Guided Reading Plans

When I was thinking about how to start my post, one song came to mind.  The song starts with, "Let's start at the very beginning, it's a very good place to start...." So, I am starting from the beginning.  During this post I am going to walk you through my lesson plan sheet, along with showing you how I store and organize my guided reading activities.  

A few years ago I started to implement the guided reading plus lesson format during all of my reading reading groups as part of my core instruction.  Each year thereafter, I tweaked it a little, until I finally came up with this format.  It includes many of the same components, but has also has been changed to meet my teaching style along with my kiddo's needs.

The top section is for the phonics activity.  On the first day of the group we begin with a short phonics activity.  This activity correspond with the child's text reading level {the levels are listed on the planning sheet}.  After checking which skill the group is going to work on, I then look through the pocket which contains the activities to match the skill.  

Before I continue, I have to show you my storage system.  This is something that I have been working on for the past few months.  Each drawer contains the phonics activities for that level. To help organize the activities by skill, I am using these clear poly pouches.  This makes it easy to see the activities and grab the activity for the group.

 

After a short phonics activity we do a short strategy lesson.  These lessons were created my Deanna Jump.  I also have been using these songs and lessons created by Deanna Jump to help children remember and apply the strategies.  

Now for the reading!  Once we have completed our short strategy lesson, we apply our lessons to our new book.  I give a small book introduction and then invite them to read.  We use many different tools to help point to the words and stretch out words.

To wrap up Day 1, we have a short conversation about the book.  As of late, we have been answering the question, "What is the book mostly about?"  This is a question that our district is wanting us to ask after every book.

I typically meet with reading groups on 2 consecutive days.  During Day 2 we focus more on comprehension, and "dive" deeper into the book, but first, we quickly review the strategy we are focusing on, and then go right into the book.

While the children are reading, I pick a focus and a question to ask.  This helps children slow down, and not only help me gauge where they are and what they are understanding, but they are now taking that task on themselves.

After the book, the children and I engage in a conversations around the book.  In addition, I also select an area that I would like the children to practice more.

We then wrap up our group with a comprehension focus.  This is an activity that can be done "outside" of the book.  We read a short passage and then walk through the comprehension activity.  

The children then can go back and complete the activity on their own or with a partner.  This is sometimes the same activity that we did in group, or is sometimes a different activity.  It all depends on the needs of the group and the activity.

I know what you are thinking...WOW!  That's a lot!  You would be correct.  It is a lot, but is also a focused plan.  I needed a plan that I could check skills off so I wasn't jumping all around and searching for materials and ideas.  This has helped me to narrow in on the tasks.  It has also helped my kiddo's reading scores.  They are all reading at level and I have not been able to say that ever!  

If you are interested in my guided reading plan yo can pick it up here for free!

How do you plan your groups?