Guided Reading Lesson Plan template and free download. Reading levels in kindergarten and first grade to create guided reading lesson plans with free books!
Are you wanting to master guided reading, but feel a wee bit overwhelmed? I get it! Guided Reading is just one more thing you have on your plate.. or do you? Are you currently conducting guided reading lessons in your classroom? I am sometimes surprised to hear that some emergent classrooms do not. Don’t worry… we’ve got this!
What is Guided Reading?
Let’s start with the various balanced literacy approaches.
Read-Aloud
Read-alouds are when the teacher does the reading work and the students do the thinking work. This is done as part of a whole group instructional time. The text that is selected is above the students’ reading level. This is an opportunity to work on reading comprehension skills. The teacher models fluent reading and guides the students towards a deeper understanding of the text. We use our Close Reading/Guiding Readers units for read-aloud instruction.
Shared Reading
This is also done as a whole group activity. The text is usually selected on grade level, but can also be slightly above grade level. The teacher and the students read the text together. This is an opportunity to work on early reading skills and comprehension.
Guided Reading
Yay! We made it to guided reading. Guided reading is done as part of a small group (4-6 students). The text is selected based on the students’ instructional reading level. The students read the book independently while the teacher supports the students and coaches them towards success. This is where true differentiation takes place!
Guided Reading Lesson Plans: How do I know what their Guided Reading instructional level is?
Students’ instructional level is determined by a few things. We start the year off by looking at what the students know. If they do not know any sounds or have little understanding of print, an AA level text is perfect for them. Kindergarten reading levels can range from AA reader to an E or higher!
As the year progresses, we use running records to help focus our instruction.
Organizing for Guided Reading
I like to keep my sets in binders by level.
Inside I have all the materials I am going to need to use.
Sound boxes are a great way to segment words.
Students then can transfer this skill to sounds when they are ready.
I also keep all of the sorting activities in the binder. When they are at your fingertips, you are ready to teach in a flash!
I also keep all of the books in the binder.
And the lesson plans that are needed to teach the lesson. You can click in the box below to grab FREE lesson plan template. This is Day 1 with a book.
Here is Day 2. I use the same book over two instructional days.
What else goes in these guided reading binders?
All of the guided reading books!!!!
Each binder has 3 fiction and 3 informational texts.
We also keep the writing we do at our small group table in this binder.
Learn More about Guided Reading
You can read more about the 2 Day Guided Reading Plan over on Deedee’s blog by clicking:
Or read more on my blog by clicking:
You can see all of our Leveled Text sets:
Want to try a guided reading lesson plan book out for FREE?
Simply add your email in the box below. You will be sent a link with the lesson plans and the book!
*HINT: Be sure to check your spam/junk folder… sadly, sometimes it ends up there. ALSO, some school districts block emails, so if your school email does not work, try another email address.
Hi Deedee, I am looking for the video about organizing the guided reading binders. Would you please let me know where to find it. Thanks, Francine
Hello Deanna ,
Can I please get a copy of the guided reading expert book. My email is
HI Nancy, You just need to enter your name and email in the boxes above and the free file will be emailed to you.
I’d love to try the guided reading book
Awesome! Just add your email to the box at the bottom. 🙂
I’d love to try a guided reading book for free!
Hi there!
You should be able to download it now. I had just moved my blog over to a new platform and some of the links were broken. They are working now 🙂
Love these ideas to manage my guided reading lessons!
Hi Deanna
I downloaded the Guided Reading Level E. Thankyou for that. Please tell me how much the whole kit costs to download? Do you have one that is on an equivalent level for BAS 2 also?
Kim
Hi Kim! We do have them in a bundle. You can find them HERE.
Is there an assessment to place the students? I purchased the bundle that included both sets but can’t find a way to place them? Thank you!!
Yes, you use the running record to determine what their instructional reading level is. You can select any of the titles to use.
I’ve purchased both set 1 and 2 of these and they’re great with my K-2 ELL students. Do you have a guide/list with all the book titles, levels, sight words, etc. in one document? I’d love to use something like that for planning.
You bet. You can find a sample in the curriculum guide (it is free):
Curriculum Guide
Good morning. When you do your guided reading are you also doing word work and sentence work at that time within the 20-25 minutes or is that at a different time? I have seen some videos of DeeDee, but they were chopped up so not from start to finish so I was not sure if it is all being done in one sitting. Thanks!
Yes, they are all done in one setting. 🙂