Master Your Guided Reading Planning!

Hi everyone! It's Angie from The First Grade Scoop! We are two weeks into the school year and I am beat! We are in the midst of BAS testing, and I cannot WAIT to get into guided reading groups. It is truly my favorite time of the day. We get to work in smaller groups, and I get to see students really grow in their reading. I used to write plans each time I read a book with students, even though I'd often go back to my same favorite books at each level. It took me wwwwwaaaaayyyyyy too long to realize I could save time by making my plans for each book and tweaking them as needed for each group of kids. I tended to pick the same D book for practicing inferring, for example... So why not save those plans?

I am a HUGE Fountas and Pinnell fan. Love them. Their Continuum of Literacy Learning is fantastic, and I thought, why not pull skills they suggest based on student reading level, combined with strategies and areas for focus I've noticed students need at different levels, and came up with this!

I created leveled lesson plans for each Guided Reading Level A-M. Here's how they work:

I pull the book I want to use for my group. I use the Word Work selections to pick something that's a relevant skill for that book. In this case, it was changing verb endings, since the same word was used in the text with different tenses. I checked (or you could highlight) skills that I thought this book would be helpful for teaching. Here's a look at the whole sheet (one page back-to-back):

Easy-peasy! I file them in a binder that has those lettered tabs (which you can find at OfficeMax or whatever office store), and voila! Turn to the page and the lesson is planned and at your fingertips. (I track observations on a different form or on labels.)

Here's a close-up at a level A (early kinder) and a level K (second grade) to get a feel for how the teaching points change. Note the differences in the types of questions at each level... They're geared to get at skills that are more relevant at each level.

Interested in grabbing a copy for yourself? Click HERE to check it out!

Happy reading! See you next month!