Carole Butcher

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 What is Guided Reading?  Curriculum Connections  Getting Started: ◦ Using Assessments for Grouping ◦ Teacher Role / Student Role  Lesson Planning for Before, During, and After  What are the other students doing?  Resources  Questions

 A part of Balanced Literacy and the Daily 5 programs that will help teachers to differentiate instruction and assessment to help students grow from their current learning level.  Students are in small groups of 5 or 6 where they are reading at about the same level with similar instructional needs.  Reading materials at the groups’ instructional level are introduced providing a balance of challenge and comfort so risk-taking is encouraged and supported.  The teacher guides the group by practicing reading strategies to match students’ needs that will then build up the student’s reading toolkit.

 An effective Guided Reading program can meet all the ELA outcomes: ◦ Ensure that lessons focus on a specific outcome ◦ Use a wide variety of textual materials – include audio and visuals ◦ Provide opportunity for “big idea” questioning and deep understanding; check prepared materials for areas needing to be supplemented ◦ Focus on the language and use promote strategies that students can use and then apply.  A complete breakdown of outcomes by Scholastic text:

Teacher ‘s RoleStudents’ Role  Teacher completes assessments to determine reading groupings and areas of instruction for mini-skills lessons. ◦ DRA results ◦ Sight word recognition ◦ Oral reading skills ◦ Comprehension ◦ Writing Sample  Teacher plans lessons  Students need time to practice the other components of the ELA program so they are able to work independently while the Teacher is busy with a Guided Reading Group ◦ Reading to Someone ◦ Reading to Self ◦ Listening to Reading ◦ Working with Writing ◦ Word Work

Both DRA Guides (K – 3 and 4 – 8) have classroom focus charts. Complete the charts to see which students could be grouped together for mini-lessons or what types of activities could be implemented in the modeled, shared, guided, or independent portions of your ELA program. ◦ DRA Assessment Continuum / Focus for Instruction ◦ Class Profile Sheet  Use a Correlation Chart to match DRA levels to Guided Reading Levels.

 Students are grouped according to needs identified by your assessments. Students do not need to remain in the same group for a long period of time. Groupings can change depending upon type of text and/or student progress.  Student groups could be as small as 2 or 3 students but shouldn’t be any larger than 6 students.  Try to make student groupings that will foster collaboration and offer peer-support. Students need to feel they are in a safe environment to take risks.

 Select appropriate texts for your groupings. Instructional reading level is within 90 – 95% accuracy: ◦ You can use a commercial program such as Scholastic or ReadingA-Z.com or use books from your school library. An online book leveling tool, such as Scholastic’s Book Wizard, can help determine if a book matches student reading level. ◦  Decide upon the learning focus and purpose for reading. It is important to set the purpose for reading with the students.  Develop the story introduction, discussion, and follow up activities.

Teacher’s RoleStudents’ Role  Introduce the text; motivate the students, build on prior knowledge, preview the text features and new vocabulary  Be sure to set the purpose and lesson focus with the students  Participate in discussions and share prior knowledge  Preview text features and new vocabulary  Make predications and anticipate what the text will be about.  Follow the purpose as set out by the teacher.

Teacher’s RoleStudents’ Role  Observes student reading behaviours for use of strategies; supports struggling readers when necessary.  May ask students to “Think aloud” as a support for others.  Listens to an individual student’s reading.  Keep notes of student strategy use and progress  Reads the text to him/herself except when teacher requests to “listen in”.  Problem solves and decodes using strategy.  Takes note of text features; reads to understand text.

Teacher’s RoleStudent’s Role  Revisits the purpose of reading and connects it to the lesson focus.  Encourages all students to engage in discussion about the text.  Discusses with students how they were able to read and understand the text. (conversation about strategies and provide learning from others)  Provides opportunity for students to explore the text in follow up activities.  Participates in story discussions; story retells  Check predictions.  Makes connections (text- text, text-self, text-world).  Reread the text for fluency building  Complete follow up activities

 Self-monitoring: teaching “Fix-It” strategies when it doesn’t make sense, ask questions to clarify, which organizer works best to answer a question.  Analyzing: finding information readily available in the text and making sense of it.  Sequencing: remembering and recalling information in a way that makes sense  Making Connections: text to self, text to text, text to world  Predicting: not only making a guess, but explaining why and then adjusting predictions as more information is given  Inferring: Using clues to discover intended meanings  Evaluating: thinking and reasoning to form opinions  Synthesizing: connecting the details to comprehend and make meaning

 For longer pieces of text, it may be necessary to “chunk” it and only read a portion each day.  Teachers need to build up a toolkit of graphic organizers and activities that would be modeled for students to use for follow up activities. These graphic organizers could then be available for independent reading activities.  Keep in mind that Guided Reading is only a portion of the reading program.  I Do (teacher) – shared reading; teacher reads and models  We Do (teacher/student) – guided reading: teacher and student work together  You Do – (student) independent reading: student reads to self

 Anecdotal: ◦ Keep notes on strategies students use or need more support. If there are students from various groups having difficulty with the same strategy it could be the focus of a mini-lesson. ◦ If using the Scholastic programs such as Literacy Place for the Early Years or Moving Up with Literacy Place, there are templates for Reading Behaviours to Notice at each level. Organizational tip: Copy the behaviours and put on file folders so they are easily accessible to make notes.

 Running Records: On a regular basis, have each student read individually and complete a miscue analysis. You will want to check if reading errors are made in  meaning (using story background to find a word that makes sense),  structure (rules of grammar and what “sounds” right), or  visual (how letters and words looks)

Keep in mind what we have learned from Sandra Herbst:  Involve students with setting criteria about expectations within the guided reading group (co- construct what it would look like)  Involve students with self-assessment. Co-construct quality work with follow up activities. Students can use critical thinking to assess and identify where their work is on the continuum.  Have students reflect on their progress with proof cards, as shown in the orange book Self-Assessment and Goal Setting. Students can also choose work of quality and reflect upon it for conferences / portfolios. Conferencing and Reporting (blue book)

 After students have been taught how to work independently and know what is expected: ◦ Students can be reading independently – follow up activities can be assigned. ◦ Students can be completing word work – building vocabulary, sorting words, spelling ◦ Students can be reading with someone – working on fluency and retells ◦ Students can be working on writing ◦ *Based upon the Daily 5 and Café Model

Sun West School Division Wiki: Scholastic Guided Reading Programs: Literacy Place for the Early Years, Moving Up with Literacy Place, Stepping Up with Literacy Place. Guided Reading: Irene C. Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell The Daily 5 – Gail Boushey and Joan Moser TeachersPayTeachers website: DRA Teacher’s Manual: Moving into Instruction section

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