Identifying
Students for Placement in your Guided Reading Groups Part I
Arlyne
LeSchack
As
promised in my previous article How
to Lay the Groundwork for Effective Guided Reading Instruction in
your Classroom, I will start to enumerate the reading behaviors
that make up the characteristics of possible guided reading groups
within your classroom in this article. In the typical heterogeneously
grouped classroom there will probably be three or four guided reading
groups functioning at different levels. Please note these
groups should be flexible. On occasion students may
be placed in a different group based on the need for instruction
in a specific reading strategy. In addition, students should
be able to move from group to group based on your assessment of
their reading improvement.
Since guided reading
does not usually start in Pre-K, we will begin with Kindergarten.
Following a model developed by the Jefferson County Public Schools
in Golden, Colorado, there are three possible groups that your
students may fall in:
-
Preconventional
-
Emergent
-
Developing
Putting
students in the correct group facilitates your instruction when
they are with you for guided reading and it allows students to work
on similar independent literacy activities when it is not their
turn with you in guided reading. Use the following table
of student reading characteristics to help you place students in
the different groups. characteristics of students who fit
in the three different groups. Students may not be at the
developing level at the beginning of Kindergarten, but students
who exhibit some of these behaviors can be put together in a guided
group while the other characteristics can be encouraged. In
other schools, these levels may be shown in first or even second
grade classrooms. You know your students better than anyone.
Possible
guided reading groups and characteristics of students.
Preconventional |
Emergent |
Developing |
the student ...
-
Holds book and turns
pages correctly
-
Shows beginning/end
of book or story;
-
Knows some letter
names;
-
Recognizes own name
in print;
-
Role plays reading
behaviors
-
Participates in
group reading (books, rhymes, poems and songs)
-
Listens to and responds
to literature;
-
Comments on illustrations
in books;
-
Begins to choose
reading materials (e.g. books, magazines and charts);
-
Shows interest in
reading signs, labels and logos (environmental print).
|
the student
...
- Pretends to read;
- Reads top to bottom,
left to right and front to back with guidance;
- Knows most letter
names;
- Demonstrates phonemic
awareness through word play;
- Recognizes some
names and words in context;
- Knows some letter
sounds;
- Matches letters
to sounds;
- Memorizes pattern
books, poems and familiar books;
- Begins to read
signs, labels and logos (environmental print);
- Uses illustrations
to tell stories;
- Begins to make
meaningful predictions;
- Connects books
read aloud with own experience with guidance;
- Participates in
reading of familiar books and poems;
- Demonstrates eagerness
to read.
|
the student
...
-
Knows most letter
sounds;
-
Relies on print
and illustrations;
-
Recognizes simple
words;
-
Notices own errors
(miscues);
-
Uses finger-voice-print
matching;
-
Uses initial consonants
to read words;
-
Reads books with
simple patterns;
-
Begins to read own
writing;
-
Makes meaningful
predictions;
-
Identifies title
and author in literature (text features);
-
Retells main idea
in literature;
-
Participates in
guided literature discussions;
-
Begins to read independently
for short periods (5-10 minutes);
-
Chooses reading
materials independently;
-
Sees self as a reader;
-
Shares favorite
reading materials with others;
-
Explains why literature
is liked/disliked during class discussion with guidance.
|
To How
to Identify Students for Placement in your Guided Reading Groups
Part II
Please e-mail
me if you
have any questions.
|