A Primer on Guided Reading

How do I find leveled texts for Guided Reading lessons?

Fountas and Pinnell keep a list of their 80,000+ leveled books on their subscription-based website.

To use Guided Reading as an effective instructional approach, it's helpful to create a book room filled with multiple copies of the same leveled texts, for all teachers in the school to access. That way, each student has their own copy of the book to read during the Guided Reading lesson. The leveled texts in your book room should be of different genres, structures, forms, and reading levels.

To create a book room, collect books in a common area. Arrange the texts by level so teachers have assess to them. Include mostly short texts, both fiction and nonfiction, that students can read in one sitting. You may also include some longer texts. Finally, create a system for checking books in and out.

Alternatively, teachers may have a leveled book collection in their classrooms and share them across a grade level.

What does Guided Reading for grades K–2 look like?

Guided Reading lessons for kindergarten, first-grade, and second-grade students generally focus on early literacy concepts, as well as word and language patterns. We recommend that teachers use The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum, Second Edition: A Tool for Assessment, Planning, and Teaching, PreK–8 (Heinemann, 2022) to assess students' understanding, guide teaching, and support students' reading progress.

• Kindergarten: Text Levels A–D

  For the first few months of kindergarten, children learn about how written language works. They participate in daily interactive read-aloud lessons, and shared reading so they can see the print and join in as the teacher reads. They also participate in interactive writing—where they share the pen with the teacher and write—to learn about how written language works.

  After a few months of school, teachers assess the students and form Guided Reading groups based on the data. The teachers get students started in reading little books and in engaging students in early lessons, usually in groups of 3 students at a time.

  Teachers select the texts for Guided Reading lessons using a gradient of difficulty that supports the readers’ strengths and moves them forward in their understanding of how reading works. In kindergarten, students are expected to move from Level A to Level D on the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient (PDF). Kindergarten students need opportunities to read and write every day. Ideally, teachers start with a reading block of 30 minutes a day and work up to 60 minutes.

  Teachers make decisions based on the readers in the group. They decide what goals are most important for the readers and what they'll teach in whole-group or individual contexts. Running Records, an assessment tool, help teachers document progress and next steps in learning. Teachers can then determine what needs more attention or decide to select a more challenging text.

  Since kindergarten students are learning about print and how it works in books, word work is a part of the Guided Reading lesson. The teacher provides opportunities for the students to work with letters, sounds, and words for 1–2 minutes at the end of the lesson.
• First Grade: Text Levels C–J

  Guided Reading instruction begins around early October. First-grade teachers use data from the students' kindergarten classroom and reassess the readers at the beginning of the school year. They form Guided Reading groups based on this data. The size of the Guided Reading groups is usually 4–6 readers. If teachers increase the group size, they must still be able to attend to each student's individual needs.

  Readers start from where they left off in kindergarten and move up the text level gradient in small group instruction. The expectation is that readers will move from Guided Reading Level C into Level J on the Fountas and Pinnell Text Level Gradient (PDF) by the end of the year. The texts and teaching increase in complexity as the readers move through the levels. Readers also move from “whisper reading” to silent reading.

  The texts the teachers use in Guided Reading lessons in grade one expand to include different genres and forms. The goal is to create well-rounded readers who have had experience with fiction and nonfiction texts, and can engage in the thinking necessary to understand texts deeply.

  The complexities readers face in texts as they expand their competencies require teachers to plan for and guide the teaching to support the readers’ thinking within, beyond, and about the text, in every text.

  Teachers continue to use assessment data and The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum, Expanded Edition: A Tool for Assessment, Planning, and Teaching, PreK–8 (Heinemann, 2016) to plan for, guide, and assess their teaching. Since each group will have different strengths and challenges, the teacher’s planning will be guided by the readers' competencies, not a predetermined set of skills or sequence.

  At the end of the Guided Reading lesson, the students spend 1–3 minutes on word work. They might focus on high frequency words or ways to break apart multi-syllable words. They'll also learn about word structures, such as plurals, possessives, contractions, and compounds.

  The other students work independently at centers in the classroom, or at their seats, so that the teacher can work with small Guided Reading groups. Typically, students complete 3–4 activities within the daily 60-minute literacy block.

• Second Grade: Text Levels I–N

  Moving into second grade, students work independently for longer periods. Readers continue to build their stamina by engaging in independent reading and writing about reading during the literacy time.

  The room is quiet during independent reading. The tone of the room allows for readers to do their best thinking as they read and write about their reading.

  As readers increase their stamina for reading, they also work to expand their understandings of the complexities they'll meet in texts. They can solve a large number of words easily and have ways of solving new vocabulary. Their processing improves daily and they think and talk about texts in increasingly sophisticated ways. They read silently most of the time.

  In second grade, the texts increase in complexity and content. Across the school year, second graders typically move from Levels I/J to Levels M/N on the Fountas and Pinnell Text-Level Gradient (PDF). Short texts remain the staple of Guided Reading instruction, though the teacher may introduce a few chapter books to help students build reading stamina. The teacher uses fiction and nonfiction texts in Guided Reading lessons, as well as a range of forms in each genre. Many of the texts move away from familiar themes to include experiences with a variety of topics and ideas. Illustrations, though still included at these levels of text, play less of a role in supporting the meaning of the text.

  Teachers continue to use The Fountas & Pinnell Literacy Continuum, Expanded Edition: A Tool for Assessment, Planning, and Teaching, PreK–8 (Heinemann, 2016) to plan for, guide, and assess their teaching. Texts include more technical and content specific vocabulary, so teachers help their students problem solve to understand the full meaning.

  Each week, students write about their reading in a reader's notebook. Teachers can use this notebook as one way to assess students. Word work is still a part of the second-grade Guided Reading lessons as children learn how to take complex words apart.

What does Guided Reading look like in an intermediate or middle school classroom?

Guided Reading lessons in grades 3–8 include texts with increasingly complex structures and meaning, as well as challenging vocabulary. Students pick up where they left off in the previous grade. Students in third grade are expected to move from levels M/N on the Fountas & Pinnell Text Level Gradient (PDF) to Level Z by the end of grade 8.

Readers' Workshop is the block of time each day–ideally 60 minutes at these grade levels–when students are reading independently, writing about reading, participating in small-group work, or participating in a Guided Reading lesson.

Once the teacher establishes classroom routines and assesses their students using a system like the Fountas & Pinnell Benchmark Assessment System, 3rd Edition, they can form tentative Guided Reading groups based on the data.

• Guided Reading Lessons in Grades 3–8: The Teachers

  Once teachers have their classroom management and leveled book room in place, and have finished their students' assessments, they are ready to begin Guided Reading lessons.

  When planning Guided Reading lessons, intermediate and middle school teachers:

  • Read and analyze the texts they'll use in their Guided Reading lessons. They select texts that will help their students grow in their knowledge of genre, structure, complex plots and themes, challenging features of nonfiction texts, and literary analysis.
     
  • Regularly assess their students. This helps determine the direction of teaching and helps the teacher group or regroup students based on common strengths and needs.
     
  • Try to meet with the neediest students every day. Meet with other students every other day.
     
  • Try to meet several days in a row when reading longer texts. This is so that students can build momentum and hold onto the meaning of the text. Teachers decide ahead of time how to divide the longer text into chapters or sections.
     
  • Support readers during the introduction to the text. Teachers can do this by pointing out features of text that might be challenging for them.
     
  • Interact with students that may need support. Teachers may ask particular students to read a paragraph or two aloud to sample their processing. Occasionally, teachers might take a reading record on a student during this time.
     
  • Discuss the text. Students share their thinking about the text. Teachers may have them explain an aspect they were asked to focus on as they read. Or, they may ask the students a question to probe their thinking. The discussion is conversational and not limited to questions and answers.
     
  • Plan 2–3 minutes of word word after the lesson, if the students need help with word solving. Here, teachers can focus on an aspect of word solving that will help the students process the text efficiently. In the upper grades this might include work with prefixes, suffixes, Greek and Latin roots, and the nuances of recognizing multiple meanings of words.
• Guided Reading Lessons in Grades 3–8: The Students

  Students at these grade levels focus on reading, discussing, and responding to the text they read that day with the teacher.

  In a Guided Reading lesson, students at these grade levels:

  • Participate in the text introduction. Students do this by actively listening and commenting as the teacher introduces the text.
     
  • Read the whole text silently. The students jot down page numbers or place a sticker or note to remember the areas they want to discuss later.
     
  • Engage in thinking about the text in complex ways. This might include analyzing texts, comparing themes or ideas, and learning how to get specific information from texts.
     
  • Discuss the text with the group. Students share their ideas with each other to expand their understanding.