Pulling Guided Reading Groups

Selecting the Text

Consider the following:

•       Print layout and spacing

•       Familiarity and sophistication of content

•       Known and new high frequency contact

•       Support provided by illustrations and other art

•       Length

•       Familiarity of language or syntax

•       Amount of new vocabulary

•       Graphic or other text features

•       Organization of information

Introducing the Text

•       Call attention to a few difficult words

•       Explain a few concepts or vocabulary

•       Build interest in the text

•       Activate background knowledge

•       Get students wondering about the text

•       Invite students to make predictions

•       Point out something unusual in the print or layout or language structures

•       Point out unfamiliar text features like bold type, ellipses, italics.

Reading the Text

•       2^nd grade  and up – will usually read silently while the teacher listens

•       Kindergarten and 1^st grade – will usually read out loud, very softly.

How Do I Listen

•       Slide hand in and out

•       Turn one front/one back

•       Walk around and kneel beside each child

•       Have them start at different times

What if they finish at different times?

•       Teach them to reread

•       Have them read and then choose another book to read

•       Give them a task to think/write about when they are done

While they are reading

•       Prompt to initiate problem-solving actions using meaning, language and print

•       Demonstrate effective ways to search for and use the information in the text

•       Demonstrate, reinforce or prompt using self-monitoring of checking strategies

•       Demonstrate, reinforce or prompt self-correcting errors that interfere with meaning

•       Observe effective reading behaviors

•       Demonstrate, reinforce or prompt using punctuation.

Discussing and Revisiting the Text

•       Practice retelling

•       Invite personal response/sharing of understanding

•       Encourage readers to search for new information

•       Make predictions/inferences

•       Make connections

•       Express opinions

•       Listen to and build on each other’s thinking

Retelling Activities

•       Story Boards

•       Picture Retelling

•       Round Robin Retelling

•       Dramatic Retelling

•       Cut-Up Stories

•       Sequencing/Timelines