Guided Reading in Grades 46

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Guided Reading in Grades 4-6
Developed by Bavaria English Language Arts
Curriculum Coordinators LARS Wuerzburg
MS Assistant Principal Schweinfurt MS Bavaria
District
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Selecting, Introducing, and Using Leveled
Texts The most important decisions in guided
reading center on selecting and introducing the
texts to readers. For the reader to use
processing strategies to construct meaning, the
text must be accessible, comprehensible, and
offer the student opportunities to problem-solve
and learn
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• Selecting Text
• Select text for a group on the
• basis of a combination of 3 kinds
• of knowledge
• 1. Detailed information about the readers in the
  group
• 2. Familiarity with the available texts.
• 3. Knowledge of the reading process and the
  general principles of reading development

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• What is Gradient of Text?
• A gradient of text is an ordering of books
  according to a specific set of characteristics
• Some clarifications about Text Gradients
• not a precise sequence
• individual students can not be categorized
• there is probably a range of levels any given
  student will feel comfortable reading
• no matter how interested students are in the
  topic, the text must be accessible to them
• conversely, no matter how well they can read the
  text, it must be relevant or interesting
• CAUTION students are not expected to read all
  the books at a level before going on
• You are looking for broad patterns or reading
  behavior in your students as they change over
  time.
• The gradient is a rough guide for matching books
  to readers.

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• Determining Text Difficulty
• Book Print and Features
• Vocabulary
• Sentence Complexity
• Text Structure
• Content
• Language and Literacy Features
• Themes and Ideas

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Guided Reading Levels Grades 4 5 - 6

• Grade levels and Text Levels
•  4th Grade - GR range O P Q R S T
• 5th Grade GR range - S T U V W
• 6th Grade GR range V W X Y
• Peruse grade level text collection.
• Review Text Characteristics and Examples
•  Level R S read opening paragraph pg 67 and
  Characteristics and examples pg. 74-76
• Level U V read opening paragraph pg 80 and
  characteristics and examples pg. 82-84
• Level W X read opening paragraph pg 80 and
  characteristics and examples pg 85-87
• Following review of books and above reading
  assignments reconvene as a whole group share
  and out brief general observations about text

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• Selecting Texts
• An Overview
• When you select books for students, remember that
  the purpose for reading cannot be simply to learn
  more about reading.
• The text you choose, then, must engage readers
  and at the same time provide opportunities to
  extend their reading ability. You must
  simultaneously consider,
• readers strategies
• readers interest and background knowledge
• Text complexity
• language of the text
• content of the text
• multicultural diversity
• match to instructional goals
• overall quality of the text - language,
• illustrations, layout style

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Guided Reading is.
an instructional setting that enables you to
work with a small group of students to help them
learn effective strategies for processing text
with understanding. The purpose of guided
reading is to meet the varying instructional
needs of all the students in your class, enabling
them to greatly expand their reading powers.
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Guided Reading

• occurs in a small-group context
• teacher selects and introduces texts to readers
• provides support as needed
• engages the reader in discussion
• makes teaching points after reading
• extends the meaning of the text through writing,
  text analysis or other learning experiences
• the lesson may also include work with words

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• A Framework for
• Guided Reading Lessons
• Selecting the text
• Introducing the Text
• Reading the Text
• Discussing and Revisiting the Text
• Teaching for Processing Strategies
• Extending the Meaning of the Text
• (optional)
• Word Work (optional)

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• Introducing Texts
• In guided Reading, students read the text for
  themselves with the support of your strong
  introduction, which is the key to students
  understanding and successful problem solving on a
  challenging new text.
• When you introduce a text, you
• engage the students attention and draw them into
  the activity
• help them explore and access their knowledge
• help them attend to critical features of the text
• anticipate the features that may be difficult
• Make problem solving easier for them

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• PLAN THE INTRODUCTION
• The introduction can not be scripted.
• Jot down the important ideas that you want to be
  sure to mention.
• Notes might include
• 1-2 sentence - main idea of the book
• page numbers you can use to discuss concepts
• vocabulary that you want to use in conversation
  and/or explicitly define
• words that might be difficult to solve
• info about the author, illustrator or genre
• processing strategies that you want to reinforce
• text features or layout
• unusual language structures
• length of reading assignment
• after reading assignment
• A strong introduction is a lively discussion that
  moves right into enjoyable reading.

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• Introducing the Text
• To Summarize..
• Planning for the Appropriate Level of Support
• The length of the content of the introduction
  will depend on
• complexity of text
• readers background knowledge
• readers experience with text features
• readers understanding of genre
• reading skills
• The introduction is always planned in relation to
  the challenges and learning opportunities this
  particular text offers to the readers.
• What the student brings to the text has an
  inverse relationship to the level and kind of
  support you provide in the introduction.

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• Reading the Text
• Following the introduction, each student reads
  the entire text or a specified portion of it.

• Students embrace the role of reading
  independently - work individually - reads
  silently
• Provide focus question
• Sample oral reading - reinforce effective reading
  strategies - shift away from unproductive
  behaviors
• note/record specific needs for review at the end
  of the reading or for use in planning the next
  lesson
• Caution - avoid constant interruption of the flow
  of reading

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• DECIDE HOW STUDENTS WILL READ THE TEXT.
• There are many alternatives. The one you choose
  will depend on your readers experiences, their
  ability to read longer texts, and their need for
  support in reading the particular text.
• Ways in which you might proceed
• intro text - read whole text to the end - works
  best with short text
• intro whole text - read first section - then
  provide a short intro to each remaining sections
• intro first section and have students read it -
  intro second section and students read remaining
  sections
• intro theme, genre, and author -- each student
  has a different book in one of the categories --
  read text independently - come back to
  share/discuss
• intro first section - students read first
  section and then discuss it- students read
  several more sections independently - come back
  together for final intro to last section -
  students read independently and then return to
  discuss the whole text.
• You decide when the introduction will be helpful
  and how much introduction they will need.

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• DECIDE WHETHER YOU
• WANT TO GIVE STUDENTS
• A FOCUS FOR READING
• On occasion you may want to focus the reading by
  giving students aspects to notice as they read.
• CAUTIONa focus can artificially narrow the
  readers processing the whole meaning of a text.
• Having a focus will sometimes help them be more
  active readers because they are thinking of
  something specific as they read.
• Overall, a focus will prompt them to raise
  questions in their mind that
• open up the text and get them thinking
• call up background knowledge
• help them understand how the text is organized
• help them to search for evidence to support
• their thinking

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PLAN WHAT STUDENTS WILL DO WHEN THEY FINISH
READING

• Complete the reading and any related work at the
  table
• Engage in after reading discussion
• Return to seats to complete assigned reading or
  any writing or extension activity
• If great difference in reading rate exist you may
  need to work on fluency
• See Handout Responding to Literature
• See Chapter 17 Responding to Literature
  Multiple Paths to Deeper Meaning

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• Discussing and Revisiting
• the Text
• talk with students about the meaning
• invite them to make connections.
• find evidence to support their thinking
• draw attention back to the text and build in
• the learning that took place earlier in
  the lesson
• develop students knowledge of vocabulary
• clarify meaning
• search for themes
• notice the authors use of language

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• Teaching for Processing Strategies
• teaching arises from your observation of
  students reading behavior as well as ongoing
  assessment of their needs
• highlight 1 or 2 important processing strategies
• should be brief and explicit
• apply to text just read
• mini-lesson related to the text and to the
  problem solving actions that you want students to
  learn
• The purpose of this teaching is not to enable
  students to read the particular text but to
  develop strategies they can apply to all reading.

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• Teaching for Processing Strategies
• Chapter 20
• Solving Words Pg. 349
• Monitoring and Correcting Pg. 353
• Gathering Pg. 354
• Predicting Pg 354
• Maintaining Fluency Pg 354
• Adjusting Pg 355
• The purpose of this teaching is not to enable
  students to read the particular text but to
  develop strategies they can apply to all reading.

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• Extending the Meaning
• of the Text
• (optional)
• Sometimes you may want to ask students to write
  about the text or do some other activity designed
  to extend the understanding.
• Compare and contrast
• analyze characters
• explore concepts from different
• perspectives
• role play
• use graphic organizers
• further reading
• data gathering
• incorporate art
• Remember that you dont need to plan for an
  extension activity after every book.

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• Extending the Meaning
• of the Text
• (optional)
• Sometimes you may want to ask students to write
  about the text or do some other activity designed
  to extend the understanding.
• Chapter 21 Page 357
• Making Connections Pg 358
• Inferring Pg 360
• Summarizing Pg 361
• Synthesizing Pg 362
• Analyzing Pg 363
• Critiquing Pg 365
• Remember that you dont need to plan for an
  extension activity after every book.

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• Word Work
• (optional)
• One important aspect of being an effective reader
  is the ability to solve words rapidly and easily
  while reading continuous text.
• 1-2 minute optional component of GR
• students play with words to discover how words
  work
• analyze individual words in isolation, using only
  visual information
• can relate/focus word study on something you are
  doing with the entire class

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• Word Work
• (optional)
• Chapter 22
• Phonics Teaching Students Word Solving Skills
  While Reading Pg. 372
• Word Analysis Using Word Patterns
• Word Analysis Using Syllables to Take Words
  Apart
• Word Analysis Using Letters in Sequence
• Spelling Teaching Students to Construct Words
  While Writing to Communicate Pg. 374
• Connections, Visual Patterns, and Structure
• Spelling Rules
• Vocabulary Learning the Meaning of Words -Pg
  375
• Learning Vocabulary from Reading
• Explicit Teaching of Vocabulary