Teaching Guided Reading:

Catch a Falling Reader

Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling

 Introduction
• Welcome
• Our topic: Teaching
Guided Reading

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Goals
• Acknowledge your existing literacy
teaching and learning beliefs

• Discuss teaching the essential

elements of Guided Reading
instruction

• Share strategies for teaching guided

reading to striving readers
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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Catch a Falling Reader
• Please write the name of
a striving reader on your
star.
• Find someone to share
information on that
student.
• Reflect on strategies
during the session.
• Write new strategies.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
What is Guided Reading?
”Guided reading is a highly effective form of small
group instruction. Based on assessment, the
teacher brings together a group of students who
are similar enough in their reading development
that they can be taught together. They read
independently at about the same level and can
take on a new text selected by the teacher that is
just a little more challenging. The teacher
supports the reading in a way that enables
students to read a more challenging text with
effective processing, thus expanding
their reading powers.”
~ Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell
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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Guided Reading…
• is a teacher-directed activity for small
groups of students with a similar need.
• uses texts at the student’s instructional
level to provide the necessary support and
challenges during the lesson.
• involves intensive teaching, with the
teacher supporting students as they talk,
read and think their way through a text.
• involves students practicing strategies
that will enable them to read
independently.
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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Purpose of Guided Reading
• Teachers select books that students can
read with 90-94% accuracy.
• Teachers use focus or teaching points.
• Students focus on comprehension,
vocabulary and fluency.
• Students use problem-solving
strategies modeled by the teacher.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Matching Books to Readers
Teachers choose leveled books that…
• Match their knowledge base.
• Help them take the next step in learning
to read.
• Are interesting to them.
• Offer enough challenge to support
problem solving while still supporting
fluency and meaning.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Dynamic Grouping
• Allows children to support each other
• Grouped by assessments for strengths
• Grouped by appropriate level of text
difficulty
• Promotes temporary & flexible
groups
• Uses a variety of leveled books
• Provides for evaluation based on daily
observations
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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Literacy Framework
• Purpose of Instructional Reading: To engage
students in learning or acquiring reading
proficiency at their instructional level.

• Definition of Instructional/Guided Reading: Using

carefully selected materials based on students’
instructional reading levels, interests, and needs,
teachers work with small groups of students on
things such as specific comprehension skills,
reading strategies and fluency.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Guided Reading Sequence

~Weekly Lesson Plans ~

• Sunday- Thursday: Leveled Readers: Use the
book introduced the prior day to take a running
record on one student. Then, Allow the students
to read the book and do the skill you have
selected to target, take anecdotal notes.
Introduce a new text and build background
knowledge, don’t read the whole text, keep this
book to give out tomorrow and take a running
record on one student. Do word work to close
the lesson.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Guided Reading Sequence

~Lessons Plans ~
• In summary: Introduce a new book daily and
keep it to take a running record the next day.
• Take a running record on one student per
group per day. It’s a weekly assessment for
vocabulary, comprehension, decoding, and
fluency
• Listen to the other students read and target
the skill chosen.
• Take anecdotal notes on the other students,
focus on no more than 2 students per day.
• Do word work at the end of the lesson. 12
Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Anecdotal Records
• Document an informal observation of
what students are learning.
• Record observations as anecdotal
notes while the student reads the
text during guided reading.
• Allow teachers to assess children's
understanding of specific reading.
• Guide the teacher’s planning.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Kidwatching
• What strategies do they use?
• What are their strengths and
weakness?
• What do they do when they get
stuck? Do they give up easily?
• Do they learn from the lessons?
• Do they read with understanding?
~ Yetta Goodman, Kidwatching: Documenting Children’s Literacy
Development

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Steps to Effective Guided Reading
• Be prepared!
• Choose a meaningful text that has the appropriate
skill you want to target.
• Read the book before and prepare your lesson
plan.
• Keep groups interchangeable/flexible.
• Select appropriate and purposeful text.
• Engage in ongoing assessments.
• Set only one or two teaching goals for each lesson.
• Engage children in talking, reading and thinking.

Source: Min Hong, Teaching First Grade: A Practical Guide

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Comprehension Strategies

• Thinking Beyond the Text

– Predicting
– Connecting
– Inferring
– Synthesizing
– Visualizing
• Thinking About the Text
– Analyzing
– Evaluating
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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Teacher Behavior
• Provide explicit instruction to teach
reading skills.
• Record observations as anecdotal
records during guided reading.
• Connect reading to writing,
speaking and listening.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Student Strategic Behavior
• Reading aloud/whisper reading
• Solving the words
• Self-monitoring their reading
• Self-correcting when necessary
• Answering questions
• Remembering information
• Sustaining fluent and phrased reading
• Adjusting their reading

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Student Strategic Behavior
• Asking relevant questions
• Practicing the reading process (predicting,
clarifying, summarizing, responding,
reflecting)
• Synthesizing new information
• Making connections
• Reading “between the lines”
• Think analytically about a text
• Think critically about a text

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Reflection
~Turn and Talk ~
• How can you use the
information to teach
your striving
readers?
• What are your
questions and
concerns?

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Teaching Striving Readers
• Involve them in guided
reading every day.
• Provide appropriate
levels of text for them to
read.
• Guide them to search
for information.
• Emphasize fluency and
in reading.
~Fountas and Pinnell

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Teaching Striving Readers
• Give them opportunities to discuss their
reading.
• Have them write in connection with
reading.
• Provide opportunities for silent reading.
• Provide word work based on their
needs.
• Be sure that they spend their time
reading text.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 So, what are the other
students doing?
• The teacher needs to develop meaningful
literacy tasks and activities for the rest of the
class to participate in.
• Many teachers believe in sending students to
“work stations."
• Work stations are specially designed
assignments that take place in certain parts
of the classroom.
• Students can complete the tasks
independently or with a partner.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Literacy Centers
• The challenge for
the teacher is
updating the
content in the
Centers and
managing the
classroom during
this time while
trying to teach a
small group
lesson.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Center Activities
• This is my
management board.
Pink is for work
stations and green is
for math stations
during guided math.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Some of my work stations
and “I can” charts

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Some of my work stations

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
Word Study and “I can”

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Task cards for stations

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Bilingual Flowchart
First Grade Beginning of the Year

Assessment Based on results from EDL2

Guided Reading Levels A-6 Spanish Guided Reading Level 12-14 in Spanish
 Students reading at levels A-3 upon entering first grade should
Guidelines receive small group instruction utilizing Estrellita as an
intervention.

Continue Guided Instruction Provide *Modified Guided Reading instruction to

Reading in Spanish transition to English
Emphasis Drop down several levels, i.e. Level 6-8
First Grade Middle of the Year

Assessment Based on results from EDL2

Guided Levels A-8 Spanish Guided Reading Level 12-14 in Spanish
 An intervention should be in place for all students reading
Guidelines below level 8 at the end of the year with the exception of recent
arrivals. .

Continue Guided Reading Instruction in Provide *Modified Guided Reading instruction to

Reading Spanish transition to English
Emphasis Drop down several levels, i.e. Level 6-8

First Grade End of the Year (after spring break)

Assessment Based on results from EDL2

Guided Reading Level 14 or below Guided Reading level is 12-14 in Spanish
 An intervention should be in place for all students reading
Guidelines below level 14 at the end of the year with the exception of recent
arrivals.

Reading Continue Guided Instruction in Spanish Provide *Modified Guided Reading instruction to
transition to English fluency– Drop to level 6-8
Emphasis

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling
 Catch a Falling Reader
• Please write one new strategy that
you will use to teach your striving
reader on your star.
• Find your first partner.
• Share your strategy for teaching
your falling star during guided
reading.

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Teaching Guided Reading: Catch a Falling