1. Guided Reading Lesson Grades 2-3
At this level, students may still read a new book every day or they may be reading chapter books. Half of the books they read should be informational. Store the
last 3 books read in the students’ book bag. The focus is problem solving with words, fix-up strategies, increased fluency, and comprehension.
Familiar Reading / Fluency
Reading Have the group reread a familiar book while the teacher takes a running record.
(5 minutes)
Running Record
(Combined time with familiar reading)
Word Study / Vocabulary
(5 minutes)
Have students partner read or whisper read while the teacher takes a running record on one student – possibly reading
yesterday’s new book for emergent readers.
After the child has finished the book, comment on strategies the student used (or could have used) during reading.
Check for comprehension by having the student retell the story.
o Method/Activity:
o Design a brief lesson based on the needs of the children. It may include high frequency words, academic vocabulary tier
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II words, chunking, word families, text features, looking at print in detail, hearing sounds in words, use of multiple cues,
etc.
Students use word sorts, graphic organizers, magnetic letters, tactile letters, Wikki Stix, pointers, clay, translucent
counters, linking charts, or other manipulatives to reinforce the teaching point.
o Phonics/Skill
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Guided Reading
(12 minutes)
Use affixes, base and root words to help make meaning out of word parts
Substitute and add initial and ending sounds when decoding (car to bar to bark)
Use analogies (must to bust to dust)
Read the punctuation
Reread to increase the rate of reading
Use decoding strategies or Fix-up strategies (When you come to an unknown word)
Follow the academic vocabulary lesson template to teach 3-5 tier II words for the week
Use “Words Their Way” for developmentally appropriate word sorts and development
Comprehension Strategy / Teaching Point:
New book is introduced which may include the teaching point from word study or the previous day. It may also include a
comprehension strategy which the teacher models explicitly by thinking aloud. Strategies might include:
o Activating prior knowledge before, during, and after reading
o Determining the most important ideas and themes in the text
o Asking questions of themselves, the authors, and the texts they read
o Creating visual and other sensory images from text during and after reading
o Drawing inferences from text
o Retelling or synthesizing what they have read
o Utilizing a variety of fix-up strategies to repair comprehension when it breaks down
Before:
o Preview the selection and answer what the text features tell about the selection.
o The teacher and students talk about the book using pictures and an introduction to today’s reading.

2. o Ask questions about what they notice and make predictions.
o Ask what they know about the title and the topic. Activate prior knowledge by asking what do I already know
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and what have I already experienced that will help me understand the text?
Predict and locate unknown words.
Repeat the pattern, repeat the new words, and stop at new vocabulary words, accessing prior knowledge, and
analyzing the word together.
Make a plan to meet your purpose for reading the text and ask yourself what you will do during reading to make
certain you understand what you need to know.
Determine tasks that may include graphic organizers, fluency, note-taking, mind-mapping, outlining,
highlighting, annotating, or other informal methods
During:
o Students independently whisper read the book. Strategic readers must be active as they read.
o Students ask themselves what’s happening as they read.
o Students make connections as they read. (text to self, text to text, and text to world)
o Students predict, read to confirm or deny predictions, and readjust
o Students stop occasionally to summarize what has been read.
o Students form opinions and make judgments based on the text and prior knowledge.
o The teacher provides support as needed, however the goal is to have the students read and use strategies
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independently.
Parts of the book are read again chorally to promote fluency.
Ask which comprehension strategy the student will use when he or she comes to an unknown word.
Ensure that every child reads every text from beginning to end.
Praise, prompt, and encourage students through modeling and teach them to self-monitor, correct, and use fixup strategies.
After:
o Respond to yesterday’s prompt as a group.
o Have student orally compose a response about today’s reading, encouraging students to connect what they
already knew to what they just read.
o The teaching point should be incorporated into the response with students applying what they have read.
o The students write their response in a writing journal.
o The students may use word wall words, vocabulary words, words needed often in writing, or words that the
children could learn with a little more practice.
o Have students retell, restate, summarize the stories orally.
o Help students to visually represent parts of the text.
o Discuss the text at a deeper level through questioning strategies, asking big idea questions that the students will
respond to and bring back the next day.
o Have students respond by using graphic organizers.
Independent Work
Jennifer Evans, St. Clair County RESA
Students take home books to read to their parents.
Students choose what books they want to read from their book bags during silent reading time.
Students can write about reading by retelling, summarizing, goal-setting, questions to discuss, opinions about the text, etc.