When we think about teaching reading, we often get caught up in the “teaching words” part of reading. Yes, being certain the students can read words is extremely important in reading using skills in reading is equally as important. Skills such as questioning, author’s purpose, point of view, using text features, and the list goes on.
Guided Reading is a fundamental tool in teaching students to comprehend what they read and become successful readers in every area. I have a special way that I teach guided reading that is unlike many other teachers. I integrate the “how to read” portion into a skills-based lesson format. I focus on the skills, and while they are learning those, I am teaching other important things such as phrasing, inflection, and word knowledge.
How EXACTLY does this work? Well, I divide my students into Tier 1, 2, 3 and Above Level Students. Each lesson lasts approximately 20-30 minutes, depending on what your schedule allows for during the day. I have a rotation schedule that I follow each day with my groups and I pair these with my literacy centers. When the students are in guided reading, the other students are doing literacy centers.
NOTE: This rotation schedule would be for the first 10 weeks. Two more rotation schedules are included for the remainder of the year.
- Choose the text level most appropriate for your students.
- Vocabulary: Choose any of the three dice vocabulary cards to use with the bold words in the text.
- Before Reading:Teach the guided reading lesson.
- During Reading:Have the students read silently but each takes a turn reading aloud to you. Ask them some of the questions stems provided.
- Vocabulary Review: Review the vocabulary words from the previous day.
- Review Reading: Review the passagefrom the day before (without giving away any answers to the assessment)
- After Reading Assessment: Thestudents will complete the activity, share, and you will fill in the anecdotal record portion of the lesson.
TIER 2 Students: (Tuesdays)
- Choose the text level most appropriate for your students.
- Vocabulary: Choose any of the three dice vocabulary cards to use with the bold words in the text.
- Before Reading:Teach the guided reading lesson.
- During Reading:Have the students read silently but each takes a turn reading aloud to you. Ask them some of the questions stems provided.
- Vocabulary Review: Review the vocabulary words from the previous day.
- Review Reading: Review the passagefrom the day before (without giving away any answers to the assessment)
- After Reading Assessment: Thestudents will complete the activity, share, and you will fill in the anecdotal record portion of the lesson.
TIER 1 Students: (Fridays)
- Choose the text level most appropriate for your students.
- Vocabulary: Choose any of the three dice vocabulary cards to use with the bold words in the text.
- Before Reading: Teach the guided reading lesson.
- During Reading: Have the students read silently but each takes a turn reading aloud to you. Ask them some of the questions stems provided.
- After Reading Assessment: The students will complete the activity, share, and you will fill in the anecdotal record portion of the lesson.
- Choose a passageand questions for your students that best fits the skill for the week and the level of your students.
- Give them the passage from the zip file to read in partners and have them answer the questions independently.
- Once they are done with the questions, they can share with their group and discuss the answers they wrote.
- (Basically a book club with a passage.)
I always have the students share their “findings” (or activities) at the end. Then we discuss what they have learned and any other questions they may still have. Each skill will eventually be taught three times throughout the year. First, using graphic organizers. Next, doing open-ended questions. Lastly, doing multiple choice questions. Of course, this spans out over the entire year. I enjoy teaching this way because it gives them a dose of each skill all throughout the year, not just in the first six-weeks then again in April before testing.
I do have literacy centers bundled with the grade levels, so check those out as well (if you need literacy centers.)
Most importantly, just dive into guided reading! It is crucial in building strong readers!
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