This document outlines the components and instructional strategies for effective guided reading lessons. It defines guided reading as meeting with small groups to support students through manageable texts at their instructional level. Key elements include selecting appropriate texts, introducing vocabulary, monitoring comprehension, teaching strategies, and linking reading to writing. The goal is to help students develop independence in reading through scaffolded support from the teacher.

2.  Participants will be able to define
and describe the importance of
incorporating Guided Reading
into a balanced literacy
classroom.

3. Today I will learn…
 to identify the components that
are essential in a Guided Reading
lesson
 to thoughtfully plan for a Guided
Reading lesson

4. In Reading Essentials, Regie Routman
describes Guided Reading as:
“meeting with a small group of students, and
guiding and supporting them through a
manageable text. Students are grouped
with others at a similar reading level and
supported to use effective reading
strategies. Often, there are „before, during,
and after‟ activities and discussion in which
students talk about, think about, and read
through the text.”

6. “Guided Reading changes as readers
progress…At first, students depend heavily
on the teacher but gradually, they assume
more responsibility for their own reading as
they learn strategies they can use to
problem solve on a variety of text.”
Payne & Schulman (2000)

7.  Students should be reading AND
comprehending on about the
same reading level (no more than
one level apart)
 Groups should contain no more
than 6 students
 Groups will change frequently as
students progress

8.  Know your students‟ strengths and needs
(abilities to decode, comprehend, read
with fluency, write etc.)
 Instructional Reading Level allows
students to be successful while still
providing appropriate challenge (90-
94%)
 Be aware of your students‟ interests to
increase engagement

9.  Texts can include leveled readers
(little books), basals,
magazines/newspapers, journal
articles, reading passages on a
handout, etc
 On the appropriate level
 Picture support
 Print features and layout

10.  Running Records and TRC progress
monitoring …in order to monitor change
over time
 Sight Words … in order to build automaticity
 Book Introductions … in order to build
background knowledge, concepts and
vocabulary
 Teaching and Prompting for Strategies… in
order to release responsibility and develop
independence

11.  Book Discussion … in order to build
comprehension and language
development
 Letter and Word Work … in order to
develop phonic awareness and phonics
 Re-reading yesterday’s Book … in order
to develop fluency and critical thinking
 Writing … in order to build reciprocity
with oral and written language

12.  Enables teachers to use time more
efficiently
 Helps students develop higher order
thinking skills
 Allows for differentiated word work that
will strengthen students‟ phonemic
awareness and decoding
 Builds reciprocity between reading and
writing

13. After selecting an appropriate text, you
must „debug‟ the book to make it
accessible to the reader (pg 91, Clay,
2005) .
 Preview and discuss illustrations
 Give the gist and “hook” the reader
 Introduce new vocabulary/concepts
 Discuss unfamiliar language structures
 Locate unfamiliar and more difficult words in the
text
 Make predictions
 Make connections

14. Preview the book Lola at the Library
Consider the following about your
students:
•Reading level H-I (14-16)
•Familiar with non-fiction text features
•Uses punctuation for meaning and
fluency
•Has difficulty with multisyllabic words
Is this an appropriate text for this group?
Why or why not? (turn and talk)

15.  Using Lola at the Library,
independently plan an appropriate
book introduction
 Share book introductions in small
groups

16.  As each child reads the text quietly to
himself, the teacher dips in to listen,
look for and support strategic
processing (strategies).
 “Strategies are mental operations, the
in-the-head processes that readers
use to read text.” Payne & Schulman (2000)

17.  Discussing the text after reading is an
important time to provoke thought—to
take readers to a new depth of
understanding about what they read.
 The post-reading discussion is not meant
to be a question-answer session.
 A Guided Reading lesson is also an
opportunity to introduce your students to
story elements and literacy devices: plot,
character, setting, etc.

18.  Remember that “strategies are mental
operations, the in-the-head processes
that readers use to read text.” Payne &
Schulman (2000)
 Discuss an appropriate strategy to
teach for in Lola at the Library

19.  Verbalizing the process the student used
while reading fosters metacognition and
provides feedback and encouragement: “I
like the way you reread that sentence and
thought about what would make sense.”
 Providing specific prompts encourages the
reader to think and behave a certain way:
“That sounds right, but does it look right? Go
back and reread to see if it looks right.”

20.  Interactive Writing (Levels PreA-A)
 Teacher gives the sentence and shares the
pen with students to model and guide
 Dictated or Open Ended (Levels A-E)
 Teacher tells the sentence(s) and the
students write with some guidance
 Guided Writing (Levels F+)
 Usually to a prompt and is sometimes open-
ended

21.  After today‟s session, I learned…
 After today‟s session, I still wonder…

22.  Clay, M. (2005). Literacy lessons: Designed for
individuals. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
 Fountas, I. & Pinnell, G.S. (2001). Guiding
readers and writers grades 3-6: Teaching
comprehension, genre and content literacy.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
 Payne, C.D & Schulman, M.B. (2000). Guided
reading: Making it work. New York, NY:
Scholastic Inc.
 Routman, R. (2003). Reading essentials: The
specifics you need to teach reading well.
Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.