The Guided Reading Program is a varied collection of books that are categorised by the kind and level of challenge they offer children as they are learning to read. The Duided Reading Program consists of 200 books organised into 20 levels of difficulties – Level A to T. Many different characteristics of the texts are considered in determining the level of challenge and support a particular book or shorter story presents.
ADVANTAGES OF A LEVELLED BOOK COLLECTION
A level book set has many advantages, including the following:
It provides experiences with a wide variety of texts within a level.
It makes it easier to select books for groups of children.
It lends itself to flexible grouping.
It provides a way to access children’s progress.
It provides a basic book collection that can be expanded over time.
WHAT IS GUIDED READING?
Guided reading is an instructional approach that involves a teacher working with a small group of children who demonstrate similar reading behaviors and can all read similar texts. The teacher selects a text that is easy enough for children to read with skillful teacher support, but it also offers challenges and opportunities for problem solving, the teacher chooses selections that help children expand their strategies.
WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF GUIDED READING?
Teachers select books that children can read about 90% accurately. Children can understand and enjoy the story because it is accessible to them through their own strategies, supported by the teacher’s introduction. They focus on meaning but use problem-solving strategies to figure out words they don’t know, deal with difficult sentence structure and understand concepts or ideas they have never been encountered in print.
WHAT IS THE PROCEDURE FOR GUIDED READING?
- The teacher works with a small group of children
- The teacher provides introductions to the text that support children’s later attempts at problem solving
- Each child reads the whole text or unified part of the text
- Readers figure out new words while reading for meaning
- The teacher prompts, encourages and confirms children’s attempts at problem solving.
- The teacher and children engage in meaningful conversations about what they are reading.
COURSE CONTENT
Book Level A-C
- Phonic skills application
- Developing core high-frequency words
- Sentence making, rearranging and correcting
- Story-reading, recitation or nursery rhymes
- Education games
- Games and class assignment
Book Level D-H
- Book reading and review
- Introduction to word formation and sentence structure
- Vocabulary enhancement
- Story making from pictures
- Pronunciation enhancement through fun activities like tongue twisters
- Spelling
Book Level I – M
- Book reading and review
- Sentence making, comprehension and exercise
- Differentiating similar words (synonyms)
- Intonation and tone
Book Level N-T
- Reading informational books that present complex ideas and some technical language
- Acquiring and discussing ideas and information and going beyond text given to research topics or interests
- Vocabulary expansion
- Stories interpretation
- Comprehension
- Paragraph making, rearranging