Guided Reading
Getting Started with Guided Reading (originally posted October 23, 2009) Once your students are comfortable with the routines and expectations of independent work, and they are engaged in purposeful reading and writing activities, then you are ready to begin small group instruction through Guided Reading. During Guided Reading, you gather together students with similar reading needs and provide them with structured support as they read instructional level text. A text that is ‘just right’ for Guided Reading is one in which a student demonstrates a minimum of 70 percent comprehension and 90 to 95 percent word recognition. Since instructional levels change over time as students develop as readers, guided reading groupings are dynamic and can change membership frequently. 1. Forming Groups Since it is important that students in a Guided Reading group are reading at approximately the same level and are ready to focus on similar reading strategies, you will need to assess students’ comprehension and word recognition prior to forming groupings. Tools such as an informal reading inventory or running records and retells are very helpful in determining students’ instructional levels. For information on how to conduct running records, see the ‘For the Whole Program—Planning Guide’ section on the www.lpeyresources.ca website. Using the information provided from your assessment opportunities, place students with similar needs in groups of six or fewer. Small group instruction is only beneficial if groups are kept to an optimal size so all group members can contribute fully to discussions. You may find a few students operating at a level significantly below or above the rest of the class. Since these students should still enjoy the sense of belonging, place them in the group closest to their level and provide additional challenges or support in individual conferences. 2. Scheduling Groups Each Guided Reading session is approximately 20 minutes in duration. That means you could schedule one or two groups per day, depending on the amount of time in your Readers’ Workshop block. Plan to rotate around the groups so that all groups are seen on a regular basis. However, students who require additional suport should be seen on a more frequent basis. In a 45 minute block, your schedule might look like this: Monday Group 1 Group 2
Tuesday Group 3 Group 4
Wednesday Conferencing with students during independent reading
Thursday Group 5 Group 1
Friday Group 2 Group 3
3. Selecting Appropriate Text for a Group Instructional-level texts ensure the best opportunities for reading growth since students will recognize most of the words and understand many of the ideas; however, these texts also offer a few challenges that students must solve. The Guided Reading texts in the Literacy Place for the Early Years resource have been carefully levelled according to a system devised by Fountas and Pinnell criteria. The following chart provides the range of texts available at each grade level. Depending on the range of readers you have in your classroom, you may need to access books at another grade level.
Guided Reading
Number of Titles Range of Levels
Kindergarten 20 A–D
Grade 1 60 A–K
Grade 2 48 E–P
Grade 3 44 K–R
When choosing a text for each group, ensure the text matches the group’s instructional level and their needs as readers. For a quick reference to help find guided reading texts that supports the teaching of a particular strategy, see the Comprehension Strategies and Guided Reading Texts sheets for each grade level. For further support in selecting texts, see the Guided Reading Planning Chart in the Reading Section of the Literacy Support Guides. Please see the PDFs attached, Comprehension Strategies and Guided Reading Texts sheets. • Kindergarten: Comprehension Strategies and SmallGroup Shared/Guided Reading Texts • Grade 1: Comprehension Strategies and Small Group Shared/Guided Reading Texts • Grade 2: Comprehension Strategies and Guided Reading Texts • Grade 3: Comprehension Strategies and Guided Reading Texts NOW AVAILABLE! LPEY Grade Posters—Each poster shows the component organization of the program for a specific grade level. Great for hanging in your book room! If you would like a poster, please send your address and the grade you teach to
[email protected]
If you have a question you would like answered, please email your request to:
[email protected].
Grade
Guided Reading Levels
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NF NF NF NF NF NF NF F F F F F IF F NF F F F NF NF DRA Levels
Making Connections
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I Feed the Animals Making Things My Family Sisters Wild Animals All By Myself Getting Ready The Snowman A Sticky Mess Travel Bingo A Hot Day I Play Soccer Long Neck, Short Neck Sammy What I Wear A Birthday for the Twins Hide and Seek The Hockey Game Library Day Make a Pet Rock
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F = fiction NF = non-fiction IF = info-fiction m = media text
Sequencing
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Kindergarten: Guided Reading Texts
Analyzing
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All By Myself Getting Ready A Hot Day I Feed the Animals I Play Soccer Long Neck, Short Neck Making Things My Family Sammy Sisters The Snowman A Sticky Mess Travel Bingo What I Wear Wild Animals
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Small Group Shared Reading Texts
F = fiction NF = non-fiction IF = info-fiction m = media text
Type of Text - media
Kindergarten:
Self-monitoring
Kindergarten: Comprehension Strategies and Small Group Shared/Guided Reading Texts
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The Door I Can Ride My Picture Salad What Can Dogs Do? The Ants Go Home Dress Up I Am Big Is It Alive? What Colour Is This Fish? Big and Small Hair Home Run This is Canada Up and Down I Can Draw My Little Sister and Me My Show What Can Walk on Walls? What Do You See? A Book About the Seasons Here Comes the Parade I See Make It Move My Dad
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Grade 1: Guided Reading Texts
Self-monitoring
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The Ants Go Home Big and Small The Door Dress Up Hair Home Run I Am Big I Can Ride Is It Alive? My Picture Salad This is Canada Up and Down What Can Dogs Do? What Colour Is This Fish?
Self-monitoring
Small Group Shared Reading Texts
F = fiction NF = non-fiction IF = info-fiction m = media text
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Grade 1:
Type of Text - media
Grade 1: Comprehension Strategies and Small Group Shared/Guided Reading Texts
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Same and Different Something’s Coming The Accident To the Rescue Buses, Cars, and Trucks Go Home, Daisy Going Swimming Let’s Make Cards The Magic Pot Paint a Mouse Face What’s for Breakfast? Who Did Jake’s Chores? Birthday Noodles The Birthday Surprise The Frog Prince How Big Are You? Mita’s Lost Ball Signs Are Everywhere Grandpa’s Garden How Do Polar Bears Stay Warm? Memories Plant a Seed A Pod for Baby Orca True or False: Finding Out About Newfoundland Dogs Come Home, Bailey Hop! Spring! Leap! Animals That Jump The Sleepover Too Ba-a-ad! The Trouble with Geese Tyler’s Teacher Getting Ready for Winter Tyler’s New Friends A Wild Eagle Needs a Beak Wild Horses Couldn’t Keep Me Away Bald Eagles Tyler’s First Sleepover Grade K
Guided Reading Levels A B
NF F F IF F F F NF F NF NF F NF F F NF F NF F NF F NF NF NF F NF NF F F F NF F NF F NF F DRA Levels
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C D E F G H I J-K
A 1 2 3 4 6-8 10 12 14 16 18-20
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Reading Recovery Levels 1-2
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PM Benchmarks Starters 1 Starters 2 3-4 Red 5-6 Red 7-8 Yellow 9-10 Blue 11-12 Blue 13-14 Green 15-16 Orange 17-18 Turquoise 19-20 Purple 21-22 Gold 23-24 Silver
Adam in Net All Kinds of Beetles Justin’s New Bike Who Laid These Eggs? At the Apple Farm Making Rock Candy Trains Where Do We Live, Really? The Country Mouse and the Town Mouse Emergency! Paramedics to the Rescue Messy is Nice The North Wind and the Sun: An Aesop’s Fable A Most Unusual Pet African Dance Class Aunt Maud’s Mittens Going Fishing Ali Runs With the Pack Ants Belong Outside Why Is It Called Moose Meadow? Hickory’s Problem Keep Us Clean Zest for Life Big Cousin Harold (chapter book) Dominic’s Aquarium Happy New Year! Inuit Still Mr. Fix-It (chapter book) What Does Your Dog Know? A Playground for Lisa (chapter book) Dr. Bufflehead Explores Energy The End of the Dinosaurs: A Comic Strip Extreme Animals! Mr. Bert’s Story Time (chapter book) Winter Wonderland Bill Bruin Shovels His Roof Flying Acrobats Jurassic Kick (chapter book) Rag Doll Rescue Roadside Giants The Games of Go Joe’s Big Surprise Journey of a Water Drop
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E E F F G G G G H H H H I I I I J J J J J J K K K K K K L L L L L L M M M M M N N N
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Guided Reading Texts
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Grade 2:
Self-monitoring
Grade 2: Comprehension Strategies and Guided Reading Texts
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Sidney, The Grade Three Mouse Dragonflies Are Amazing! Slam Dunk Robot (chapter book) Why Snow is White: A Story for Holi The Desk The Kid’s Guide to Summer Camps
Grade K
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F NF F F F F-m
Guided Reading Levels A B
DRA Levels
C D E F G H I J-K
A 1 2 3 4 6-8 10 12 14 16 18-20
L-M N O-P O-P Q-R S-T
24-28 30 32-38 34-38 40 44-50
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Reading Recovery Levels 1-2
3-8
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PM Benchmarks Starters 1 Starters 2 3-4 Red 5-6 Red 7-8 Yellow 9-10 Blue 11-12 Blue 13-14 Green 15-16 Orange 17-18 Turquoise 19-20 Purple 21-22 Gold 23-24 Silver 25 Emerald 26 Emerald 27 Ruby 28 Ruby
Synthesizing
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F = fiction NF = non-fiction IF = info-fiction m = media text
Guided Reading Texts
Type of Text - media
Grade 2:
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The False Alarm A Fine Day on the Lake Make a Frog! Dr. Bufflehead Explores Dirt East Coast Boats: The Busy Halifax Harbour Hare and Turtle: Two Pourquoi Tales Make Electrostatic Slime The New Calf (chapter book – Book Club) Bicycle Owner’s Manual The Common Loon Creature Cleaning Felicity Discovers Electricity Help a Wild Animal in Need See the Sea Few Ever See! Swimming Lessons (chapter book – Book Club) Building a Skyscraper Caring for a Pet Dragon The Gran Plan (chapter book – Book Club) Hungry Plants Look Inside: Airplane Lost in the Museum (chapter book) Nipissing and Nipigon How a Carousel Came to North Bay How Do Fish Swim? Jason’s Lucky Day (chapter book) The Legend of the Dream Catcher Louis Cyr (chapter book) The Mammoth Cheese Quiet Tessa (chapter book) Avalanche! Bryce on Track (chapter book – Book Club) Digging for Dinosaurs A Fish Learns to Live on the Land Isabella, Princess of the Pens Steven Writes a Story (chapter book) Vicki Keith: Queen of the Lakes African Elephants: Built BIG The Flight of the Little Swallow (chapter book) Into the Bears’ Den Song Lei in a New Land (chapter book) Design Your Own Car Diver: The Leatherback Sea Turtle (chapter book)
F F NF IF NF F NF - m F NF - m IF NF IF NF - m F-m F IF F-m F IF NF - m F IF NF NF F F NF NF F NF F NF - m F F F NF NF F NF F NF IF
K K K L L L L L M M M M M M M N N N N N N N O O O O O O O P P P P P P P Q Q Q Q R R
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Guided Reading Texts
F = fiction NF = non-fiction IF = info-fiction m = media text
Type of Text - media
Grade 3:
Self-monitoring
Grade 3: Comprehension Strategies and Guided Reading Texts
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Grade K
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Guided Reading Levels A B
DRA Levels
C D E F G H I J-K
A 1 2 3 4 6-8 10 12 14 16 18-20
L-M N O-P O-P Q-R S-T
24-28 30 32-38 34-38 40 44-50
R R
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Moon Cruiser What Makes a Planet a Planet?
Self-monitoring
F = fiction NF = non-fiction IF = info-fiction m = media text
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Guided Reading Texts
Type of Text - media
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Reading Recovery Levels 1-2
PM Benchmarks Starters 1 Starters 2 3-4 Red 5-6 Red 7-8 Yellow
3-8
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9-10 Blue 11-12 Blue 13-14 Green 15-16 Orange 17-18 Turquoise 19-20 Purple 21-22 Gold 23-24 Silver 25 Emerald 26 Emerald 27 Ruby 28 Ruby