Introducing our Chapter 4 Co-host...

...Brenda from Primary Inspired!


Brenda is the fabulous organizer behind the current Guided Math Book Study and she is so awesome that she is joining in for our study of Guiding Readers as well. If you haven't already done so, please head over to her blog to check out the Guided Math book study. I have learned so much from reading this book...I can hardly wait until school starts again to try out all my ideas! (Okay, so that might not be exactly trie...it is after all, only my first day of summer vacation, but the book is still a spectacular read. It will change how you think about your math instruction.)

But we are here to talk about guided reading, right? 
Chapter 4 is all about Guiding Early Readers and Brenda will be posting her thoughts on the chapter as the co-host. 

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE STUDY NOTES FOR THIS CHAPTER

So What Did I Think?
Well, I am in a similar situation as with Chapter 3. I have never had the opportunity to work with students that are this young and new to reading. However, the more I reflected on what I read I realized that this type of knowledge would have been very handy when working with a lot of the English Language Learners I have had in my class over the years. I do think one of the flaws of my teacher training was that since I was going through to be certified to teach students in the upper grades none of the information about how to teach a child to read was taught to me, or my classmates. And, as we all know, just because a student is in Grade 7 or 8 doesn't always mean they can read!
Looking back I have some guilt about how much more I could have helped my students if only I had known more about guided reading and the stages of reading development.
What I have come to love about Lori's writing and this book is the consistent nature in which she delivers information to her readers. It does not feel as though she is preaching to me but rather a colleague mentoring me through this learning journey. I do feel better equipped to work with younger students, which is a good thing because.....NEXT YEAR I AM TEACHING GRADE 3!! 
I can imagine that at the beginning of the year I will definitely still have some (or many) of my students working as early readers. The tips and lesson ideas offered by Lori is this chapter will really come in handy. 
Some "aha" Moments
- I didn't realize that early readers are unable to read silently- the type of texts early readers will develop an interest in (multiple characters but with a familiar topic)- meaning is sacrificed to visual features of a word **It's all supposed to make sense!"**- the three main cueing systems- semantic, syntactic, phonetic (this is the stuff that makes me feel....dumb?...I have no idea how to tell if a student is using these cueing systems)
Standout Highlights
* texts for early readers (page 47)- this is a great help to me as a teacher new to teaching younger students, I can imagine that I will keep this list some place nearby and handy for reference
* the guided reading lesson sequence and sample areas of focus- this is unbelievably helpful, I think it will be a useful scaffolding tool until I feel comfortable enough to create my own guided reading lessons and everything is so clearly laid out that i can start to align Lori's lessons to my long range plans
Before- teach students how to do a picture walk- texts will contain mostly high-frequency and decodable words, carefully consider whether to pre-teach vocabulary
During- self-monitoring comprehension strategies are key- readers must develop the habit of using all three cueing systems (need to learn more about these)- stagger start reading and work towards encouraging phrased reading
After- revisit trouble spots and discuss, share own experiences- retelling is important at this stage, good time to provide practice- still need to stimulate big ideas using questions and prompts- encourage re-reading of the same text
* lesson routines- love love love!
* the reading- writing connection- I was very happy to see that Lori spends time talking about writing in her book. Each year, when I reflect back on my program, I always feel that either my reading or writing program was stronger. I have yet to feel that they were equally good! Hopefully, I can devote more attention to the connection between the two and this will be the year I think they are both great.
Whew..that's a long post!
Don't forget to link up with your own posts and let us all know what you are thinking about the book!