Guided Reading
During guided reading, I meet with small groups of students to teach reading
strategies. The students who are not meeting with me are able to work in
small groups or with buddies in literacy stations. Students are gradually
introduced to the different activities that they will be able choose to do
in these stations. Stations reinforce their reading and writing growth.
Some activities may change on a weekly basis, while others remain the same
throughout the year. The following are examples of the stations that I will
use during this literacy block throughout the year: library, listening to
books, Johnny can Spell work, writing, buddy reading, browsing box, poem
box, "read the room", and pocket charts. I will also use stations to
reinforce our math, social studies, health and science curriculum.
Helping your children
Understand their books
1. Create mental images: Good readers draw pictures of the story in our
mind. Have your child tell you about the pictures they draw in their mind.
2. Use background know-ledge: Good readers use what they already know to
make sense of what they read. Ask what connections they make to their
books.
3. Ask questions: Good readers make questions
before, during, and after reading to understand their book, make
predictions, and focus their attention on what’s important.
4. Make inferences: Good readers use what they know and information from
what they read to make predictions, seek answers to questions, and draw
conclusions deepen their understanding of the text.
5. Determine the most important ideas or themes: Good readers find key
ideas or themes as they read, and they can distinguish between important and
unimportant information.
6. Synthesize information: Good readers track their thinking as it changes
during reading, to get the overall meaning. Have your child tell you what
the story is about.
7. Use fix up strategies: Good readers are aware of when they understand
and when they don’t. If your child is having trouble understanding specific
words, phrases, or longer passages, they use a wide range of problem-solving
strategies including skipping ahead, rereading, asking questions, using a
dictionary, and reading the passage aloud.
