Planning how to teach guided reading can be an intimidating task in the beginning. My beginning year of teaching, I was extremely nervous that I was going to neglect. I had never taught a kid how to read. Would I be able to do it? While I was far from perfect and had lots to learn, I concluded up finding joy watching students take flying while reading.

Without a doubtfulness, guided reading is my favorite affair to teach, so I am going to share today how to teach guided reading.  I will likewise include some tips and ideas that tin can exist helpful to those looking for means to ameliorate their guided reading teaching skills too.

How to Teach Guided Reading

Before I jump in, I want to mention that I am a house believer that students should read for the bulk of guided reading. Other activities are to support their reading growth, and those should be short and sweetness.

To show yous how to teach guided reading, I am going to show y'all the framework by going over each component of a guided reading lesson, with tips and resources for each.

Prereading Activities

Earlier y'all begin to plan, keep in mind that prereading activities should be kept to a minimum of 5-7 minutes. The goals of prereading activities are to get students engaged with the text, teach new words, and review or introduce sight words that will help support them during reading.

introducing new sight words

Whenever at that place is new sight words to introduce from a book, this is the fourth dimension to do that.

mix and fix it word work activity

If you are retargeting sight words from a previous guided reading lesson, you tin can review those sight words during this time as well. That volition allow students to notice the words you just reviewed every bit they read. One fashion to review sight words is to have students mix upwardly the letters of a discussion in a soup basin and put them back together.

Missing Letters Sight Word Activities

Another activity is to have them await for the missing messages. It is also helpful to have the students write the sight discussion.

Additionally, it is a good thought to innovate new vocabulary during this time too, but call back to get to the reading. Don't plan to practise all these activities in i lesson. Completing one prereading activity volition do, so keep the words you review to a minimum to stay on track with the time.

You also want students to get acquainted with the book. Request students virtually the topic, taking a moving-picture show walk, or having students make a prediction about the book based on the embrace are some ways to innovate the volume.

If students volition be reading the book once more later, ask reading comprehension questions, such as questions about the characters, to pique the educatee'southward interest in the story.

Teach a Reading Strategy

While I have heard some teachers say to teach the reading strategy afterward students read, I believe it makes sense to teach information technology before they read. This gives students the opportunity to apply it while information technology is still fresh in their listen. Would you remember to utilise a newly taught skill the next day? Probably not. Didactics the reading strategy commencement means they will have a chance to utilize it meaningfully. Existence able to apply a concept immediately e'er encourages successful retentivity.

Reading strategy explanations should just take about three minutes. You want to introduce the strategy, model it, then have the students practice it speedily.

An instance of how to teach a reading strategy:

Nosotros are going to hop through part of the book. I am going to read the sentence. (Read a judgement from the book simply brand a fault on purpose that makes the judgement incorrect.) Now that does not make sense. I am going to hop back and reread because I might have fabricated a mistake. (Reread the sentence correctly.) Now that makes sense. I used the Hop Back Rabbit reading strategy. (Prove the ballast chart or poster and discuss it.) When something does not make sense while we are reading or nosotros realize we fabricated a mistake, we can always hop back to reread. (Have students practice the strategy by choral reading a judgement from the volume. And so pause and say, "Allow's hop back rabbit." Have students read the judgement again.)

Every bit yous can run into, teaching the reading strategy does not need to eat the lesson. The key is to hop back and review that reading strategy every at present and so to reinforce it. Pun intended.

The best way to provide a visual to support the reading strategy is to use a poster or anchor chart. Posters tin can display the reading strategy as you lot teach information technology. These are also expert for reference while reviewing strategies.

Guided Reading Strategy Posters

An anchor chart can ask a question to become students thinking, and their responses tin can be recorded also if desired.

This activity with the ballast chart is great for introducing reading strategies for the showtime time.

Guided Reading Anchor Chart for Reading Strategies

Prompting Strategies During Reading

You tin can reinforce reading strategies with the feedback you give to students every bit they read independently. When a student makes a mistake and keeps on reading, you could say a prompt. An example is to say, "Hop back rabbit to reread information technology."

It is handy to have some prompts on manus for reading strategies, so you know just what to say to chop-chop guide students to use that strategy. Remember, don't accept over their independent reading with a lecture. A quick prompt is all that is needed to redirect.

Performance Assessment During Reading

Performance assessments during guided reading are to simply observe students as they read and record information technology. Checklists and running records are the two assessment tools to use for this. Performance assessments volition allow you evaluate students and their reading levels, saving you a ton of valuable guided reading time. They also tell y'all when your student is ready to move on to the next reading level.

Level A Mastery Checklist

Now sadly, sometimes schools want us to utilise several formal assessments that don't always provide much value in actually guiding our instruction on a day-to-twenty-four hours basis. Sometimes, nosotros must do what we are told because, at the terminate of the mean solar day, we even so have to make a living.

You tin can't minimize the time spent on those required formal assessments. Yet, functioning assessments will minimize your need to opt out of guided reading due to time constraints. Since operation assessments are quick, they permit you to get the data that y'all need daily to guide your mean solar day to day education.

Assessments for Guided Reading

Though sight words, phonics skills, and more tin can be assessed through observing students as they read, some other assessments volition need to exist washed to evaluate skills that may not be measured by performance assessments. For example, you lot might however need to do an assessment for things like letter sound mastery, but yous can do them less often if you are completing performance assessments. Minimizing your assessment time volition help you get more guided reading lessons completed throughout the year. More guided reading lessons hateful your students take more time to grow their reading skills.

After the Volume

Later on students have completed independent reading, it'south fourth dimension to zone in on reading comprehension. This tin be done with a prompt or by but asking students to tell you about the volume in their own words. You merely need a few minutes dedicated to this part of the lesson to make certain that they understood the story.

Extensions that Back up Guided Reading

About ten minutes, give or take, should be used towards activities that support reading growth. These activities should include guided writing, give-and-take work, or phonemic sensation activities. You lot don't accept to include all three components with each lesson, only it is good to include two if time allows. You can as well make a schedule, alternating betwixt activities, to make sure you are covering them all on a regular basis.

Guided Writing Dictated Sentence

Guided writing is non the same as writing workshop. Information technology should consist of a dictated sentence that incorporates sight words and graphemes that students are currently working on at their reading level. On the outset day, students tin build the dictated sentence. The next day, students can write the judgement with back up. Y'all tin also have students write the judgement without back up if you think they need more challenge.

Dictated Sentences for Guided Writing

Phonemic awareness activities play an important part in supporting reading growth.

Beginning Middle and Ending Sounds

If students accept not mastered their alphabet, this is the time to work on that with them. Alphabet charts are a quick and easy tool that tin can be used to reinforce alphabetic character recognition and sounds. Alphabet books are some other great resource. Y'all can brand it tactile by having students trace the messages with their fingers. During alphabet activities, you simply focus on a letter of the alphabet or two at a time. It is e'er best to start with the messages in a student's name if they don't already know them.

Sorting Letters by Characteristic

Other phonemic awareness activities should include rhyming and syllable activities. Asking students to identify words that rhyme past putting their thumbs up is a quick activity that tin be done in a minute or two. Some other effective activity is to take students clap out syllables.

Phonemic Awareness Activities

Word work tasks are also an important extension to support students with understanding phonics concepts. As a tip, I like the concept of using mats because they don't involve prepping and managing a million pieces. They are like shooting fish in a barrel to whip out rapidly and to put away too! Plus, they are still hands-on and engaging.

Blending Words Activity

Some examples of word work activities include subbing sounds. This word munch activity has students spinning for a letter, covering upwardly the starting time letter in the give-and-take, and substituting the sound with it.

guided reading letter subbing activity for word work

Another activity is to have students sort pictures by sound. You practise need picture cards for this activity, so it does involve a picayune prep. If yous laminate them, you tin reuse the pictures cards for sorting every yr.

Sorting by Beginning Sound

Word building is also a practiced activity to use for word work. Yous can actually use this activity to practice sight words too.

Building Sight Words guided reading word building activity

Word work can exist having students swap out letters for other letters to create a different word. I like to phone call this Extreme Word Make-Over. For example, sad gets changed to bad. So bad gets inverse to pad. Pad and then gets changed to pat. Then pat gets changed to bat. This reinforces the concepts of beginning, middle, and ending sounds.

guided reading swapping letters activity for word work

These activities will help students strengthen their discussion decoding and word recognition skills. It helps students extend the guided reading lesson with guided writing, discussion work, and phonemic awareness activities.

Knowing When to Move Students Up a Level

Having a mastery checklist for each reading level volition hands guide you when it comes to pairing students with the right reading level.

Guided Reading Level Mastery Checklist

Betwixt occasional assessments and performance assessments, yous tin can cheque off what students have mastered using this mastery checklist. Only bump students upward when they have sufficiently mastered that reading level.

Being Successful with Pedagogy Guided Reading

Keeping routine and consistency with these practices each day will allow students to grow their reading abilities. Information technology'southward important to constantly monitor progress and regroup as needed to best support educatee learning and growth.

Guided Reading Mega Bundle with Lesson Plans and Activities

Click to link to the guided reading bundle

To better back up teachers, I put together a resource that includes all the activities and tools needed for guided reading levels AA-D in one large mega bundle. Information technology includes everything, only the books! Literally, it is full of over i,700 pages. At that place are many activities in a one folio mat format. I tried to keep information technology every bit low prep every bit possible without compromising on the quality of the activities. Click here or the bundle motion-picture show to follow the link to the resource.

It is my promise that this packet volition help support teachers through planning and didactics guided reading to their students. It was created with a lot of love.

Guided Reading Freebie

Click to link

If you would similar to exam bulldoze my guided reading bundle, I have a decent size guided reading freebie that yous can receive for free when you sign-up for my free newsletter. You tin can do that hither. Make sure to check your downloads binder for it. Click here to sign-upwards!

Also, make certain to check out some of my other guided reading posts here, hither, and here.

Now before I close out, I too desire to let you know about my free tech course. This free course shows you a simple three-step system for setting up the use of technology in your classroom. With the abundance of tech options out there, it can get overwhelming in the primary grades. The key is to wisely pick just a small amount of tools and add on from there afterwards on if desired. This form will aid you get a system in place, includes some free tech resources to utilize with the system, and even includes brusk student tutorials to get your form on board. Notice more than information about it here.

Using technology in the primary classroom to reach more students a free course

Thanks for stopping by The Candy Form. Be blest!

Candy Class for Teaching Resources and Ideas

Jolene Mathew from The Candy Course

Catch the task cards for free when you subscribe to my free newsletter!

Privacy Policy

First-class! Please check your electronic mail to confirm your subscription and to grab your freebie. Thanks for joining us!

Excellent! Please check your email to confirm your subscription and to grab your freebie. Thanks for joining us! You can view my privacy policy hither: https://thecandyclass.com/privacy-policy/