guided reading

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Home : 2005 : March : 13

guided reading
By Cheryl

Long Island Diva,
I'm just getting my feet wet too. I'm starting my fourth set of guided reading books tomorrow. For the first two I read every book and took notes about how I was thinking. Every group had a job to
do (assessment) that I could look at. And for the first set of groups I had each group also accountable for a story map with story elements. Last week I had four groups, each with a non-fiction group. Each group had to create a jeopardy game. Tomorrow I start another round and I'm using a "Literature Circle" format that has been packaged so that every student is accountable for the nine

days it will take them to read the book (discussion director, artful artist, etc.) This round I chose books that I read long ago and forgot so I have no notes to help me recall the story. I asked my reading teacher to find me the organized teacher notes for those books (Shiloh and Winn Dixie). My top two "literature circle" groups will be pretty independent through this cycle while I work with the lower two groups.

To answer a part of your original question, I don't do literary centers. We all start and end our reading obligations at the same time. I give them each a goal and the beginning of the period, review their previous day's work as I move around the room, and have a quick "that's all folks" at the end of the day.

Although I'm not kicking and screaming as I do guided reading groups, I'm not convinced this really helps the low kids. All of these kids tend to be slow readers and even with short books these are the kids who stay out of school the most. I'm no expert in guided reading, just a gal starting just like you. Good luck!