to their strategy. Ex. practice and perform a reader’s theatre, write a summary, complete a Venn diagram, use 2 words from your word collector in writing, etc.