We♥GuidedReading

“Guided Reading enables children to 

practice strategies with the teacher’s support, 

and leads to independent silent reading.”   

New Zealand Department of Education

Guided Reading is the time when your first grader is in a small group with other students at his/her level of reading, working on skills to make us better readers!

During Guided Reading time, students are grouped according to their reading level.  Some students work with our Reading Specialist, Mrs. Manz.  

There are other groups of students work closely with Mrs. Soderberg, myself, and even Mrs. Sharpe (some students "float" to the other classroom if that's the "best fit!)  

Guided Reading is designed to take a student where they are and move them at a steady pace to the "next step."  That "next step" involves more critical thinking, better skill development, a move toward fluency (reading like we talk).

Students are placed in Guided Reading groups based on their benchmark in reading.  Benchmarking places a student on a A-Z continuum (Level A being a non-reader all the way to Level Z, a reader who is completely fluent and comprehends all that they read using variety of strategies.)  Most first graders come to us reading anywhere from an A-G (some even higher).  We used to lump all of these kids into one group and attempt to give them everything they needed but . . . you guessed it!  It didn't always work!  As with everything, education is continually changing, adapting, and growing.  For now, it is "best practice" at Wakefield Schools to place students in homogenous (i.e. all the same level) small groups where they can learn the skills that are needed to progress to the next level.  As we know, not all kids progress at the same speed.  So, we call these groups "fluid."  That means that students can move in and out of the group they're in, depending on what they need.  If your child comes home from school one day and tells you that they're "moving to a different group" - rest assured that we are "tweaking" their present situation to ensure that they are getting the best instruction that they can get for the level they are at that moment!