SAMPLE GUIDED READING AND WRITING LESSONS

SAMPLE GUIDED READING AND WRITING LESSONS

This section offers parts of sample guided lessons at
the emergent, early, and fluent levels. The main focus
of these examples is on guided reading, but some of
the excerpts show how the teachers made overt links
with writing. For the sake of brevity, few children’s
responses and only portions of the teacher’s questions
have been recorded. Pauses for discussion are
represented by ellipses (. . .). These lessons are examples
and should not be replicated in detail. However, many
of the questions and prompts are transferable to other
books at the same level or with other children working
at a similar level.
(Sidebar - Other supports are listed)

Notes from a Guided Reading Lesson at the
Emergent Level

The teacher has selected Bedtime to increase the children’s:

◊ Understanding about the constancy of text through
finding similarities and differences from sentence to
sentence and word to word

◊ Familiarity with the high-frequency words "I" and "my"

◊ Understanding that a sentence contains a thought or
action

◊ Competence in matching written to spoken word

◊ Understanding of how one’s experiences can be
recorded so that others can read them.

Each child has a copy of the previously unseen book. The
teacher has easy access to chart paper and a white board.
She does not have a copy of the book, because she needs
to be constantly observing the children’s eye and hand
movements, indicating how closely they are attending to
textual and illustrative details, and signs of pleasure or
frustration. The children are used to being participants in
a group guided reading situation. They are familiar with
the routine for answering questions, of not racing ahead
of others, of listening carefully, and of respecting the
views and efforts of others.
                     A book Is a Present by Margaret E. Mooney
                          reviews how using different approaches to
                          reading can achieve instructional goals

INTRODUCING THE BOOK

The teacher might begin by saying:

"Set your book in front of you so that the front cover is the
right way to begin reading. Look at the illustration on the
front cover. Where might the boy be going?. . . Does that
match what you see in the title? What letters and sounds do
you see and hear?. . . (alphabet cards support letter recognition)

"So what is our book called?. . . Cover up the part that you
think says ‘time.’ What sound does ‘time’ start with?. . .
Cover up the end of the word. What is left? What sound
does ‘bed’ start with? Show me. . . . Let’s look at the whole
word ‘bedtime’ again. That is how readers work out new
words or check that they have said the word that the
author used.

"Look at the cover picture again. What is the boy taking to
bed? What else might he need?" (Use "need" to bring it into
oral and aural focus in anticipation of the text.) "Do you
take a toy or book to bed?. . . What happens when you get
ready for bed?. . . Let’s read about bedtime for this boy."

                           (Enriching Feed Back In Primary Classrooms: Oral
                           Oral and Written Feedback from Teachers and children
                           by Shirley Clarke examines many forms of classroom
                           feedback that can motivate and promote learning)

Bedtime Emergent BYL Collection

"Does this tell us anything more about the boy’s bedtime?
Where do you see the word ‘bedtime’?. . . Is it the same
as the title on the cover?"

FOCUS OF INSTRUCTION

Pages 2 and 3: "Look at the text. Check to see if this
is a sentence. Is there a capital letter at the beginning
and a period at the end?. . . That tells us that it is a
telling sentence . . . Now let’s work out what it is telling
us. Look at the last word. Where have we seen that?. . .
Watch while I write it on the chart. Now check that it is
the same word on the page. Which letters did you
check?. . . Read the sentence with your eyes. What did
it tell you?" (What time it is.) . . . "Whose bedtime is it?
                   Text Forms and Features by Margaret E. Mooney
                   Lists the purpose, description, and key elements
                        of many fiction and nonfiction text forms

Page 4: "Turn to page 4 to see if the boy is in bed
yet. . . . What did he need to get?. . . What would
he say?" (Use this to encourage a full sentence
including the word "need," which will most likely be
in their aural and oral vocabulary but may not be
familiar in its written form.)

"Which word told you what he needed? Show
me . . . Now tell me how you checked to see that
word said ‘pillow.’" (If the picture is given as the only
check, draw attention to letters and sounds. Repeat
question for "need" when the lack of a picture clue
will ensure that letters and sounds are used.) Now
let’s read the sentence together. You can point to
each word as you read. . . . Continued

This is only part of one of the 6 sample lesson plans
outlined in the Teacher Resource Book. For the
complete sample lesson shown here see pages 19-24
of the Teacher Resource.