Guided Reading {Growing Readers in Room 301}

In my classroom, Guided Reading is the peanut butter and jelly and Daily 5 is the bread. If either the bread or the PB&J is missing I wouldn't have a perfectly delicious sandwich anymore! At Guided Reading we practice the strategies we've learned and will use during the Daily 5. Daily 5 helps my students to work independently to grow as readers and writers. Since my students are self sufficient during Daily 5, I can work with students with minimal interruptions. 

Here is my teacher table.

Behind the table I keep reference materials for the kiddos. There are long and short vowel posters. (I would love to give credit where credit is due, but another first grade teacher found them as FREEBIE and I don't know who created them.) There is also a portable CAFE board with our reading strategies. This is just a couple of pieces of foam core board that I taped together and covered with bulletin board paper and border. And I have our H brothers anchor chart near by too.  On the table, I have circular reading strategy cards from Cara Carrol.

I keep a selection of leveled guided reading books in magazine boxes along the shelf. The cart is full of supplies. I use the mini white boards, dry erase markers, and a calculator almost everyday. There's no telling what else you will find in those drawers!

In my district students must read DRA Level 16 independently to make the end-of-year benchmark. 

If a student is reading levels 4-8 I meet with him one-on-one. Students reading a 10 or higher are pulled in pairs. Students at benchmark or higher I see in groups of 3-4. 

This is where my students were at  a couple of weeks ago. Some of these dots have moved over a level now! Each red dot represents a child. I made this poster as a visual aid for parent-teacher conferences.

I know what you're thinking! How on earth do you find the time to meet with that many students one-on-one. Let me explain.

• I do not have a set amount of time for each group. I'm very flexible. Some students I work with for 7 minutes. Others I meet with for 15 minutes at a time. 
• I got rid of my planning calendar - you know the one that shows that I intend to meet with Annie, Bill, and Jane on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and Peter, Paul and Mary on Tuesdays and Thursdays, etc. 
• If I think I need to, I pull students before school that come early, or during math tubs, or during handwriting (at the end of the day), or WHENEVER. I think outside the (reading) box...errr block.

I don't stick to this plan every.single.time, but here's a how a "typical" meeting goes. 

As soon as the student gets to the table with his book box, he takes out the last book we read and begins reading. I listen to see if it sounds like he's been practicing this book at Read to Self and Read to Someone. Is he more fluid when he reads? Has he ironed out any kinks he had last time? If I asked him to tell me the story elements and summarize the plot during our last meeting, I skip it this time. If he didn't finish the text at our last meeting, I'll ask him now.

If the child is ready for a new book, I do a quick front load. For example, if the book we are about to read has lots of  words that end with -ing. I write look on a white board and ask if the child can read the word. Then I change look to looking and we talk about the difference. Then, a few more...walk and walking, help and helping. I will choose words from the text and comparable words in syllables and complexity.

Then we take a picture walk. I ask a few leading questions. The answers include words he will see in the text. I might also say things like, "This character's name is Tim. What letter so you think Tim begins with? What sound does T make? Can you find the word Tim on this page?" My questions vary greatly and are dependent on the text level.

Then, he reads and I listen. If the student is reading a text with one to three sentences per page, then I probably listen to the entire book. If there is more text, I may only listen to half or three-quarters of the text. If you were a fly on the wall you'd hear me say things like...

"I love how you skipped the word you didn't know and read to the period. Then you backed up to re-read."

"You're stuck. What are going to do?"

"You read, '...' Does that make sense?"

"Did that strategy work? No? What other strategy do you know that might help?...Look at the board and find a different strategy to try."

These are my attempts to get the student to use a strategy or try a different strategy when he is stuck. 

When I've heard enough, I ask the student to retell me what he's read. I ask about the characters, setting, problem, and solution. Then I give him instructions to finish/reread the book again during Read to Self or Read to Someone. I tell him his goal is read the book at least three more times before he is called to the teacher table again. 

After he leaves I'll jot down a few quick notes about strategies, strengths or weaknesses.

I do a running record on each student about once every two weeks or whenever I feel like the child is ready to "level up". You've probably seen this before:

97%-100% accuracy = independent reading level (time to level up!)

93%-96% = instructional level

<93% = frustrational level

To get the percentage I divide the number of words read correctly by the total number of words read. 

I do not...I repeat I DO NOT take a running record on the entire text. Typically, I do a record on about five or six pages of text - anywhere from 30ish - 60ish words depending on the text level.

Check out these Super Reader Awards from my TpT store!

Now, what about the students who the exceed benchmark level? I expect these students to retell with increasing detail and make more connections to the characters and text. I also add a Reading Response Journal component which requires a written response to the text. I need to visit with the second grade teachers on my campus to get some more input on what second graders are expected to accomplish during guiding reading and then make any necessary adjustments from there.

And that's it in a nutshell, folks!